I did a quite a bit of shooting and reloading for my 204 today. Actually, I got it on paper and grouping well with the Hornady factory ammo (#83204 32g V-MAX). It shot well and grouped ok (1.5 inch), but I was a bit surprised on the low POI and my having to adjust my scope nearly to the top of adjustment to put it just on the lower edge of the 10 ring at 100 yards. Probably a good candidate for a scope shim but I decided to go on to the handloading to see what that would hold.
The data I used was from
http://www.204ruger.com/204_data_hodgdon.php and I opted for the 32 Gr. Hornady V-Max bullets and Varget powder. I started on the low end of the listed powder charge (27g) and worked up in increments loading 5 at a time getting all the way to the max listed charge (29g) as pressure signs permitted.
My first string of the first 5 handloads shifted the POI up 2.5" above where the factory Hornady ammo was hitting and gave an excellent group (.5 inch). Heck, I think I found my load! Well having nothing but time on my hands, I decided to keep working up.
As I worked through the middle weight loads and velocity increased the POI again dropped and the groups spread out to the larger 1.5". With little or no pressure signs I ended up working up to the max charge of 29g where I ened up getting my good group size back, but the POI was back down where the Hornady's were.
Ended up loading up 5 more on the low end of the charge and zeroing with those and then shooting a .5" group. Seems this rifle doesn't like these 32g Vmax's pushed that fast. I think this load will work well for what I need it for. I do have some heavier bullets I will experiment with as well, but I like this 27g load of Varget for now.
LAZER
