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fellas i hope this is ok to copy and paste - if not someone delete it and let me know i follow whats right real easy --------pressure-tested load data has been released by Hodgdon and Hornady, and Walt Berger has supplied load data derived from the NECO QuickLOAD program. Not surprisingly, the powders most suitable for the .204 Ruger are those commonly used for small-caliber cases of the same general capacity, such as the .223 Rem. and .222 Rem. Mag. Published data exists for Alliant's Reloader 15; Hodgdon's Benchmark, BL-C(2), H322, H335, H4895 and Varget; IMR 3031, 4064, 4198 and 4895; VihtaVuori N133, N135, N140 and N540; and Winchester 748. At present, .204 Ruger load data has not yet been published for any Accurate Arms or Ramshot powders.
Hornady New Dimension reloading dies and Hornady brass were used to develop loads for this article. Both factory-primed virgin brass and : once-fired brass were employed. A small quantity of Remington once-fired brass was also used. Federal 205M Small Rifle Match primers were used for almost all the once-fired brass, with a small number of cases used with spherical powder loads being primed with CCI Small Rifle Magnum primers. Die operations were performed using Reading's T-7 turret press; priming was accomplished using an RGBS hand-priming unit.
Brass preparation was fairly basic. The expander ball was run into the new cases to expand the necks to a uniform roundness and size; once-fired brass was run just far enough into the sizing die to resize the neck, without moving the shoulder back; the case mouths were deburred inside and out; and the cases were measured to ensure they did not exceed the nominal 1.850'' maximum length.
Powder charges for my .204 Ruger test loads were held to within 0.1 gr. using a Hornady GS-1000 electronic scale. Since high velocity is one of the principal benefits of this cartridge, my loads were within 0.2 to 0.3 grs. of the published maximums, but never exceeded them. It's worth noting that many standard reloading funnels won't work with the smaller neck of the .204 Ruger. Midway's powder funnel set with the interchangeable .17-cal. adapter worked just fine with the .204, though care was required to prevent bridging with coarser-grained powders, such as RL 15.
Though nominal cartridge OAL was listed as 2.260'' from Hornady specifications, actual length varied with the seating depth recommendations of the data, from 2.240'' to 2.300''. A Cerrosafe cast of the chamber of the Remington XR-100 test rifle showed that there was a sufficiently long throat to prevent bullets from being jammed into the rifling even at the longest OAL.
Both the factory Hornady and Remington loads, as well as the handloads, were tested at the range using a Remington XR-100 single-shot bolt-action rifle with a 26'' varmint-weight barrel shot off sandbags. Sighting was via a Bushnell Elite 4200 6-24X variable scope; velocities were measured using a chronograph placed 15 ft. from the muzzle, to save time and conserve both brass'and bullets, three five-shot groups were fired for each load.
Several interesting phenomena were noted during the test-firing session. First, the test rifle didn't do as well as expeated with factory ammunition, the best grouping being 1.02'' with the Hornady 40-gr. V-MAX load. This was puzzling, as reports indicate that most factory rifles will group into 0.5'' to 0.7'' with the Hornady and Remington ammo. This level of accuracy was achieved with a variety of handloads in the XR-100, however, quashing speculation that the test rifle might have had a defective crown or some other fundamental problem. It should be noted that the handloads developed were not "accuracy" loads-that is, they were hot optimized for charge weight, neck concentripity, seating depth and so forth. There is little doubt that accuracy routinely bettering 0.5 m.o.a. could be achieved in this rifle if such loads were worked up.
Furthermore, chronographed velocities ran 200-300 f.p.s. belpw the published figures for the charge weights with many of the handloads. This discrepancy might be caused by differences in throat or bore dimensions between the barrel of the test gun and the barrels used to generate the load data. Moreover, both the factory loads and the handloads exhibited relatively high velocity standard deviations, which were hard to explain given the care with which powder charges were weighed and given the high loading density with almost all of the powders. These broad velocity spreads did not seem to correlate with accuracy, however. The use of CCI Small Rifle Magnum primers with spherical powders, such as Winchester 748 and Hodgdon BL-C(2), did not improve ballistic uniformity in my loads. It is worth noting here that factory ammunition is loaded with non-canister-grade powders. Thus, the reloader will not match factory velocity figures with any of the published data.
------- Berger had previously advised me that his 50-gr. hollow-point bullet would not stabilize in the 1:12'' twist that was the standard for factory barrels, and he was correct-dramatically so, with 100-yd. groups barely staying on the target paper and nearly all bullets impacting at a considerable yaw angle. A 1:9''-twist barrel is needed for this projectile.
Blindingly fast, low-recoiling, easy on barrels and on a keg of powder, inherently accurate, and sufficiently flat shooting for varmints at extended range, the .204 Ruger is one of the more impressive varmint cartridges introduced in the past few decades.
_____________So fellas what do you make of this info - i really didnt see where it was going except is 1:12 not right for 50gr and is he having same problems as me or what lol-
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