timbuck2 Posted January 2, 2009 Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 As you can see from my signature below i have two .223 rifles one of which will soon be up for sale i am looking to replace it with the .204 caliber. Does any one on here have this caliber if so please could you fill me in on how you get on with it ? THANKS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted January 2, 2009 Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 I have shot them but I don't own one. May I make a suggestion? If you are thinking of a custom rifle, you might consider the .20 Tactical. This is a .223 necked to .20 caliber and since you already shoot .223, you'd be buying only one case. The 20 Tactical is the cartridge that Ruger pirated to make the .204. Ruger contacted Todd Kindler -the inventor of the 20 Tactical- for his pressure data, reamers, etal, and then decided that basing the .204 on the .223 would be dealing Hornady out of all the brass sales. In essence, they screwed Mr. Kindler by using all his work and data (which he supplied for free) and made the parent case a 222 Remington Magnum. They called it the 204 Ruger and cut Kindler out of the deal. Marine PMI who posts here has done a huge amount of work with the ballistically identical 20 Tactical and can answer all your questions about performance. I have watched him shoot 450 yard prairiedogs with it. Twenties are great. ~Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wsm Posted January 2, 2009 Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 Theres quite a few on this site with the Tac`s You could always just re-barrel that Remmy with something like a Pacnor or Walther if you decided to go the Tac 20 route as well.This would probably work out cheaper than buying a new rifle and you`d have the benefit of having a semi custom gun with all the benefits If you don`t want the hassle of necking your brass theres always Lap Dakota brass available as well I looked into the whole 20 cal thing a while back and eventually decided on the Tac.....a decision I don`t regret for one minute Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timbuck2 Posted January 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 Cheers guys sounds like it could be a good route to follow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxwhistler Posted January 2, 2009 Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 Just to add that i use a 204 Ruger and cant fault it. It will knock charlie into next week and also is very effective on long range rabbit and crow. At the moment my main load with 39g B/kings is shooting into .300 without much development. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nemasis243 Posted January 2, 2009 Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 As fox whistler has said the 39grn blitz king do a fantastic job , its a very flat hard hitting round and cheap to run if reloading Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigun Posted January 4, 2009 Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 i have the a .204 remmy and love it to bits ,like its been said foxs dont like it one bit ..what about the 20BR ? never owed one but read well in to it and its the best by far so i keep reading ,i will be sticking with my .20 cal for fox work but am thinking of going down the 20BR road in time ..THINGS I WOULD CHANGE ABOUT MY RIFLE IS THE BARREL LENGH AND TWIST RATE ..22" and up is whats need to keep it up to speed ..20" barrel with a max powder load would be around the 3800fps FOR A 32GN BLITZ KING http://www.204ruger.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarinePMI Posted January 13, 2009 Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 Hmmm...must have missed this one (or have just been too busy at work and home to peruse the posts lately). I have a Tac .20 built on a Savage short action, with a Douglas XX 20" heavy barrel profile. Absolutely the dog's ###### for accuracy (I beleive that is the correct UK "colorful metaphor" to describe it ). It will achieve .204R velocities without a worry (for a 20" bbl in both). Of note, the .204R originally was going to be pretty much a copy of the Tac .20, but they ran into pressure problems when testing (IIRC). They (Ruger) then decided to try and use a larger case to achieve the velocities they wanted (speed sells in the US market). As it turns out, the problem wasn't the size of the case, but that they had had a bad run of brass from Frontier (who is owned by Ruger and makes all their brass) but by that time they had already invested time, effort and a significant amount of swearing, so they proceeded ahead with the .222Rem Mag case based design. (I would assume prints, tooling and such had already been made when the discovery was made about the bad brass, and they never contacted Todd to discuss the issue so he couldn't tell them that it was something other than the case volume). Then again, it could have been just Ruger trying to make it ther own...neither Todd Kindler nor Dave Emery (Chief Engineer at Hornady) would say for sure...supposed it will always be one of those industry secrets that may never surface... Todd was a bit miffed, but at the same time happy that there was finally a .20cal on the market by the major manufacturers. His reamer on the other hand, (the one Ruger was lent) was pretty much trashed after plunging it to meet hte .222RemMag dimensions. At any rate, I digress. The Tac .20 is (in my mind)is a better cartridge, and I don't say that simply because it's the one I own. In my mind, it is a much more efficient cartridge, while I feel the .204R is on the border, if not in fact, overbored (much like the 17 Rem). I could be wrong (wouldn't be the first time), but in a 20" bbl I'm certain it would be (and that to me is a more suitable length for hunting varmints and predators). As to the cost of the wildcat dies, Redding and Todd came to a decision (IIRC) in 2006 that he would no longer be the only supplier of .20 Tac dies, and Redding has subsequently moved them from the Series D(?) dies (read: $120) to the more standard series of dies (that IIRC go for around $70 now) and anyone can pruchase/sale them. The form die is available as well (though some use the seating die). The form die is a no brainer operation, and (actually) my "forming loads" tend to shoot a bit tighter than my formed loads (who knows why, but they do). If I can figure how to post a photo on this site, I'll upload a photo of the typical group with the rifle. I wrote an article awhile back online "Poor Man's Custom Build", but the photo there has since disappeared. Since it's based on the .223, brass is cheap. While the .20 Practical is also around, it is nearly identical ballistically. Of note, IIRC, .20 Practical can also inadvertantly be chambered in a .223. To me this is just too risky to have around when you also have a .223 (or four), and also if you have many rifles and sometimes inadvertantly grab the wrong box of ammo going out the door in the wee hours of the morning. Naw, I never done that.... Seriously though, if you're going custom (as Andrew pointed out) I'd also recommend the Tac .20, but mainly because its alway fun being a little bit unique and out of the main stream. Finally, I want to caveat the .204 development info here with the fact that this is just how I understood the history of the development. I wasn't in the test labs, nor was I tapping Todd and Ruger's phone lines, so some details may have been misconstrued or misrecalled, I can't say for certain, and I certainly am not picking sides, or saying who was right or wrong in what they did. Just what I had been told by people close to the development and industry... Sorry for rambling on...I needed a break from my mountain of paperwork and deadlines staring at me from my desk... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarinePMI Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Rifle pic from...egads, has it been that long ago...2003... five shot group @ 100yds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timbuck2 Posted January 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Marinepmi that is a great reply and full of info for me to really look into. Thanks all that have replied. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alycidon Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Just to lob another spanner in the works there is now a 20 Practical. http://www.6mmbr.com/gunweek061.html This is basically a 20-223, very similar to 20 Tactical but easier case forming with no special case forming dies needed or neck turning. A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigun Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 try useing reloader 10x powder 27.gns but start about 24.3gns ..i was useing h4198 23.5gn but found it to slow for my likeing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finman Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 Hi, not the best of pictures, but will give you an idea. Factory Sako 75 Varmint, in .204Ruger. Granted, the .20TAC is a very good cartridge, but for ease of use (i.e. availability of ammo, dies etc) the .204 gets my vote. as for its ability on vermin, others on this thread have already extolled its virtues. best wishes, Finman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alycidon Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 The large majority of articals I have read indicate that in 20 cal the 39 gr BK is preferred for accuracy to the 40 gr VMax. A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigun Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 true the 39gn is best for wind ect but theres nothing wrong with the 32gn for got to say i use cci br4 primers find them best ..20cal is plenty big enough for fox and is far better in my mind than a .223 that i did use many years ago ..were do you lads get your 39gn bk from none of my shops stock them ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alycidon Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 true the 39gn is best for wind ect but theres nothing wrong with the 32gn for got to say i use cci br4 primers find them best ..20cal is plenty big enough for fox and is far better in my mind than a .223 that i did use many years ago ..were do you lads get your 39gn bk from none of my shops stock them ?? 204 is far better than 223, just run the ballistics charts and see. 32gr in the smaller cased 20s is fine but will run out of puff sooner than the bigger pills. Horses for courses, 32 is at its best probably in the Vartarg cartridge in a light carry rifle A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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