Tell us about yourself...

[Sth Oz Dan]

Welcome aboard Curtis. I'm sure you'll enjoy that Tikka. Let us know how it goes when you get some warmer weather

[savageboy23]

Andy here. 24 yrs old. I've been a member here for awhile and have posted quite a bit never really introduced myself tho.
I'm from a smaller central Minnesota town by St.Cloud. I work at a custom woodworking shop for a living. Woodworking has always been a passion and hobby of mine so it kind of fit me.

Like most of the members here I have a bad habit of collecting firearms . I bought my first .204 in 2010 and have loved it since. I have just started reloading so I'm still green under the ears in that field. I have an obsession with smaller fast rifle cartridges which led me to the .204.

I love hunting geese, coyotes(new passion), and whitetail deer. One day I'd like to consider myself a praire dog shooter but until then I'll keep dreaming. My favorite hobby is punching paper with all my Rimfires and Centerfires.

[Immortal]

Dave here. Like you guys I have fallen in love with the 204. So much so that I now have three of them. Mainly use them for sniping groundhogs and fox, but they do make a yearly journey to Wyoming for some prairie dog action.

Used this site for reloading info so I decided to jump on board. Looking forward to reading the stories here and hopefully adding a few of my own.

Dave

[Mikensoco]

Howdy, Mike in Sonoma County California, just bought my first .204 and wow! I'll be taking up coyotes this year, maybe tanning/taxidermy as well. Can't wait, what an awesome round.....

[bazz]

A BIG WELCOME FROM DOWN UNDER cheers bazz

[billygoat]

I am here searching fora load that will match the killing power of the .223. I would never buy another .204 ruger again, sounds great in theory but i have 2 friends with .223 (which i was thinking of buying) and they are a much better all round killer. the .204 splats small game like rabbits more than .223, but dead is dead and there is no comparison with kangaroos hit in the chest...223 wins hands down. my tikka t3 is a beautiful rifle to shoot...it has never seen a factory load. i have used win.748, adi 2206H, adi benchmark 8208 powders/ 26gn varmint granades, 39 gn blitz kings, speer (i think 39gn but might be 40gn, 32 vmax, 40 gn vmax, 40 gn nosler ballistic tips, 45 gn hornady soft nose at a variety of worked up loads..not just for accuracy. it seems that when a roo is hit in the body there might not be enough pressure build up to work against the projectile to open it up because it ends up just drilling a 5mm hole straight out the other side. cant utilize the extra powder that you cant pack in a .223. maybe the .204 shoots a bit flatter at 250 meters but you still have to have a bit of a guess with both rounds so it doesn't seem to have any advantage and the lack of retained energy in the .204 lets it drop out of the sky out yonder. Anyone out there that can stop me throwing my gun off a cliff and starting again. I've also got .270 win, .243, and .22 hornet.

[Jim White]

I am here searching fora load that will match the killing power of the .223. I would never buy another .204 ruger again, sounds great in theory but i have 2 friends with .223 (which i was thinking of buying) and they are a much better all round killer. the .204 splats small game like rabbits more than .223, but dead is dead and there is no comparison with kangaroos hit in the chest...223 wins hands down. my tikka t3 is a beautiful rifle to shoot...it has never seen a factory load. i have used win.748, adi 2206H, adi benchmark 8208 powders/ 26gn varmint granades, 39 gn blitz kings, speer (i think 39gn but might be 40gn, 32 vmax, 40 gn vmax, 40 gn nosler ballistic tips, 45 gn hornady soft nose at a variety of worked up loads..not just for accuracy. it seems that when a roo is hit in the body there might not be enough pressure build up to work against the projectile to open it up because it ends up just drilling a 5mm hole straight out the other side. cant utilize the extra powder that you cant pack in a .223. maybe the .204 shoots a bit flatter at 250 meters but you still have to have a bit of a guess with both rounds so it doesn't seem to have any advantage and the lack of retained energy in the .204 lets it drop out of the sky out yonder. Anyone out there that can stop me throwing my gun off a cliff and starting again. I've also got .270 win, .243, and .22 hornet.

Regarding the 204 Ruger, have you tried any of the hollow-points? They may be a better choice for the larger animals over the ballistic tip bullets.

My experience with .223 is limited to target bullets (70 grains and greater), not with the lighter pills. With those, H4895 & Reloader 15 worked the best for me followed by Varget. I have all the other powders you mentioned but I've never tried them in 223's. Give the hollow-points a try before you toss the rig down the canyon.

Don't know the size of the anmal or distance you're shooting but sometimes the horsepower of the larger bullets is a nice attribute. That .243 should definetly do the job.

HTH,

[bazz]

I am here searching fora load that will match the killing power of the .223. I would never buy another .204 ruger again, sounds great in theory but i have 2 friends with .223 (which i was thinking of buying) and they are a much better all round killer. the .204 splats small game like rabbits more than .223, but dead is dead and there is no comparison with kangaroos hit in the chest...223 wins hands down. my tikka t3 is a beautiful rifle to shoot...it has never seen a factory load. i have used win.748, adi 2206H, adi benchmark 8208 powders/ 26gn varmint granades, 39 gn blitz kings, speer (i think 39gn but might be 40gn, 32 vmax, 40 gn vmax, 40 gn nosler ballistic tips, 45 gn hornady soft nose at a variety of worked up loads..not just for accuracy. it seems that when a roo is hit in the body there might not be enough pressure build up to work against the projectile to open it up because it ends up just drilling a 5mm hole straight out the other side. cant utilize the extra powder that you cant pack in a .223. maybe the .204 shoots a bit flatter at 250 meters but you still have to have a bit of a guess with both rounds so it doesn't seem to have any advantage and the lack of retained energy in the .204 lets it drop out of the sky out yonder. Anyone out there that can stop me throwing my gun off a cliff and starting again. I've also got .270 win, .243, and .22 hornet.

i think u have something going wrong with your 204 ive shot a lot of big roo with mine and a lot of other bigger creatures and as for damage and penetration normal 223 loads dont even come close , u say u have never have put factory fodder though your gun i challenged you to go buy a box of federals with 39 blitz kings and sight your rifle in and then go and try, my bullet drop with mild handloads is only 4 inches or 1.54 moa at 250 yards against 7 inches for the 223 dont get me wrong i love my 223 but for long range shooting and accuracy the 204 wins hands down, you have to go the 22-250 or 220 swift to equal the 204 you have not said what speed your reloads were doing but if pencilling is your problem, thats sounds like there not going as nealy as fast as they should be a charge of 28 grains of 2206h is a mild load in my tikka dont give up on the 204 get it running where it should be and i think you be surprised best of luck cheers bazz

[boomer84]

G'day and welcome to all the new guys on this forum! Love hearing about the different setups targets and experiences from different parts of the world. Just love it!

Billygoat: My 204 has many a roo under its belt from distances of 20yds to 300 possibly further but who's measuring! It is my understanding that head shots are a must ( only legal way) for roos not only is it the only way pet meat and human consumption freezers will take them and and the shooter is fined for any body shots. So my practise for personal or professional shooting is aim for above the shoulders.

A 39gn SBK to the head out to 300 will make eyes pop ( literally ) and neck shots are near decapitation! Any one can hit a 44 gal drum at 300 but it is way more fun and nothing is better than a challenge so next time try hitting the rock melon at 200! Also missing is better than one getting away with a hole In it! Just my 2 cents.

Boomer

[Hondo83]

Born and raised in California central valley bought my first firearm at 18 a ruger 10/22 its seen many changes over the past 30 years started reloading in 96 for a .223 ruger m77 mkII which I had rebarreled to .223 AI. Have been an avid varmint hunter for 30 yrs with various calibers from 17s to 7mm. Started on my 20 cal journey when the tact 20 came out. Had one chambered in an encore barrel. Love the 20's so much I recently put together a rem 700 in 204. I take an annual trip to Cedarville with some of my local sportsman club members and the 204 performed flawlessly.

[ozfox]

Sweet looking rifle
cheers ozfox

[TwentyBore]

Here's my newbie introduction. I shot .22s growing up, was on the HSROTC rifle team in high school, then mostly shot pistols and shotguns for a couple of decades. Recently, I decided that it was time for a rifle again.

[moose73]

hi there ,im a year into 204 ownership and loving it! she's used for fox and rabbit control here in England.its awesome with the nv on as there is virtually no recoil to nudge your eye with the scope rubbers. reloaded all my rounds from day1. have a favourite with some grenades they proper crack on makes my 243 look a snail with 55gr'ers. looking forward to reading and hopefully adding worthy contributions from everyone. cheers guys.

[dead meat]

Hi John here, live on farm in Saskatchewan. Have a Tikka t2 lite in 204 that gets used for coyotes and other vermin around the pastures. Like the 204 for coyotes as it's friendlier on the fur than the 22-250 or 243. Been shooting and hunting for 50 years and reloading for over 40 years.

[ZREXER]

53 years old. I have been shooting since 5 or 6 years old. Not a hunter, not even varmints any more, would rather watch then run around versus blow them up. Punch paper mostly. I was into hand gun metallic silhouette for a number of years, but not active with that anymore. Still have my silhouette pistols, so plan to get involved in this again.

Prior to getting my Savage Model 12 LRPV - Left Port, the most accurate rifle I had was a Remington Model 700 heavy barrel in .223 Rem. That rifle right out of the box with zero tunning was incredibly accurate. dime size or smaller 5 shoot groups at 100 yards as long as I did my part. It is topped with a Leupold 6.5 to 20x.

Now the story behind my getting the Savage Model 12 is as follows. My dad who is in his late 80's (Avid shooter and superb gunsmith still) took it in a trade last year. He messed with it a bit, could not really get it to shoot very well and basically said that 'this type of rifle is not really my thing.'

I didn't really need the Savage (need versus want again!), but he gave me a sweet deal. It had a straight Redding 10X on it. I took it to the range and shot off some of the loads my dad had done and was getting 2 to 3 inch groups at 100 yards. Obviously I was not very impressed. Did some of my own loads with various powders and bullet weights, some improvement, but still not even remotely close to My Renmington 700 in .223.

I decided I needed a better scope, but decided a Leupold was more than I wanted to spend. I got a Bushnell Elite in 8 to 24X. Figured the low recoil would not tax a cheaper scope very much (very happy with the scope). Thinking the scope was the answer, back to the range and still shot 2 1/2 to 3 inch groups with fliers common.

Now back at home, took the stock off, checked everything and carefully re-torqued as per Savage. Checked scope bases for tightness as well. Back to the range, slight improvement. I was starting to think I could not shoot anymore, so I took out the Remington 700 and shot a few 5 shot ragged holes at 100 yards so determined I could still shoot.

So what did I finally discover? I had a copper fouled barrel! I had used a standard Hoppe's cleaner, but had not used a specific copper fouling cleaner. Groups immediately tightened up to dime size or smaller once I had the copper fouling removed. The target below was at 100 yards and the load was 23.5g of H322 and Hornady 40 gr V-Max. I will have to try some of my earlier loads again as with the copper fouled barrel, they may have been better than I thought.




Moral of the story? If you have a gun that is not performing, make usure your barrel is really clean and free of copper fouling!