Ruger MkII VT .204 Bullet OAL and Jump

[AnthonyC]

Hello All,

I have been reading for a while but only just got a login. My background is hunting and have had rifles all my life but only just bought a .204 in a Ruger MKII VT with a Nightforce 3.5-15 scope.

I have been shooting some factory Hornady 40gr Vmax which shoot with impressive accuracy, but have the gear for reloading which i have started and taking some to the range this weekend for testing.

My question is around the OAL of the bullet, and bullet jump to the lands and what people have found is working. Yes I also do know that each rifle is different and the only way to determine what is best for mine is testing! However;

I have measure a bullet OAL with the bullet on the lands which is 2.455" (62.35mm) The bullet is also halfway down the neck of the case at this length.

The standard Hornady 40gr vmax OAL is 2.243" (56.97mm)

The jump for a standard bullet is 0.212" this seems quite excessive to me but what are peoples thoughts?

Thanks Guys

Anthony

[shootingcharley]

Hi Anthony on the Ruger MKII VT you will be very much governed by the magazine unless you are prepared to load it one at a time, when i had the standard barrel on mine i was shooting 158 thou off the lands and it shot well with that, as you say the only way is to test a few and see what it likes.

Cheers shootingcharley.

[geoff23]

I,ave found that 2.300 was the max I could fit in the magaize of my ruger vt , plus at this length it did shoot the best, This was using 32grain vmaxs. Have you try-ed benchmark powder yet??