Post by GLSHOOTER on Jan 28, 2018 11:38:27 GMT -8
I got a 204 Ruger 24" BHW a couple years ago and I wanted something different. I talked to the owner at BARTZ Machine and picked up an upper, a hand guard and a BCG to try. The upper and HG were hydro-dipped and that was something new for me. I've been shooting three 204 bolts guns, 2 CZ's and an SPS, for the past ten years and with the right load they are amazing. The 32's are fast and the 39's flat put the hurt on Arizona PD's so I knew I had all the goods for a highly accurate varmint gun.
I have a small assortment of brass so grabbed a few pieces of once fired Winchester that I had shot as a baseline in the bolt guns.I basically was after a thumbnail on accuracy and some cases shot in that rifle so I selected some known loads and loaded up some goodies. I did go with CCI 450's on these over my usual 7 1/2 Remingtons. Everything was loaded at 2.260 just for grins though I usually load longer. This first test was as close to stock as I could get them so there was no question about "custom" tuning..lol I only did three shot groups on these as opposed to my normal fives. It was educational.
I used a LabRadar on the 39's and one four shot batch of 40's. It is limited to 3900 so I took my Millineum along for the fast mover 32's. Unfortunately the diffuser lens inside the sensor on that set up came up missing so it was no va on that one. I shot the 39's first and did try the 32 across the LR set up. It gave me some readings on the first batch at 3925 or so but once I got past that it could not read them.
That being said here are some 39's that show promise for future testing. All at 100 yards as normal. The lower runs a three pound BTE drop in trigger as I didn't bother to get my super match lower out of the safe. Conditions were great at 72 degrees to start and I think it hit about 77 later in the day. Winds were light early on with some gusting after noon.
AA 2015 is a great 204 Ruger powder and usually will put up some good groups once you find the sweet spot.
AA 2230 was another good one in this chambering. I actually run both the 2015 and 2230 in my bolt guns so it appears to work well in the self loaders too.
I ran through four powders and even at the top levels I had zero swipes of any kind. Primers were pretty decent and looked identical to factory loadings. These were about normal speed for the 39's but as BHW barrels like to run hot I'll push the envelope when I get this one out again.
As I mentioned Murphy showed up for the 32's and I only got one test batch tried out with so so numbers/groups at around 3925. That appeared to be all it would let me cheat. I fired my lowest charge of AA 2015 for five rounds and got zip on the screen so I puled the plug on the rest of that ladder. Of course I was kicking clods big time as this one was showing some promise. The next trip will tell the tale on this powder and two more. I ran over to Dillon Saturday and picked up the Type 2 sensors for the Millineum that give a better picture of the bullets as they go by and are retrofit-able to my older set up.
So here's what I was looking at when the smoke cleared.
So that was it for the 204 on it's first trip. I used ASC magazines and the rifle ran 100% as I would expect. Accuracy was about what I expected based on my previous work with the 204 and the Sierras. I can say that once again I had terrible luck with the 40 VMAX in the 204. I about wore out a 20 Tactical trying to get that pill to shoot yet others have phenomenal luck with it. Another historical issue is I've never got it to shoot in any of my bolt guns either. Strange but true.
Greg
I have a small assortment of brass so grabbed a few pieces of once fired Winchester that I had shot as a baseline in the bolt guns.I basically was after a thumbnail on accuracy and some cases shot in that rifle so I selected some known loads and loaded up some goodies. I did go with CCI 450's on these over my usual 7 1/2 Remingtons. Everything was loaded at 2.260 just for grins though I usually load longer. This first test was as close to stock as I could get them so there was no question about "custom" tuning..lol I only did three shot groups on these as opposed to my normal fives. It was educational.
I used a LabRadar on the 39's and one four shot batch of 40's. It is limited to 3900 so I took my Millineum along for the fast mover 32's. Unfortunately the diffuser lens inside the sensor on that set up came up missing so it was no va on that one. I shot the 39's first and did try the 32 across the LR set up. It gave me some readings on the first batch at 3925 or so but once I got past that it could not read them.
That being said here are some 39's that show promise for future testing. All at 100 yards as normal. The lower runs a three pound BTE drop in trigger as I didn't bother to get my super match lower out of the safe. Conditions were great at 72 degrees to start and I think it hit about 77 later in the day. Winds were light early on with some gusting after noon.
AA 2015 is a great 204 Ruger powder and usually will put up some good groups once you find the sweet spot.
AA 2230 was another good one in this chambering. I actually run both the 2015 and 2230 in my bolt guns so it appears to work well in the self loaders too.
I ran through four powders and even at the top levels I had zero swipes of any kind. Primers were pretty decent and looked identical to factory loadings. These were about normal speed for the 39's but as BHW barrels like to run hot I'll push the envelope when I get this one out again.
As I mentioned Murphy showed up for the 32's and I only got one test batch tried out with so so numbers/groups at around 3925. That appeared to be all it would let me cheat. I fired my lowest charge of AA 2015 for five rounds and got zip on the screen so I puled the plug on the rest of that ladder. Of course I was kicking clods big time as this one was showing some promise. The next trip will tell the tale on this powder and two more. I ran over to Dillon Saturday and picked up the Type 2 sensors for the Millineum that give a better picture of the bullets as they go by and are retrofit-able to my older set up.
So here's what I was looking at when the smoke cleared.
So that was it for the 204 on it's first trip. I used ASC magazines and the rifle ran 100% as I would expect. Accuracy was about what I expected based on my previous work with the 204 and the Sierras. I can say that once again I had terrible luck with the 40 VMAX in the 204. I about wore out a 20 Tactical trying to get that pill to shoot yet others have phenomenal luck with it. Another historical issue is I've never got it to shoot in any of my bolt guns either. Strange but true.
Greg