204 heavy bullet problems

[FireBallGuy]

Is there any cure for a gun that wont shoot 39/40 grain bullets? Bought a new savage yesterday and took it to the range today. Got it sighted with 32 grain factory ammo and then tried some reloads with 39 grain Bkings and boy was I surprised!!! Crappy part is I have over 100 rounds of ammo loaded with 39/40 grain bullets so I suppose I will be dumping them tomorrow. Is this a common problem? Thanks all.

[Hotshot]

I would be surprised if you couldn't get the 39's to shoot in your Savage. I have 3 Savages that shoot them very well. 2 of the 3 rifles hate 40 gr vmax but the other shoots them fairly well. They all shoot 40 Nosler's, but not as well as the 39's.
One of my rifles took over 200 shots to break in and shoot good groups. Don't dump your 39 and 40 grain loads untill you get a good break in and give them another try.
Several members of this forum have had trouble with 40 vmax especially in Savage rifles. Seems to be right on the edge for stability.

[FireBallGuy]

Too late on dumping the reloads, I did keep 20 of them for future work though. This is very true the gun only had about 50 rounds down the tube yesterday so maybe I will just shoot a few boxes of factory stuff because that is what the gun is sighted for untill I get some more bullets down the pipe. Really wanted this gun to like the 39/40's as they are so bloody efficient downrange. Still have about 100 rounds of reloads made with benchmark and 32 grain vmax and bking bullets sittin' here so maybe those are next. Did not shoot the hornady 32 grain factory stuff for accuracy just to get things goin' down the middle. Will keep doing what I normally do, shoot 20 rounds, clean, shoot 20.... Sounds like there are a lot of good powders for this round, how in the..... do you decide what to use? H322, H4895 and RL10X seem to be the top choices as well as benchmark. Thanks for your thoughts hotshot.

[Hotshot]

I went RL10X because Silverfox and others were really getting great performance. Then the tide turned to H4895 which is cheaper and easier to get in my experience, but I think it's harder to meter through the powder measure and therefore takes more work to get consistent reloads. I went back to RL10X. I use Benchmark in my 32 grain loads and I have used it with the 39's, but the velocity is less so again I prefer the RL10X. If somebody made my dream bullet (a 35-36 grain plastic tip boatail) I would try Benchmark first and would never change if it shot good groups.

[FireBallGuy]

Good call, my sentiments exactly. I am going to see if any one up here sells RL10X up here. It seems to offer the best of all worlds. Have you tried H322? I have heard this is also a fantastic option. Thanks again hotshot for your insight.

[sniper model 12]

I have a model 12 Savage single shot with a 1:12 twist 26" heavy barrel. I LOVE IT until I shoot 32 grain vmax I sighted it in for the 40 grain vmax and when I shoot a 32gr. . . .6" high at 100yds and 2" +/- at 200yds.

When shooting the 40's. . . .three shots in a dime at 100yds and three in a quarter at 200yds off of Harris bipod with a bag under the butt.

The other day a fella give me 50rds of 50 grain Speer HP BT to reload and try. He shoots a Remmy with 22" barrel (1:9 twist I think) but the Speers did crappy outta his rifle. I have never reloaded and am looking for the best powder details and someone to give some other helpful info in this process.

I've taken a variety of critters with the 40gr vmax between 100-200yds including: gray squirrel (100yds), adult German Shepard with distemper (180yds), ground hog (the exception. . . 6 feet! ).

my 2 pennies

[FireBallGuy]

No experience with anything heavier than a 40 grain bullet for me.

[acloco]

Clean that barrel first and leave a little Hoppe's #9, Butch's, etc in the barrel for ten minutes, swab with a dry patch and check if you have copper. If the dry patch is blue, blue/green, or green, then you already have copper buildup.

I have 2 Savage model 12's in 204. Both love the 40 gr VMax using Benchmark or H4895.

....from past experience, bet your barrel is not broken in yet, full of copper, and/or both.

[Glen]

Folks have had good luck in the past with the 40gr Bergers over RE10X. HTH

[FireBallGuy]

Cleaned the barrel very thoroughly at the range and when I got home and YES, the barrel was very dirty when I got home. Took me a good hour and a half to get it clean but I will not allow this to happen again. Usually clean every 20 rounds when punching paper, a dirty gun don't shoot tiny groups.

[jo191145]

a dirty gun don't shoot tiny groups.

Not entirely true. I've brought my well broken in Savage tubes to egg shoots with over 200 rds of naked bullets through them without cleaning. Then shoot another 60-80 at the matches without cleaning. I do use a few patches of lighter fluid to clean out the crud that humidity will cause overnight.

Develop a load with a clean bore and you'll find a load that likes clean bores.
Develop a load with a dirty bore and you'll find a load that likes dirty bores.

If your getting a lot of copper you'll find nothing.
Choosing the powder that will keep copper at 0 or minimum and still not gum up the bore is key.

[FireBallGuy]

Very interesting and well said. So maybe a clean gun is not all it is cracked up to be? I assure you that bore on this new gun is NOW free of anything. I found that out with my 17 fireball, benchmark shot better but seemed to gum up the barrel faster, H4198 was the ticket to shoot all day and not worry about cleaning. Should perhaps conduct some experiments to that effect for this new 204 eh?

[FireBallGuy]

Hey ACloco, took your advice and ran some patches with shooters choice through the bore with patches that FIT PROPERLY and low and behold, some brownish crap came out, next, a brush with CR-10 and what do you know again, blue crap for all!!!! Have now brushed it twice and going to let it sit for a bit going to patch it dry and run CR-10 soaked patches through it untill they come out clean.

[Paul]

I know this is an old topic but I have not been here in a while. and not meaning to hijack. On the subject of clean barrel, I had an Encore 270 win (factory barrel) that would not group at all, 6+ groups at 100 yds. Someone suggested that I let the barrel stay dirty and it may tighten up. Sure enough after about of 30 rounds or so without cleaning I could achieve and 1 to 2 MOA at 100 yards. So during hunting season I would not clean. Let me give you a little history. I first added a bigger pin, then a trigger job, adjusted the screws on the forend etc, in other words spent some money and all I had to do is keep the barrel dirty.

[Bergcrane2]

Fireball- How many rounds have you put down the tube? My Remmy didn't start grouping until I got 80 or so through it. Believe me, I was about to take the gun back! It just has to be broken in a bit.