.204 ruger

[nitro640]

I am planning on buying a varmint rifle, Does anybody know anything about the .204 ruger ? cost of ammo compared to a .223 ? ballistics ? Thanks for any help.

[irvingdog]

The beauty of the .223 is the low cost. The .204 is a necked-down .223, and much flatter and faster, but for most plinking and varmints, shooters find a .223 is all most folks need.

[lawdog]

I'm not familiar with the .204 but when I bought my .223 one of the big reasons was the extremely low cost to shoot it. There is TONS of ammo out there due to the overabundance of military .223 brass that is re-loaded.

[Pistolero]

I found some load data links when I did a google search for the .204 Ruger. Also, shootersforum.com is a good place to ask about it. Shooting Times had a write up on it in the last issue.

[Jackpine Rob]

There are some pretty good posts in the Predator Masters forum as well dealing with this caliber. "A .17 Rem on steroids" is how one fellow described it.

My understanding is that the case is based on the .222. A buddy just plunked down the greenbacks for a Rem Mod 700 LVSF in .204, so I'll get a scouting report after he has the thing properly broken in. Initial reports are extremely encouraging. The only thing holding me back right now is that the factory loads available are plastic-tipped, which I have a real aversion to for high velocity predator shooting.

Guys have been playing around with various .20 caliber wildcats for years, the most popular being the TAC20, which looks ballistically awful close to the .204. Those who use them absolutely swear by them.

[irvingdog]

Oops! You are right. It's a necked down .222.

[nitro640]

Thanks for the replies, I checked the cost of ammo the other day, .223 $11.99, 22-250 $13.99, .204 ruger $16.99 a box. I think I am going to take a long look at a 22-250.

[lawdog]

I think you should be able to buy .223's for less than that pretty commonly.

[Redhead76]

considering the fact that the 223 is 11.99 for 50 or 60 and the other popular calibers usually come in 20 rounds

[muskybuck]

Gander Mountain yesterday, 223 was $13. for a box of 20. Would a 22mag be enough gun for hunting coyotes?

Update: Fleet Farm 223, box of 20, five bucks!!

[lawdog]

Bass Pro Shops 200 rds Rem. UMC 49 grain .223 shells $49.99. That's 4.99 for 20. This is just one of many examples...

There is just no way you can legitimately claim to be able to shoot other centerfire varmint weapons as cheap as a .223, it just isn't true.

The .22 mag does not have much range but it could kill an 'ote up tight...

[muskybuck]

I would like to buy myself a coyote gun. That 223 sounds like it might be the one. I guess I should of kept that Mini 14 I owned 20 years ago.

[carpshooterdeluxe]

my boss let my borrow his .204 ruger heavy barrel no. 1....i took it out to the farm for the weekend and really really really made a mess out of the stray mangy cats in the trees. i really like the fact that the .204 has a light enough recoil that you can stay on target with the scope to see bullet impact. on a side note, ive taken fox and coyote at 100 yards with a .22 mag, nice thing is that theres no exit hole to worry about, but they still drop dead.

[Ruttin' Buck]

Can't help you at all with the .204 but I can tell you I've looked at alot of ballistics charts in my day. I tend to love the flattest shooting rounds for every type of hunting situation.

I had been reloading my own 100grn hollows for my 7 mil rem. mag which was cool because if I recall right I was spittin' them out at about 3700 fps.

After several years of adjusting the scope from 175 grn for whitetail to 140 for Texas to 100 for varmint I decided to really start looking.

I had my sights (no pun intended) on one of the new WSSM's. Not that popular yet was one of the problems. I noticed in the ballistics charts that the 243 WSSM actually shoots flatter than the 223 WSSM which is not typical of the non-super short mag rounds. The 243 WSSM dumps rounds out between 3900 and 4200 fps! Nice part is that the 243 could also be used for deer hunting.

My search ended with the 70+ yr old time tested 22-250 round. My dad has the reloading dies so that was another bonus. I found a used one with a 4-16 power scope for $250 so I couldn't pass it up.

If you exclude the new WSSM's, I don't know of a varmint round in all of the ballistics charts I've studied that will beat the 22-250 out to 300-500 yards with the equivalent bullet weight...and in most cases the 55 grn bullet will shoot flatter than most of the 40 grain bullets from your 22 hornet, 220 swift, etc.