204 ruger powder choice with 39s and 40s

[Chris Shelton]

What is your favorite choice of powder for 39 gr blitzkings or 40 gr vmax? I’ve always shot 32 gr vmax out of it before I rebarreled it. Currently putting together a 20 vartarg to shoot 32s so thought I’d bump up to 39/40 on the 204. Any input is much appreciated. Ideally want to stick with hodgdon or IMR powders.

 

[varmintshooter]

8208

 

[20 TAC]

Don’t have great experience with multiple powders but as ‘varmintshooter’ suggested above, 8208 has served me well. I know Reloader 10x is extremely popular as well.

 

[COhunter]

Hard to find right now but H4895 is good, as is Benchmark. At least they are for my rifle

 

[JB10]

H4895 for me

 

[brokeasajoke]

I was wondering this very question last week as I have an unopened box of 39grBK to try

 

[450BM]

CFE 223

BL C2 for the 32 gr but with the 39gr the action was a little “sticky”…

 

[tjtjwdad]

For me the following produced accurate loads with the 39gr SBK:

IMR-8208
H-4895
Varget
Benchmark
RL-10x
RL-15

For the best combination of both speed and accuracy; RL-15.

 

[fp4]

8208 right now but have shot a lot of h4895 also.

 

[Chris Shelton]

Do you all find 8208 to be temp stable? I have about 8 lb of it but have only used it in my 17 Remington for 1 prairie dog hunt. Didn’t have any issues but that was only a 400 rd sample in pretty cool weather.

I have about 4 lb of H4895 that I don’t use for much so I’ll give it a shot too. It can be found around these parts not constantly but pretty regular.

Thanks for the replies!

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

8208 have shot on summer pd and winter coyote, no issues.

 

[Hotshot]

When I got tired of chasing R10X, Benchmark, IMR8208 which all worked great but I couldn’t count on a steady supply, I went to TAC.
It is accurate fast and readily available. For some reason the 39SBK like 26.5 grains and the 40Vmax do better with 27 grains.

 

[20 TAC]

When I got tired of chasing R10X, Benchmark, IMR8208 which all worked great but I couldn’t count on a steady supply, I went to TAC.
It is accurate fast and readily available. For some reason the 39SBK like 26.5 grains and the 40Vmax do better with 27 grains.

Good information as I’ve been wondering about trying some TAC. Do you find it to be clean burning?

 

[lawman29]

Benchmark & 39 sbk & 205M & Nosler brass

 

[Hotshot]

Good information as I’ve been wondering about trying some TAC. Do you find it to be clean burning?

I clean often (100 rounds or less) and I don't see TAC being dirty. TAC was originated for military rounds and it has CFE according to my friend who loads and sells to military contracts. I bought 30 pounds several years ago and I'm still working on that keg.

 

[STOMP442]

Benchmark was the winner for me in the last one I messed with. H4895 and Varget has also worked well in a couple others.

 

[varget204]

I use Varget, Win-748, IMR8208,H4895 That is out of 6 barrel's 2-1-12 twist 4-1-11 twist for the 40 V-Max & 39 B. King

 

[varmit_hunter]

H4895 RL10 and Tac. I have a 1@10 twist barrel. When I got my 204 ruger. I bought powder primers brass and bullets. To last a very long time.

 

[LeoHuhta]

24.9 grains of N133

 

[Tommie]

Like others, I’ve settled on 8208 XBR. It checks the boxes for accuracy, velocity, and temp insensitivity. CFE223 and 2520 did very well but fall short in the temp stable column.