.204 Ruger 20" barrel muzzle velocity/drop

[GT3_richy]

Afternoon all

 

Anyone happen to have a 20" .204R that can give me an indication of the MV they are seeing with the factory Hornady 32gr and/or 40gr ammo? and what sort of drop you is seen at the 275-300 yard mark?

 

Zero'd bang on at 100 yards, I took a single shot at paper at 285 yards through the Drone the other night before heading home. It was only a single shot (so I could've yoinked it - don't profess to shoot like a boss) but the drop measured about 7.5 inches, which I didn't think sounded too ridiculous. To get Strelok Pro to replicate that drop however its 'truing' feature suggests a MV of not much above 3200 with the 32gr vmax. Which I thought sounded pretty low...

I realise the Hornady MV's are 'probably' optimistic and based on probably a 6 inch or more longer barrel. I was expecting a fairly significant reduction in MV from my 20" T3X. But a thousand fps seems a bit...excessive?! Only just started messing about with Strelok Pro so its entirely possible I've made a school boy error in set up, but it seems reasonably straight forward in its basic use?

 

I'll take the Magneto out tonight and test it but I've been thinking about it on and off since Friday night, though perhaps someone brighter than me might offer some insight?

 

Cheers,

Rich

[gbal]

Rich,you should be somewhere in this ball park-given provisos below: SAAMI data 24" barrel:

 

Hornady 32 VMax @4225. +.6"at 100y,zero 200y, 300y drop 4.1" vel 2683fps

Remington 32 @4225. +.6" at 100;zero 200y;drop at 300y 4.1" vel 2652

Win 32 Ball Tip @4050. +.6" at 100y;zero 200y;drop at 300y 4.6" vel 2537

Fed 32g Nosler. @ 4030 +.7 ; zero 200y; drop at 300y 4.7. Vel 2520

 

 

 

 

Hornady loads with Superformance powder-hard to replicate in reloading.BCs are all around G1 .208 +/- .002

You will probably lose at least 25 fps per inch less barrel,probably more.

Fed/Nos loads give some idea of a considerable velocity reduction-20" /reloads will be even more-but see traj diff at 300-an inch or two,ball park estimate ? But velocity loss is considerable-poor BC etc,which begins to negatethe impressive MVs ,at around 300y)

A true 100y zero will have more drop at 300y than the 200 zero given.

 

Zero above means 'zero vertical deviation of bullet trajectory from horizontal line of sight"-ie the standard definition.Just in case you were lucky enough to miss the recent diversions-that is the modal and industry definition.

I agree re excess 1000fps-input error? Please don't say it's the zero (which is eally 1" high at 100y-an error that many misuses of 'zero' (deviatuons from above definition" migh allow to slip in..... ...your zero is bullet is zero" high at 100y,I'm sure-but note the somewhat better 'point blankish range' .7 or so at 100 would give you on factory data-prob rather optimistic.( a bit more with velocity reductions,see above.)

Good measuring with the magnetospeed-which is reliable!

gbal

[GT3_richy]

Thanks for the reply George, much appreciated.

 

Yes, its zero'd 'standard'-style; I did read the first page or two of the discussion you refer to...and then moved on ;p

 

I've only been using the 204 to about 150-175 yards until now and zero'd at 100 its still pretty much point and shoot to close to 200. Once I have checked what MV its actually making I will probably adjust the 'zero' as you suggest to a tad high at a 100 to maximise the PBR.

 

Couldn't get out in the end last night or tonight, so checking actual MV with the Mag. will have to wait until tomorrow.

 

Thanks again,

Rich

[baldie]

Rich,

Back in the days when I shot one, it was a Ruger VT with a 26" tube. It produced around 3900 with factory 32 grain ammo. I lopped 4" off to 22" and it dropped to 3600 fps.

a 20 cal will lose a lot more than 25 fps per inch...its massively overbored.

I would say , certainly at 300 yards, that your strelock figures are probably correct.

[GT3_richy]

Cheers Dave, be interesting to see what the Mag. says later. I've been doing some googling the last few days, a few people seem to manage just over 4K fps with 26" tubes, but 3.9K seems more frequently achieved. Cant really find examples of anyone getting anything near the 4.2K fps Hornday claim from a 24" barrel. If your 26 to 22" losses are indicative of mine, I should be in the 3600-3700 ball park with 32gr.

 

I'm not really bothered by the MV, it shoots very small which is my main requirement. It was more the huge difference between Streloks output for 285 yards compared to the actual drop I saw that peaked my interest - and the huge MV/BC correction required to true it. I'd like to understand what I'm getting wrong.