.204 ruger

Ammoman

Has anyone got a .204 and if so what is it like to shoot , what kind of results are you getting with it ?

mifyah1

.5 moa groups at 100 yds and confirmed effective at 240 yds on small game. Review in this month's Shooters Digest.

Ammoman

havent got the mag yet , must try tomorrow, have you shot one ?

mifyah1

A friend has one. Second choice. Couldn't get a .223 permit. I've shot it to 320 yards. Loses it a bit at that range but it's very effective at normal fox ranges.

Ammoman

Does the wind effect it much ? i was using a swift the other day and it didnt like the wind at all... :rolleyes:

Rovi

Here's a quick and dirty scan of a Shooting Times article (April 2005) on the Ruger .204-


CAUTION!-
It's 620kb, but that's as small as I could make it and keep it legible.
Sorry about that, it IS an interesting article though.

Wind drift-
According to the article, with a 10mph crosswind, you get these approximate figures at 300 yards-
.17 Remington- 10 inches
.204 Ruger- 9 inches
.223 Remington- 11 inches

A bit of research on the .220 Swift comes up with around 12 inches of drift at the same range.
These are very rough and ready figures, and a host of variables between ammunition manufacturers, rifles, etc, will change them around a bit.

Looks like the Ruger is marginally the best though


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Ammoman

yes the article is excellent , they are saying the effective range is only 325 yds , i wonder will it perform out further ?

i would love to give the prarie dog varminting a go.....

You should have a look at the Leinster Rifle & Pistol club website , they have a link to a video clip of prarie dog shooting . i put up a link in another thread.

thanks Rovi. :cool:

Rovi

Well, just for laughs I plugged a 40 grain V-Max .204 Ruger round into Shoot 3 with a 10mph crosswind, and I get this-



Zero is set at 200 yards.

Interesting points-
Drop and Drift both almost double between 300 and 400 yards.
At 700 yards, it's still carrying about the same energy as a high-velocity .22LR (at the muzzle!), but there's over 10 FEET of Drop and 5 FEET of Drift at that range
At 1000 yards, it's performing about the same as a decent airgun, but the Drop and Drift are ludicrous.

Also interestingly, 'optimising' the round for Prairie Dogs gives a 230 yard zero, and a Point Blank range of 267 yards-


It certainly shoots pretty flat, doesn't it?


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Ammoman

It sure does , it shoots flatter than a 6.5x55 at 400 and 600 yds, the windage is the problem , but thats because of the light bullet :cool:

Rovi

Yeah, but don't forget that a 140 grain Swede is leaving the barrel at around 2600fps, as against the 40 grain Ruger's 3900fps.
There's a huge difference straight away.
But, by the time they both get out to 700 yards (0.873 seconds later for the Ruger and 1.035 seconds for the 6.5x55), the 6.5 is moving FASTER than the Ruger!
And at 1000 yards it's still capable of doing something meaningful.

So, it would appear that little light bullets can be launched faster and will fly flatter, but big heavy ones are less effected by the wind and perform better at long range.


Hey, I think I've just re-invented the wheel


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Rovi

Ammoman wrote:

You should have a look at the Leinster Rifle & Pistol club website , they have a link to a video clip of prarie dog shooting .

Ah, 'dogbegone'

I have the full DVD.
Suffice to say it's not one I'd show to anyone squeamish.
Spectacular stuff, but I can see the likes of PETA going apoplectic over it.


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Ammoman

have you done a comparison on your ballistics program ? How accurate is the program , i have used a few but always get different results , and i still havent found one that is Bang On

Rovi

Ammoman wrote:

have you done a comparison on your ballistics program ? How accurate is the program , i have used a few but always get different results , and i still havent found one that is Bang On

I played around with a few before I settled on Shoot.
I have no idea how accurate it is, but it's the easiest to use that I could find!

In fairness, it's got a vast amount of changable parameters, of which I only meddle with a few.
It does seem to come up pretty close to other published ballistic data, and I use it mostly for academic exercises like we've just been at.

If/when I get into reloading, I'll see how true to life it is, but for now if does what I want it to do.


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Ammoman

Rovi wrote:

I played around with a few before I settled on Shoot.
I have no idea how accurate it is, but it's the easiest to use that I could find!

In fairness, it's got a vast amount of changable parameters, of which I only meddle with a few.
It does seem to come up pretty close to other published ballistic data, and I use it mostly for academic exercises like we've just been at.

If/when I get into reloading, I'll see how true to life it is, but for now if does what I want it to do.


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OK rovi . the last time i posted something that was off topic Civdef closed the thread before i could post an answer so I will open another thread specifically about ballistic software, catch ya later.... :rolleyes: