SmallCaliberCentral

Hiya guys,

I should be reciving my new cooper this week in .204 Ruger I was looking at useing the 39 grain SBK due to its high BC and popular and accurate reveiws, What powder would you experianced guys recomend, I have heard that IMR4895 is a good powder to use?? What do you guys seem to find works?

Also I have been reading a bit on ladder testing ( to achive the most accurate load ) How would you fellas go about doing this, its good to read about things but better to here it from those who have actuly done it and achived it.

Thanks in advanced for your help guys.


Steve.

hi mate, i bought 4 diffrent powders and shot tonnes of factory 40 rubbish ,32 are pretty good, i wont be changing from 10x and the 39bks its awsome
as sidewinder said its expensive if you buy crap like i did through not lisening

Welcome
4895 is one of the powders than can produce exelent results.I don't own a Cooper(my mistake)so some of the owners will chime in here.I started loading Varget in my 204s(three)and had good results,but switched to IMR 8208 XBR,which is the least temperature sensitive powder available.In my guns I load 28gr for the 32s and 27.3gr for 39gr SBKs.Work up to these,as always.These loads shot in the 2s and 3s in three guns.Pours great,as it is a small cube shape.

Steve,

When you get your Cooper, there will be a test target with it. If it doesn't tell you the load they used, call Cooper. They'll tell you.

If you want to build your own custom loads, the ladder tests works but you need a 200 yd + range to run it. I tried it, but at 100 yds. I wasn't getting a clear enough pattern. I tried the Optimum Charge Weight (OCW) test, instead. I worked out well for me. See my earlier post on the test I ran.

Hedge

Welcome to the 204 Madness and the forum that encourages such behavior.

Cooper uses H335 and the 32gr V-Max for their 204R testing, but remember those targets are shot at 43 yards in their hallway, and is more of a function test than a real accuracy claim. That powder may or may not be the "ideal" powder for that particular barrel....I know two of my three Coopers use/like a different powder than the factory used for testing. A good, solid load for that rifle should be explored with other options, as a real "screamer" load could lurk with the possibilities.

(I think they use H335 because it meters like water and negates weighing all their charges...I use it in some of my high volume rat rifles for that very reason. JMO)

Rick,

Thanks for clearing up the distance the target is shot. I thought it was a short one, but a salesman told me otherwise.
H335 gave me excellent results in my Savage, but seemed too temp. sensitive to my taste. Medium load at 60 deg. F was a "hammer the bolt open" load at 90 Deg F.

I have two Cooper .204's. I shoot 32 gr Blitzkings in one and 39 Blitzkings in the other. I use Benchmark powder for both bullets. Limited experimenting with 10X also produced good results. I'm not sure about temp sensitivity with 10X and opted to stay with Benchmark for my pd loads. Cooper also suggested Benchmark for Montana temps and accuracy.