SmallCaliberCentral

Whats the longest rock chuck kill any of you have made with a 204 Ruger? What was your long range 204 load and what kind of rifle/scope combo were you using?

My good friend and writer Steve Hanson of Tacoma WA, nailed a morning rock chuck some time back in Montana using his 52lb. .338-416 Rigby at a lasered 2,100~ yards. He wrote about it in his book, "The Varmint Hunters Odyssey".....about the best book on loads, rifles, and varmint hunting out there.

He used 300gr SMK's in his Kreiger barreled sleeved action, NF scope. Steve also had the very first Ruger 204 on the west coast that he shared with me during one of our rat shoots back when the 204 was released in 2004. That shoot was written up in the Aug '04 issue of Precison Shooting.

My personal best was a prairie dog in Montana that launched via my Holland-built M700 V-Block .243 Ackley shooting 70gr Nosler BT's at 3,800 fps at a lasered 841 yards. That was one unlucky doggie!

397 yards with a factory Savage FV12 in .204 using factory Remington 40gr ammo. It was an unsupported shot on a blustery evening. At the time, it seemed like a big accomplishment. Now that I've tweaked my rifle some and I'm shooting reloads, that seems like a typical shot anymore. Gotta love this cartridge!

My best shot so far was 600 yards with a stock Savage 12 VLP with Sierra 39 grain Blitzkings on prairie dogs in Montana.

462 yards with a Savage VLP using 39 grain BK's. DRT nary a tail flip....

420 paces on a prairie dog (didn't have the rangefinder). So in actuality it was probable between 400 and 450. Don't know for sure. We actually weren't out to shoot p dogs as we were just going to do some plinking and scare the crap out of two of my wifes uncles. We had set up a couple exploding targets out on one of our ranges beforehand (the range also happens to be a dog town) Wifes uncle happened to see one way the heck out there so I took the shot and hit. No one believed it so we all walked out there and there was blood and guts everywhere. The next shot was at a 2.5 pound star target that about made my wifes uncle's about wet themselves. Pretty funny stuff considering they are always playing practical jokes on myself and the wifes cousin.

edit: Forgot to mention that this was with a factory Ruger M77 Hawkeye topped with a leupold 4-12x40 and 32 grain Nosler ballistic tip.

Funny, I'm regulary shooting @ 300y, tweaking loads ... but my longest 'chuck shot so far is 50 yards (backyard woodchuck)!!

My wife keeps aking, "when are you going to stop fiddling and go kill something?"

I did pop one @ 465 with my beloved 6.5x55 Swede, but the miracle was that the crosshairs of that old 12x tasco completely hid the little guy at that distance...

I shot one this week using my.204 Ruger MKII VT with 40gr Hornady factory ammo. I have a Burris 8 x 32 x 44 w plx ret and a Harris 13 to 27 Bipod. I ranged the hog with a Bushnell Elite 1500 Rangefinder. I made my drop chart on the Biggameballistics site. After dialing my scope in and shooting, I walked out and ranged back to the truck. 522yds. I put the 9 volt batteries in the pic to show the size of the hog. The pic should be along soon.

bow shot wrote:
My wife keeps aking, "when are you going to stop fiddling and go kill something?"

.

Thats kinda funny. My wife is always asking why I have to kill so much stuff. I just shrug my shoulders and say "It's just fun watching those little guys explode."

349yds with a 39gr BK. Leupold 6-18x40 on a 700ADL with a Maple t-hole stock from Richards Micro-Fit. My Brother used the same rig for a 423yd shot on a groundhog.

The only rock chuck I shot at with the 204 , was a miss just under him, last year at the rat rodeo. I lasered the place of the shot at 526 yards. A few minutes later I seen one of our belding squirrels in the same vicinity. This time I knew what the range was, and I did not miss this time! The same day I killed 2 magpies and a crow out past the 500 yard mark. Also last year I killed a yote at a laserd 419 yards. Rifle is a Howa Varmint 1500, with a Leupold VXII 6-18x40 AO with a long range varmint reticle, that I had customized by Leupold for the ammo that I mostly shoot, which is the 39gr sbk over 24.7 grs. of RE10x w/ WSR primers. This load will give me sub 1/2 in. accuracy most all day long, and I have shot groups that were around 3/8 in. @ 100yards.

Ruger m77 target in 204 with 32 vmax luepold 6-20x40.543yrd on a pd had a little help from my buddy dave spotting for me. Would have got a hero pick to if i would have rememberd camera.

You know what's sick? I just finished obsessing over getting tiny groups with my AR, and did all my load testing on a neighbor's field. Each time I set up to shoot, there was a fresh chuck hole directly in line with the target, which I set up @ 300y. I though how absolutely uncanny it was that this happened, and how super-dead the chucks would be . The DAY I was finally ready ready to kill, the farmer said I couldn't shoot there any more (because his new son-in-law thought I'd scare all the deer away.... dumb punk.) I guess I'll go kill a bunch of frogs somewhere,

As long as we may include rounds other than the .204 R.

Many years ago I shot one at 780 yds with a 6.5-06 shooting the 140 gr Sierra GK with a full charge of surplus H4831 ( I used to buy this in bulk dispensed in 2 1/2 gal gas cans), GI 06 match brass, and the Rem 9 1/2 primer. I located the both shooting point and where the hapless rodent met his end on a USGS topo map. This was before we had laser range finders. I had some confidence in the map for as a student I had a summer job making such maps.

At a muzzle velocity at about 2900 fps (snail pace velocity at todays standards) out of a 28 inch Hart barrel the time of flight was long enough so I had enough time to recover from the recoil to see the chuck step into the bullet -- great shot to remember.

My longest was 500 yards, Remington 700, 39 SBK on a breezy day.