.204 ?

[snake_2586]

I have settled on a 204 as a long range bunny basher and fox rifle, I am thinking semi custom so my question to the group is what barrel length and what twist rate should I be looking for/at?

I know there are quite a few on here that seem to like the calibre, so personal experience of the above and suggestions on bullet weight welcome, I reload so will not be limited to factory ammo.

Thanks in advance
Snake

 

[bobjs]

JMO: 22" barrel and 1 in 12, should run n 32 to 40 gr pills ok,

bob.

 

[Sonicdmb73]

Depending on what bullet weight you want to use. I would go for a 1 in 9” or possibly faster. You can use the 39’s or 40’s, or go heavier. I have a 9” twist in my 20 Tac it is accurate with 50’s but not 55’s. And the guy it came from said it didn’t shoot with 32’s. I have not tested them myself though.

 

[andy R204]

I've a 26" 1in10 LW barrel on mine,run 40gr Vmax & 50gr Bergers.Iv'e ran a .204 now for 6yr & it's a great calibre,little bit fussy to reload for.Also consumables can be a bit tricky to source at times.
I class it as 350yd gun,stretched it further on the good days but I'll always grab the 6mmBR if I'm on a longer range mooch out

 

[Ttocs]

My Tikka is 1 in 12” shoots 32 and 40 well and that’s all you’ll need for fox and rabbit; light fast and frangiable. The longer the barrel, the faster they go, my 20” runs 32 @ 3700; you’ll need to go to >24” to get over 4000 with sensible loads.
3 - 5 shots in quick succession from a 204 and the barrel/mod start to get pretty hot, I hope you’ve not got a lot of rabbits!

 

[Dale57]

I have settled on a 204 as a long range bunny basher and fox rifle, I am thinking semi custom so my question to the group is what barrel length and what twist rate should I be looking for/at?

I know there are quite a few on here that seem to like the calibre, so personal experience of the above and suggestions on bullet weight welcome, I reload so will not be limited to factory ammo.

Thanks in advance
Snake

Hi I have some 204 nosler brass new ones and once fired if you interested

 

[Longstrider]

Whichever you go for in the end, make sure it's right for you before you take the plunge. My Howa1500 (1:12 I think) is astonishingly effective and accurate as long as I feed it with 32 grain ammo. Give it 40 grainers to spit out and I'd be better off with my catapult I think !

 

[Cyres]

My Savage loves 39 Blitz kings and runs at 3,550 fps using 25.2 grn Reloader 10 x, zeroed at 200 its about 4" low at 300.

More accurate than the shooter.

D

 

[snake_2586]

Thanks for the reply's so far, I choose the 204 as it was something a bit different, I have used a 223 a while ago and liked the calibre, but the rounds seem to have gone up in price considerably (I know reloading cancels that out somewhat but still), so when applying for a new gun I thought I would try something smaller and faster, and after reading various comments on here and other sources the 204 seemed worth a 'shot'.

The thing I suppose I am trying to sort out in my head is, the round is known for its speed, is there any advantage to push it into the 4000fps range? and to do this do I need the longer barrel? logic would say go for the 26" barrel to be able to achieve these figures easier?

Thanks for the offer Dale57, but I am not that far along in the process yet.

Longstrider & Cyres could I ask what barrel length you are using to achieve those figures?

Thanks

 

[Bigboab29]

Mines is a 26 inch 1:9 twist and it handles everything right up to 50gr which is handy up in scotland as the police have ok'd it for roe due to it meeting the parameters of 2450 1000 & 50 but i mainly shoot 39 gr blitzkings with cfe223 and its a monster of a round

 

[Cyres]

I think mine is 22" its a Weather Warrior 16 so you should be able to look it up on Savage web site. My mates .204 ? make runs 100 fps faster using BLC2.

D

 

[Longstrider]

Thanks for the reply's so far, I choose the 204 as it was something a bit different, I have used a 223 a while ago and liked the calibre, but the rounds seem to have gone up in price considerably (I know reloading cancels that out somewhat but still), so when applying for a new gun I thought I would try something smaller and faster, and after reading various comments on here and other sources the 204 seemed worth a 'shot'.

The thing I suppose I am trying to sort out in my head is, the round is known for its speed, is there any advantage to push it into the 4000fps range? and to do this do I need the longer barrel? logic would say go for the 26" barrel to be able to achieve these figures easier?

Thanks for the offer Dale57, but I am not that far along in the process yet.

Longstrider & Cyres could I ask what barrel length you are using to achieve those figures?

Thanks

My .204 rifle is a Howa 1500 with a 22" barrel. I'm yet to chrono it but am assuming that velocity will be down a little on claims by the ammo manufacturers. I currently use factory ammo, Hornady Superformance 32grain and Remington Premier Accutip 32 grain. Both claim over 4000 fps, but that would be happening with at least a 24" barrel. Useage and target work has so far correlated to info gleaned from a ballistics calculator if I feed in all the known figures and guess at 4000fps as velocity.

 

[Tom D]

I have a 10 twist on my vartarg, it shoots the 32'a and the 39/40's extremely accurately, it was ok (3/4") with the 26gn grenades.

 

[JamesDeere]

I’ve had 2 semi custom 204’s, 1 with a 24” 1 in 12 krieger barrel, the other with an identical barrel but 22”. Shooting Hornady 32gr and 40gr over a chrono the 24” achieved 3967fps and 3701fps. The 22” did 3855fps and 3603 fps. So a consistent 50fps/in loss. With the 32gr zeroed at 200 yards the drop at 400 yards was 14.5” v 15.6”. I verified those figures on steel by dialling.
Regards twist 1 in 12 worked fine for me shooting both 32 and 40gr superbly but it’s a lottery whether factory barrels will shoot the 40gr. I previously had a T3 supervarmint 1 in 12 that would shoot the 32, and 39 when they were available, but not the 40s satisfactorily.

 

[snake_2586]

That's the sort of responses I was hoping for, Thanks.
It looks like my theory of wanting a longer barrel is panning out to be true, it would be nice to hit 4000fsp with out have to stoke the round up to much.
I'm curious abut the twist rates, as I have not put much thought into it, and the above stated 1:12 or 1:9 seem to both handle the rounds the respective owners use well. As the gun will probably never travel to Scotland and I don't plan on shooting deer with it, the 1:10 or 1:12 might be better, I'm kinda thinking 40gr as they appear to have a higher BC than the 32's, but this is why I'm after thoughts and experiences from the group.

Thanks, and keep your comments coming
Snake

 

[Scooby-3]

The 39gr sbk have a higher BC than the 40gr vmax

 

[wraith]

Thanks for the reply's so far, I choose the 204 as it was something a bit different, I have used a 223 a while ago and liked the calibre, but the rounds seem to have gone up in price considerably (I know reloading cancels that out somewhat but still), so when applying for a new gun I thought I would try something smaller and faster, and after reading various comments on here and other sources the 204 seemed worth a 'shot'.

The thing I suppose I am trying to sort out in my head is, the round is known for its speed, is there any advantage to push it into the 4000fps range? and to do this do I need the longer barrel? logic would say go for the 26" barrel to be able to achieve these figures easier?

Thanks for the offer Dale57, but I am not that far along in the process yet.

Longstrider & Cyres could I ask what barrel length you are using to achieve those figures?

Thanks

i get 3800fps with 20in pipe and 37g heads with 27g powder from my tikka t3 supervarmint and drops foxes on the spot have had more luck with this caliber than my 243 for foxing had 222 223 and 243 204 i will never sell as for distance its way more than a 300yard gun il leave it at that just get one

 

[JamesDeere]

I’d choose a 1:11 or 1:12, that should give the flexibility to shoot 32, 39 and 40gr. And a max length of 24”, 26” is unnecessary and feels very unwieldy imo

 

[Scott benwell]

Whichever you go for in the end, make sure it's right for you before you take the plunge. My Howa1500 (1:12 I think) is astonishingly effective and accurate as long as I feed it with 32 grain ammo. Give it 40 grainers to spit out and I'd be better off with my catapult I think !

My 1500 will fire 32 and 39 sbk s great show it 40 grn vmax and lucky to hit an a4 sheet

 

[Mr. Gain]

I've got a heavier-barrelled faster-twist (1:8.5) 24" rifle and a light barrelled (1:12) 18" rifle. The latter spends 20 X more time out with me than the former because it's much handier and I hardly ever need more than 250m of reach, especially at night with NV and now thermal. The heavier rifle is therefore strictly a mid-range day-time static-position varmint and steel gun. It's beautifully smooth and accurate and I love shooting it, but I only do so a handful of times each year. What I'm saying is that how you choose/build a gun should match how/where/when you plan to use it.