My son purchased a couple Savage 12's in 204 Ruger and I put a Pride Fowler RR800-1 on each. He promised me that I would get them shooting to one hole groups at 100 yards. So far I have not been able to achieve that goal. The best I have been able to do is .36 with a Nozler 32 grain Balistic Tip and IMR4895.

I have Nozler, Hornady, and Sierra 32 grainers as well as a box of Nozler 40 grains.

I have on hand Varget, BL-C(2), H335, IMR4895, H4895, and Benchmark.

Any help would be appreciated.

.36" isn't bad. It is down in the area where you need to check bedding and stock screw torque and related factors, and not just the load.

Of the powders you mentioned, BL-C2 and H335 and Benchmark will let you put enough in the case to come up into the normal operating pressure range of the the .204 cartridge. The first two are both spherical powders, and in my experience you need to de-burr your case flashholes to get best accuracy from spherical powders in a rifle cartridge.

If I were you, I would consider getting some Reloader 10X, which is made specifically for use with light bullets. Also, take a look at this web site (http://home.earthlink.net/~dannewberry/dannewberrysoptimalchargeweightloaddevelopment/id1.html) to learn how to fire a round robin to help you find your best load.

My son purchased a couple Savage 12's in 204 Ruger and I put a Pride Fowler RR800-1 on each. He promised me that I would get them shooting to one hole groups at 100 yards. So far I have not been able to achieve that goal. The best I have been able to do is .36 with a Nozler 32 grain Balistic Tip and IMR4895.

I have Nozler, Hornady, and Sierra 32 grainers as well as a box of Nozler 40 grains.

I have on hand Varget, BL-C(2), H335, IMR4895, H4895, and Benchmark.

Any help would be appreciated.

Welcome to the forum summerduck. Rules are simple, be nice and join in. It would help if you would type in a normal typeface. Using a big one as you did is akin to shouting on a forum.

I and my old shooting partner both shoot CZ 527's in 204 Ruger. Here's a place I got my loads. I'm using Alliant 10X with both Hornedy's 32's, 40's and Sierra's 39's with great luck. For my guns I'm pushing just over 26 grains for each bullet. 26.8 for the 32's and 26.4 for the 39's and 40's. Were both getting right at dime sized five shot groups.

Here's a place to check out for lots of 204 information.

http://www.204ruger.com/

Here's the last group I shot a couple of weeks ago when I put on the 3 by 9 scope for coyote hunting this fall and winter.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q172/faucettb/Preditor%20masters/targetstoday-20.jpg

.36" isn't bad. It is down in the area where you need to check bedding and stock screw torque and related factors, and not just the load.

Of the powders you mentioned, BL-C2 and H335 and Benchmark will let you put enough in the case to come up into the normal operating pressure range of the the .204 cartridge. The first two are both spherical powders, and in my experience you need to de-burr your case flashholes to get best accuracy from spherical powders in a rifle cartridge.

I I were you, I would consider getting some Reloader 10X, which is made specifically for use with light bullets. Also, take a look at this web site (http://home.earthlink.net/~dannewberry/dannewberrysoptimalchargeweightloaddevelopment/id1.html) to learn how to fire a round robin to help you find your best load.


Thanks UncleNick, that's just what I needed. I'm old enough that I should have rememberd what you're saying. I'm sure it would have come to me sometime but I really needed the jumpstart you gave.

The Round Robin method is really neat. I had never heard of it but you can bet I'll use it.

Again,

THANKS

summerduck

Welcome to the forum summerduck. Rules are simple, be nice and join in. It would help if you would type in a normal typeface. Using a big one as you did is akin to shouting on a forum.

I and my old shooting partner both shoot CZ 527's in 204 Ruger. Here's a place I got my loads. I'm using Alliant 10X with both Hornedy's 32's, 40's and Sierra's 39's with great luck. For my guns I'm pushing just over 26 grains for each bullet. 26.8 for the 32's and 26.4 for the 39's and 40's. Were both getting right at dime sized five shot groups.

Here's a place to check out for lots of 204 information.

http://www.204ruger.com/

Here's the last group I shot a couple of weeks ago when I put on the 3 by 9 scope for coyote hunting this fall and winter.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q172/faucettb/Preditor%20masters/targetstoday-20.jpg

Sorry about the big print. When I did the post I looked at the font sizes and it showed 1,2,3,4, etc. I had never seen font sizes described like that. Oh well I know now.

Thanks for your information. I will put it to work Monday AM and see if it moves me a little closer.

Thank you very much faucettb

summerduck

.36" isn't bad. It is down in the area where you need to check bedding and stock screw torque and related factors, and not just the load.

Of the powders you mentioned, BL-C2 and H335 and Benchmark will let you put enough in the case to come up into the normal operating pressure range of the the .204 cartridge. The first two are both spherical powders, and in my experience you need to de-burr your case flashholes to get best accuracy from spherical powders in a rifle cartridge.

I I were you, I would consider getting some Reloader 10X, which is made specifically for use with light bullets. Also, take a look at this web site (http://home.earthlink.net/~dannewberry/dannewberrysoptimalchargeweightloaddevelopment/id1.html) to learn how to fire a round robin to help you find your best load.

I did a visual of the flash hole of several of the new cases and they looked fine. I then probed them with a thin punch with sharp edges and I could feel the burrs all over the place.

I cleaned that up and I started getting one holers at 100 yards... over and over again.

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

. . .I cleaned that up and I started getting one holers at 100 yards... over and over again.

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For years I've been telling people how flashhole deburring took 40% off the size of groups in my M1A when I was using Accurate 2520, but they tend to dismiss it as impossible. Glad to have someone else experience the same thing. Which powder is that with, by the way? Care to post the load, including case and primer brand?

For years I've been telling people how flashhole deburring took 40% off the size of groups in my M1A when I was using Accurate 2520, but they tend to dismiss it as impossible. Glad to have someone else experience the same thing. Which powder is that with, by the way? Care to post the load, including case and primer brand?


Hi Nick,

I'm surprised that people, especially shooters, do not believe what a shooter with vast experience says about shrinking group sizes. You are absolutely correct that a very smooth flash hole, as opposed to a really rough one, will shrink a group size a great deal.

I was using virgin Remington Brass, 32 grain Nozler Balistic tip 204 and 28.3 grains of H335, and a Winchester Small Rifle Primer. I full length sized the cases then trimmed them all to the same length. Don't have the length in front of me or the seating depth. I did work with that some until I got the best I could get. I was surprised to get these groups with that charge. I was expecting the reduced charges to produce the best groups but not so presently.

I can get nothing in this small dipwad town I live in so I have to wait on shipping. I did order 2000 Remington Bench Rest primers. All bench rest primers seem to be hard to find. I suspect I may have to start over when I get the good primers but that's OK.

Again, thanks for your help and it was nice hearing from you again.

summerduck

For years I've been telling people how flashhole deburring took 40% off the size of groups in my M1A when I was using Accurate 2520, but they tend to dismiss it as impossible. Glad to have someone else experience the same thing. Which powder is that with, by the way? Care to post the load, including case and primer brand?

How do you deburr the flash hole? I have a primer pocked reamer, but do I need another tool for the flash hole?

bentrod

Yup bentrod RCBS makes a tool specifically for doing just that. Midway has them.

Bentrod,

As Bob says, it is a separate tool. The flashhole burr is on the inside of the case, not on the primer pocket side, so you need a deburring tool that reaches down inside through the case mouth to clean it up. The tool Bob mentioned is one, and Sinclair International has one. Others are available. I think maybe K&M has one, probably sold by Bruno Shooter's Supply. The alternative is to invest in expensive European brass, like Norma and Lapua, which usually has no burr to begin with.

Lyman makes a good flashhole deburrer, but it won't work on cases smaller than .22 calibre. That probably applies to several other makes too. Sinclair makes a .17 calibre tool that should work on the .204.
http://www.sinclairintl.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=RECPDT&item=DB-1700&type=store

Bye
Jack

How do you deburr the flash hole? I have a primer pocked reamer, but do I need another tool for the flash hole?

bentrod


Hi BentRod,

Yes you need another tool for that. Finding one for the 204 is a real challenge.

I finally purchased one from MidwayUSA. Of course it was to large to fit down the mouth of a 204 so I had to file it down a bit before it would fit. After that it worked really good. You'd be surprised what come out of the casing.

Go to the MidwayUSA web site and look for part number 729748. it's called a "Lyman Flash Hole Uniformer Tool" and cost $10 or $12 dollars... money well spent.

Hope this helps,

summerduck

Or you can just buy a long #1 center drill (http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNSRIT?PMCTLG=00&PMAKA=01044163&partnerURL=http://catalogs.shoplocal.com/mscdirect/index.aspx%6Fpagename=shopmain%50circularid=11264% 50pagenumber=204%50mode=). At only 1/8" diameter, you might want to put a little heat shrink over it to give yourself a handle and better case fit and to put a drill stop collar on it to regulate depth. If you want to get fancy, you can go to the hobby shop and buy some telescoping tubing to glue it into. The end of the tube can be position to serve as the stop.

P.S.: Above is an error. Should use a #2. Follow Jack's link in the next post below.

The Lyman is a short #2 center drill fitted into a .217 shaft. A long #2 should be a better fit for a .204 Ruger case than a #1.
http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNSRIT?PMPXNO=1676098&PMT4NO=0

Bye
Jack

The Lyman is a short #2 center drill . . .

I looked at that and misread the drill tip diameter. Probably clicked on #3 by mistake in the catalog. Thanks for catching and correcting that. #2 is definitely the one you want to use.