SmallCaliberCentral

My buddy is going to help me reload some 204 for my praire dog trip. Can you guys post some of your pet loads for the Savage VLP? He's got all the equipment but I'd like to avoid having to buy 10 different powders, primers, cases etc to find something that works well. I'd like to hear from you VLP owners to see if I can find common components among your favorirte loads in this rifle. I'm leaning towards the 39 g Sierra Blitzkings as I'd like to go a little heavier than the 32 g. He also has a lot of Winchester brass so I'd definitely like to use it.

Thanks

I load for three Savage 204's. One is a VLP. I use 39 Sierra bullets in all three rifles with fine results. My favorite load works well in my three rifles and several of my shooting buddies like this same load.
Win. brass, BR-4 primers, 24.8 gr R10X
That's a little below max. and I've never had a pressure problem on a hot day in the dog towns. I get over 3800fps from this load. H4895 and Benchmark powders have been substituted with little change in results. I like to be .010 off the lands for OAL for the best groups, but my 3 rifles vary slightly in the chamber and performance doesn't suffer much if I'm off a couple thousands on OAL.
Look at the favorite loads post for some more ideas. This forum is loaded with experience and good advice.

It seems there is one "near universal" load that shoots well in LOTS of rifles, VLPs included, the nearly ubiquitous 39 Sierra sitting on top of a stiff charge of H-4895, usually primed with Remington 7.5 primers.
Sifting through the posts over the last couple of years, this load seems to shoot well in a vast majority of rifles. That said, some rifles don't care much for it (picky, picky ) I won't post the exact charge, let your rifle tell you what it wants......... but that's a really good place to start. Re-10X is another good powder for that bullet, as related by Hotshot, and H335 will also work well, but it's dirty stuff. Varget is nice, but doesn't give the velocities that 10X or H4895 will. Good luck with your Pdog shoot! and welcome to the .204um!

Win. brass with CCIBR4 primers 27.5gr. of H4895 pushing a 39gr. Sierra BK