Who shoots a Ruger .204 upper on their AR-15?

[Jeff A]

I'm interested in your accuracy and loads and if you can keep your target in view during firing, if you are a varmint hunter.

 

[searcher]

Depends a lot on how heavy your gun is and how heavy your bullet is. If you have a heavy contour barrel, and maybe 24" - 26" long, shooting light 32 or 35 grain bullets, you can see a lot better than with a skinny barrel and heavier bullet. Better still, add a brake if you don't mind them. You can just follow the critter as it runs and keep shooting accurately, watching your hits/misses. Brakes will ensure you see what is going on if the weight of your rig and light bullets don't do the trick by themselves. A braked .204 recoils so little that I just took a .17 Hornet over to get it braked because it slightly rocked my off my sight picture more than my .204. when shooting the 'heavier" bullets in it. And that thing is a mouse!

 

[Jeff A]

Thanks for the info. I'm planning on a 24" barrel. One inch under the handguard, then .850 from manifold to muzzle. I'm going to be shooting 32 grain bullets to keep recoil to a minimum. I also have a PRS stock which is heavy even though it is one the wrong end. I could do a 26" barrel. That should do It??

 

[dsandfort]

I run a 24" Shilen 9 twist using 40 grain Noslers with just over 23 grains of H322. It is a genuine half MOA and can do .2 and .3 . I use a JP adjustable gas block and turn it off for colony critters and on for coyotes. I can watch the action from the bench as long as I keep the magnification down below 14-16x.

 

[Jeff A]

You make a good point dsandfort. Too many times I leave my scope on 18X when it should be turned down. Why do you turn off your gas block for the small varmints?

 

[dsandfort]

So I don't have to police 200+ pieces of brass out of the sage and grass. It's funny how something so bright can disappear in the dirt.
I forgot to mention that my upper is an ambi side-charger so I can rack the round with my left hand while catching the spent brass with my right.

 

[Jeff A]

So I don't have to police 200+ pieces of brass out of the sage and grass. It's funny how something so bright can disappear in the dirt.
I forgot to mention that my upper is an ambi side-charger so I can rack the round with my left hand while catching the spent brass with my right.

I too have a side charged receiver but I also have a net clamped to my bench to catch that very expensive Lapua brass.

Jeff

 

[searcher]

I have the PRS stocks on my varmint A/R's and are a great choice to add heft and weight to the rig. Your heavy 24" as described will help too, as will the use of the little 32's. If you are unhappy with hit viewing after trying your rig out, the addition of a muzzle brake will fix it for sure. If you have an unthreaded barrel, you can even get a clamp-on muzzle brake from Whitt Machine company - one that they machine to fit your muzzle for about $85.00 or so. They are cheap, very effective and will stay on your rig. I have them on several guns I opted to not get threaded. I think the .20 caliber A/R's are outstanding. I'd leave my gas block open and put a brass catcher on!