SmallCaliberCentral

just ordered 200 berger 35 gr. hp. just wondering if anyone has any powder recommendations. was thinking about trying BL-C (2) . but am willing to try anything. any inputs or thoughts will be much appreciated.. thanks

The first one I would try would be H4895 and then IMR8208XBR.

thanks i had them in mind. any charges to start off with them powders??

Check out the Hodgdon site.....lot's of good info and choices.....

http://data.hodgdon.com/cartridge_load.asp

A max load of Benchmark has been a proven winner quite often. 26.6gns is book max. You need to test in .1gn increments to find the node.
BM burns very clean. Thats not always a good thing if your barrel coppers easily.
For those conditions I switch to W-748 at 29.2gns. Another book max load if the book listed 35's
With 748 you could shoot all year without cleaning if you so desire. At least I have. Several years in a row.
748 is a little touchy in the tuning department. All the planets must be aligned.

I've tried all the others but those two bring home the cheap plastic trophies with boring regularity.

fed 205Match has just about always proven to be the most accurate primer for me. Other folks have different mileage I'm sure.

Here "Down Under" we are restricted virtually to our own powders produced by ADI and have been through a few different one's that Hodgdon rebadge to Varget, Benchmark, H322 and H4895.

So far with the 35gr Bergers I have found the most accurate in my 24" 1:12 Sako 85 .204R is 27.8grs of H4895 ( ADI AR 2206H) . That's 0.4gr under Hodgdon max of 28.2C. Primers are Remington 7 1/2.

Have not tried any Winchester Powder with the .204R as I found that in other calibres which I have used Winchester it's nowhere near as temperature stable as ADI's powder.

THANKS GUYS THIS IS ALL REALLY GOOD INFO.

benopland--My go to powder for the 35 gr. FBHP Bergers is H4895. I have been able to safely get by with a load slightly over the Hodgdon listed maximum (this works for me, but be safe and work your way up to your most accurate load, and this IS NOT necessarily going to be the fastest load!!!) Some of my shooting buddies find that 28.0 gr. of H4895 is the magical load for the 35 gr. Bergers in their .204 Rugers.

SILVERFOX. THANKS, IM NOT LOOKING FOR THE FASTEST LOAD, I GUESS I SHOULD HAVE SAID IM LOOKING FOR THE MOST ACCURATE AND CONSISTANT LOAD. WILL TRY THAT POWDER FIRST. IT SEEMS TO BE PRETTY POPULAR WITH OTHER BULLETS AS WELL. THANKS AGAIN

This load is for my Savage BGTV 26" SS 204 : 35 Berger on top of 28.3gr IMR 4895 w/Rem 7.5 primer
OAL to ogive is 1.948 .0015NK tension, .0025" off the lands, for 3844fps.

Groups avg. in the low to mid .3's

K22 wrote:The first one I would try would be H4895 and then IMR8208XBR.

+1

thanks for all the info. i ended up with 28.2 gr. of 8208. this charge shot very well. .3" groups. didnt chrono the load but with a 26"bbl im sure its close to 3800 fps.

benopland wrote:thanks for all the info. i ended up with 28.2 gr. of 8208. this charge shot very well. .3" groups. didnt chrono the load but with a 26"bbl im sure its close to 3800 fps.

Sounds like you've found the load. I wouldn't be surprised if 28.2 might put that 35gr. bullet closer to the 4000 fps area.

H4895 and REM 7 1/2 Primers.

I load 28.1 grs. of 8208 with Berger 35gr bullets. My Savage Max 1 24"bbl. shoots sub .5" groups all day long. I was surprised at the drop out to 400yds though. I am zeroed at 100yds, at 200yds it was maybe 3/4" low but at 300yds it was 8" drop and at 400yds it was 18" drop. I had my laser range finder and was from a solid rest just thought there would be less drop than that? O well, at least i know my dope for this particular load. Love the Berger bullets!!!! They definitely hold .5 MOA out to 400yds.