Possible 204 Ruger Bolt Gun Build

[lgwatson]

Looking at building a 204 Ruger on a Remington 700 action with a Krieger 9 twist barrel. I would like to shoot 50 and 55 grain Berger Varmint Boat tails or Hornardy Vmax 40s. Any input regarding chamber freebore or other advice from others with experience with this set up would be helpful and appreciated.

 

[Mark M.]

Repeater or single shot?

 

[L.Sherm]

What do you plan on shooting with the 204?

 

[Hotshot]

Sherm will help you get this right.
Personally I would shoot the 40 grain bullets in an 11 twist barrel from a 204R and build a 9 twist to shoot the 55's from a larger cartridge. Berger doesn't make 50's anymore. I have struggled with the 55's to get the accuracy I want so I turned to custom made 50's. I like the 20-250 cartridge because it feeds so nice from the 700 magazine.

 

[L.Sherm]

I'm with Hotshot on the 40's.
Its gonna be hard to throat for both 55's and 40's if you want maximum adjustability and stay above the neck shoulder junction.
40's - 11tw and no more than .010 freebore, if you dead set on 55's 9tw and send a dummy round to JGS with the boatail- bearing surface seated just above the neck shoulder junction and let them build you a reamer to that.
If your just shooting P.D or sage rats definitely 40's. Yotes I would shoot the 35 or 40 Bergers in an 11 tw

 

[Matt_3479]

I have an 11 twist and a 10 twist and both are fantastic. With the 55’s sometimes hard to come by throating for that would risk the chance of having success with others. A 204 and 55’s is long as well out of the 223 style mags. Something like a 20-223ai would give you similar performance and more mag room as well as better brass. Stepping up to a 20br, 20bra, 20dasher would give you better feeding and speeds for the 55

 

[Tommie]

+1 on sticking with 40’s in a 204.

 

[NorCalMikie]

Go ZERO free bore and be done with it. Seat into the lands and as the throat wears, you can seat longer and still get to the lands.
Nothing worse than finding your happy seating place, the throat wears and you can't get there anymore. (from experience)

 

[lgwatson]

Repeater or single shot?

Model 700 Remington, repeater no detachable magazine. I usually single shot even though i have the internal magazine.

 

[lgwatson]

What do you plan on shooting with the 204?

Prairie dogs, varmints and targets.

 

[RegionRat]

Just talking out loud and giving opinions, not to try and say you shouldn't do this if you really have your heart set on it.
When a Berger 55 goes down range at 3600 fps or more, it out shines the 39/40 grain bullets in every way, especially out at distance.
The 204 Ruger case has plenty of room to run 39/40 grain bullets to get them to perform, but it doesn't have enough room to get a 55 to 3600 fps.

 

[ASbobcat]

Looking at building a 204 Ruger on a Remington 700 action with a Krieger 9 twist barrel. I would like to shoot 50 and 55 grain Berger Varmint Boat tails or Hornardy Vmax 40s. Any input regarding chamber freebore or other advice from others with experience with this set up would be helpful and appreciated.

I would consider a 20 Tactical.

Same performance with virtually unlimited high quality LC NATO brass picked up free at your range.
No fireforming. Run fired 223 in die and shoot. Sizing die available from Redding and any 223 seater works.

 

[varmit_hunter]

I sure like the Berger 35gr in mine. I also worked up a load with Berger 40gr to. Came across some of the old stock of Berger 30gr bullets.

 

[paulmoney]

Dan Dowling built me a tac 20 in 2014 hart 12twist and it lives Berger 40s and sierra 32s
And will shoot little bitty groups

 

[lgwatson]

Would a 9 twist shoot the Berger 55 grain. I am also considering the Berger 40 grain and Hornady 40 vmax.
I saw an article on accurate shooter about the 20 practical.

 

[lgwatson]

I have noticed some barrel makers are making 7 twist barrels. Would this bee too much twist for the 40 grain bullets?

 

[L.Sherm]

I have noticed some barrel makers are making 7 twist barrels. Would this bee too much twist for the 40 grain bullets?

You dont want a 7, if your dead set on 55's get a 9 twist.
Theres alot of 9's shooting 55's out there even in 20VT, dont over think it rely on real world experience.

 

[L.Sherm]

Look at it this way, just because a single digit E.S or S.D is suppose to be better than a double digit one its not always the case, just like twist calculators its not always the case just because its suppose to be better or it says you may not have optimum B.C, so whats the worse case scenario one more click of the turret?

 

[RegionRat]

Would a 9 twist shoot the Berger 55 grain. I am also considering the Berger 40 grain and Hornady 40 vmax.
I saw an article on accurate shooter about the 20 practical.

I run 9 and was worried about it long ago when the Berger Stability Calculator was saying that wasn't enough, but on the advice of several friends who were already running this bullet in wildcats, and on the advice from friends at Bartlein Barrels, I went with 9 twist for the Berger 55 and it works great. I even shoot it down to about 2650 feet altitude, and no issues out past 1000 yards.
Here is a window from a month ago that represents a farm in Wyoming with a DA of 6714 feet in summer heat, but was really about 4000 feet. My SG was 1.41 with a fire form load at 3650 fps.

 

[RegionRat]

I have noticed some barrel makers are making 7 twist barrels. Would this bee too much twist for the 40 grain bullets?

Yes, that is too much and you don't need it spinning that fast.
Most of my rigs for 204 Ruger are a 11 or 10 twist and work great with 39/40 grain bullets in the 3500 to 3900 fps speed range.