Getting a Remington XR-100 next week!!

[AP2020]

in .204 Ruger.

I had an Encore barrel in .204 Ruger.

I have reloaded for some 22 years now, just curious on some of you guys that have the Remington XR-100.

All opinions welcomed.....good or bad!!

Favorite loads?

Powders?

Cartridge overall lengths?

Neck sizing?

My bullet of choice has been the Berger 35 gr. standard and moly.

I will be getting some H4895 to try, currently using H322 and H335.

Thanks....lost of good stuff here!!

 

[Rodbolt]

You will like the XR in .204Ruger. First glass bed the action,stress free) into the stock and adjust the trigger. Your bullet and powder selections are very good. If you need others to try, my favorite bullet is the 39gr Sierra BlitzKing, it has a much lighter jacket for violent expansion and a better Ballistic Coefficient The Sierra will run with the Berger for accuracy. I do prefer the better penetration of the 35gr Berger for coyotes though. If you don't like your other powder choices my favorite is VV N-133. Good luck.

 

[RJinTexas]

LivetoHunt,
27.0 gr / RL15 behind a 40gr Vmax, CCI400 primer, Hornady brass with bullet seated to touch the lands at a oal of 2.350,in my barrel) at a low 52187 psi = 3546 fps. This combo shoots lights out in every 204 I've seen it tried in. I've got a Encore that with scope weighs just over 12lbs, it's wearing a BullBerry custom stock equipped with their hanger system for the wide forearm and a full bull 26" SS Wilson barrels. This rifle doesn't know it not suppose to regularly shoot 100yd one hole groups with a varmint round. This load also shoot extremely well in a 700 wearing a 26" #7 Pacnor and a plain Jane factory Savage Varmint rifle. You'll find the lighter bullets get blown around pass 200yards. The 40 and 39 grain bullets buck the wind much better and will out perform a 22-250 shooting 50 or 55 grain bullets out past 400yds.

Note: Please start low and work up. My QuicLOAD program shows this load to be safe with the bullet seated at the industry's standard of 2.200 oal at 56503 psi @ 3715 fps, also note with bullet seated at industry std my program shows max load to be 27.1 grains. I Hope you find this is helpful have fun and enjoy your 204.


RJ

 

[Hapnin]

bullet seated to touch the lands at a oal of 2.350,in my barrel)

Industry Standard-2.200

That's .150" diference...seems like a lot to me,I'm fairly new).

Please explain.

 

[RJinTexas]

Steve, I'll try my best to explain, first off I miss typed the listed OAL all for all .204 bullets on QuickLOAD for the 204 Ruger it is 2.220 not 2.200 as I previously stated. I'm glad you questioned it as I'D RATHER TAKE A WHIPPING THEN PUT OUT BAD INFO. Yes I know that's still a .130 difference. I can't swear that the 2.220 is industry std OAL, as I don't have a current dated reloading manual listing the 204 Ruger as QL and my lap has replaced the need to update. QuickLOAD is usually spot on. I did go to my reloading room and check these measurement, and just for grins I found a couple of boxes of early factory Hornady in both 32's & 40's and their OAL was within 0.002 of each other at 2.233 and 2.235 go figure.

When the 204 Ruger first hit the market one of the knocks on it was excessive free bore. This was pointed out by Todd Kindler in Small Caliber News and again in his book The Terrific Twenties, he suggested ordering a shorter throated reamer from PT&G to eliminate some of the bullet jump. That's why some rifle's don't group well with factory ammo. I order mine before there was even brass available and we had to shoot factory ammo to get brass to reload.

Anyway QL shows bearing surface of the bullet shank of both the 32gr & 40gr Vmax to be identical even though the flat based 32gr bullet's length is listed at 0.639, the 40 gr length is 0.749, the 0.090 difference is all in the rather long boat tail on the 40gr Vmax bullet. So to achieve the same shank seating depth you have to seat both bullets at the same OAL.
As a rule of thumb the shank seating depth of any given bullet must equal at least one half of the bullets diameter in depth to keep bullet run out in check. Varmint rifles we use in prairie dog towns always use ammo that kept in plastic boxes and are loaded one round at a time so the short seating depth isn't a problem.

My 204 has all but made my 223 obsolete it's now a safe queen, the 204 is my 2nd favorite varmint caliber behind a pair of 6mmbr's a 14tw and a 8tw.

Back to the QuickLOAD program:
Case TL @ 1.843 - OAL @ 2.220 - shank seat depth @ 0.262 for both the 32gr & 40gr Vmax,note this load only has the tip of the bullet out of the case much like factory ammo)
27.0 gr / RL 15 - 40 gr Vmax = 56513 psi @ 3715 fps

My pet load using QL stats:
Case TL @ 1.843 - OAL @ 2.350 - shank seating depth @ 0.134
27.0 gr / RL 15 - 40 gr Vmax = 52247 psi @ 3647 fps
,Note: the low chamber pressure and still decent velocity, I can shoot 100rd box of this ammo without stopping to clean and there's not much copper fouling in the barrel and the accuracy doesn't start to fade as the barrel doesn't overheat)
This load's chronograph speed using my 35p was just over 3640 fps in 90 plus temp with very low ES & SD.

I hope this clears up your questions concerning the AOL large spread.

RJ

 

[Hapnin]

Sounds good. My new Horn book lists max COL at 2.260". That must be the measurement with the "excessive" freebore,if I understand correctly).

Thanks, Steve.

 

[Obtunded]

I absolutely love the 204 ruger cartridge and I have owned several XR100's in different calibers. I always customize them after playing with them, but like all factory guns, I find their out-of-box accuracy to be mediocre.,3/4 - 1 MOA with hand-loads)

Once re-barrelled, the difference was huge.

The biggest problem with the factory barrels is the fact that they use twists rates too slow for the bullets available. the 32 grain Vmax needs a 1:11 whereas the 40 needs a 1:10. Remington supplies a 1:12" twist! And of course, the throat is way too long.

My favorite load for the 40 grain V-max is 30.2 grains of BL-C2 the the bullet touching the lands popped by a CCI 450.

Here is one I turned into a 6X47 Lapua...

 

[Hapnin]

Nice rig...the view out the window ain't too shabby neither.