Ruger No.1 Stainless .204

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Picked this up off my buddy the other day with 60 to 80 shots fired. I'm thinking of getting it recut to .20-250. I do like the thought of holding on fur to 400 yds with not the recoil of say a .22-243. Limited barrel life would still last me forever on coyotes because I'd be hunting with some other guns too. Good/bad idea?
Ryan
 
I don't see any barrel life differences between the 204 and the 22-250. I'm shooting a CZ 527 and my longest coyote so far has been 385 yards. I'm shooting 40 grain V-max's at just over 4000 fps. A hunting buddy has one of the Ruger stainless #1's and he's getting 1/2 half inch groups with his at a hundred right out of the box.

He's shooting the same loads I am. 26.2 grains of 10X with a 32 and 26.2 grains with the 40 in Remington Cases with CCI BR-4 primers. As far as going to the 20-250 I wouldn't see the gain being worth the barrel life involved. Your already getting over 4000 fps with a 40 grainer. Spinning them faster may start blowing up bullets.

I can't tell any difference in killing between it and the 250. I'm still getting some spin and nips same as the 250, but it's killed 12 so far with one shot each from 50 to the mentioned 385 yards.
 
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I don't see any barrel life differences between the 204 and the 22-250. I'm shooting a CZ 527 and my longest coyote so far has been 385 yards. I'm shooting 40 grain V-max's at just over 4000 fps. A hunting buddy has one of the Ruger stainless #1's and he's getting 1/2 half inch groups with his at a hundred right out of the box.

He's shooting the same loads I am. 26.2 grains of 10X with a 32 and 26.2 grains with the 40 in Remington Cases with CCI BR-4 primers. As far as going to the 20-250 I wouldn't see the gain being worth the barrel life involved. Your already getting over 4000 fps with a 40 grainer. Spinning them faster may start blowing up bullets.

I can't tell any difference in killing between it and the 250. I'm still getting some spin and nips same as the 250, but it's killed 12 so far with one shot each from 50 to the mentioned 385 yards.



Bob... I think he is talking about the 22-250 necked down to 20 cal. There IS a wildcat called the 20-250.

That would be about last on my list of calibers, just one spot above the 20-308.


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Thanks for the response IDBob. Somehow I knew you might be one of the first to respond to this one. When you say I'm already getting over 4000fps with 40 grainers what are you referring to? I didn't think a .204 was easily loaded to that speed with 40 grainers. ryan
 
Catshooter- just curious on your reasons for being near last on your list?
It would be a gun shot probably less than 50 times a year.
-Low recoil
-flaat shooting
-good energy
Don't worry about hurting my feelings on this. It's just something floating around in my head and definately won't happen this year at least.
 
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Catshooter- just curious on your reasons for being near last on your list?
It would be a gun shot probably less than 50 times a year.
-Low recoil
-flaat shooting
-good energy
Don't worry about hurting my feelings on this. It's just something floating around in my head and definately won't happen this year at least.



A new barrel is required because the factory barrel won't spin heavier bullets fast enough to stabilize them - very expensive dies - VERY short barrel life - fussy to load...

... for only about 250 fps more in velocity.

Not worth the entrance fee.
 
Displayed Name, I believe my chrono says 4020 fps for a 40 grain V-max out of the 25.5 inch tube on the CZ 527 Varmint I have. Haven't chonographed them out of my old hunting buddies 24 inch CZ Varmint. This is with 26.2 grains of Alliant 10 X in a Remington case and a CCI BR-4 bench rest primer.

Catshooter, I realized that he was talking about the 20-250 after I'd got about halfway thru my post. It's pretty hard to justify the costs and dies and performance of such an overbore cartridge. Probably better to go to something like the 22-243, but even those run a short barrel life. Another consideration is a standard 243 shooting 55 grain Nosler Ballistic tips. I'm getting 3950 fps from them and could go hotter. Accuracy is just under an inch from both a Rem 700 VLS and a Ruger #1B.

Displayed Name, The Ruger &1 is a good platform. Check with E. Aurther Brown for his conversions. He installs barrels with a lock tight product instead of screwing them into a tight action which puts them on with much less stress making for what they say is a more accurate system.

I've found that I can get better accuracy from most bolt guns, but do love my #1 in 243. I've just never seen the reasons for a wildcat considering how accurate rifles chambered in standard cartridges such as the 243 and the 22-250 and the new 204 Ruger are. Of course most gunsmiths love to have you walk in with an idea like that, it's money in the bank.
 
I like the .204, its wickedly fast. I think that I would just try to shoot out the Barrel and enjoy it. I dont own a custom rifle, but is it easier and more frugal to just buy a donor action and then make a Rifle ? I know with my Savage, Barrels are easy to change, is that true with a Ruger? If so, keep the .204 Barrel, try your new Caliber, and have 2 guns. JMO Good luck and let us know how it turns out !
 
I have a #1 V in 22-250, about 2k rounds through it- great gun, mine is blue with a Lue 3.5x10x50 on top- will do yotes easy out to 400 and 250 to 300 yards at night with a light if you can tell the difference between a responding deer or a yote. I shoot everything from 40s to 55s. One of my very best shooters.

I love the 204 caliber- Sportsmans Warehouse sells a SS #1 in 204 for over $800, [WTH, what the heck- that beeep catches me everytime [how do they do that so fast]]? but real sweet. I have two 204s, one in TC Contender (I think a 24 inch carbine) and one in a Ruger 77MKII TV. Love both. My boy shoots the TC, no recoil for a 12 year old.

Numerous articles written about floating point of impact of a #1s, and how to fix it. This is less likely with the varminter (heavy barrels). I think I owned 5 or 6 skinny barrel #1s (b) at one time and basically sold or traded them but kept the sure bet (plus a wedding pressent from wife , above mentioned 22-250). I use to hunt big boar at night with a #1 30-06 carbine because it was real sporty, but I was 20 years dumber.

I never heard any thing about changing Ruger barrels except for 1022s? Keep center JHG
 
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I like the .204, its wickedly fast. I think that I would just try to shoot out the Barrel and enjoy it. I dont own a custom rifle, but is it easier and more frugal to just buy a donor action and then make a Rifle ? I know with my Savage, Barrels are easy to change, is that true with a Ruger? If so, keep the .204 Barrel, try your new Caliber, and have 2 guns. JMO Good luck and let us know how it turns out !



No the Ruger's require a smith thread a barrel and chamber it. The unique barrel nut system certainly can spoil folks on the ease of changing out and headspacing a rifle barrel. Check out E Aurther Brown's website. They do a lot of Rugers and have developed a unique method of barreling them that removes much of the stress compared to just screwing on a new barrel on the Ruger #1 actions.

Here's the link

http://www.eabco.com/
 
I was in a similar position. I decided to try what I had. I was so impressed I kept it that way, and realized what I would have missed out on if I had done otherwise. Glad I tried it. That saved me a lot of $$$$ too.
 
Thanks for all the responces.

IDBob- Here on my island we're limited to .22 centerfire and smaller so the .243 and 55's is not an option. I've read that the BC of the .243 55gr NBT is greater than the .224 55gr. NBT. --seems odd. The .22-243 is still something I'll be thinking about.

If 4000fps is achievable with 40gr bullets in .204 I'll probably just go with that. I had seen on the nosler web site much lower velocities.

I've got a .22-250 so I guess I'm just looking for something that would give a flatter 300-500yd tragectory. All of this is just thoughts, but thoughts have there way of coming about so I just try to understand as much as I can so that if an opportunity arrises I can do something.

I had just reread all of DAA's articles lately and was feeling inspired to do some digging on the subject. Thanks Ryan
 
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"... I've read that the BC of the .243 55gr NBT is greater than the .224 55gr. NBT. --seems odd.



It IS odd, and it is not higher - Nosler is the most creative when it comes to BCs

With two bullets of the same design, and same weight, the thin long one will have a higher BC than the short fat one.


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With two bullets of the same design, and same weight, the thin long one will have a higher BC than the short fat one.

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Does that mean that I have a lower BC than most people? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
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With two bullets of the same design, and same weight, the thin long one will have a higher BC than the short fat one.

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Does that mean that I have a lower BC than most people? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif



Yup...

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Ryan,

I had pretty much exactly the same goals/reasons as you state for building my .20-250. Super flat trajectory, minimal recoil, decent energy etc. I'm totally pleased with how the project turned out. All of my goals were met or exceeded. The rifle is accurate, shoots just incredibly flat, hammers coyotes down to the ground with some ferocity, and recoil is very mild (I see my shots impact through the scope).

The .22-243 was on my short list too. I've had experience with it in the past and know it's a good cartridge to work with. In the end though, it was the recoil issue that decided me against it.

Biggest fly in the ointment I see with your thoughts here, is the factory Ruger barrel. I'm simply not a fan of paying to rechamber factory barrels in general, but especially not Ruger barrels. Just never been impressed by them. That of course, is totally your call though. The twist on it should be great for what you are looking to accomplish though, same as my .20-250, 1/12.

For Catshooter...

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A new barrel is required because the factory barrel won't spin heavier bullets fast enough to stabilize them - very expensive dies - VERY short barrel life - fussy to load...




None of that is true.

The factory twist is perfect for Ryan's stated goals for his potential project. Flat trajectory from 300 to 500 yards is all about velocity, not BC. He doesn't want or need to stabilize heavy bullets.

Dies aren't expensive at all. Plain old Type S Redding .22-250 dies with an appropriately sized neck bushing work great.

And, my .20-250 has not been the least bit fussy to load for. Neither have several others that I am familiar with been fussy to load for. Really, aside from the lack of published data, the .20-250 is no more difficult or fussy to load for than any other cartridge.

The 250 fps difference is arguable too. No doubt, much depends on individual barrels and chambers, and exactly which loads at what pressures are being compared. I've seen as much as 500 fps more than a buddy can get with his CZ .204 Ruger using the same bullets. But, claiming 500 fps difference as typcial would be as arguable as claiming only 250 fps. I do think it fair to say that the 250 fps would certainly be on the low end of expected difference, at least.

And, finally, short barrel life is totally irrelevant in this application. But, if it is something that matters to you, then definitely, the .20-250 would be a poor choice.

I'm quite pleased with my .20-250 and it's performance on coyotes.

- DAA
 
Thanks for the input DAA. It really is an exciting round that you're shooting. I'm gonna make some calls to a few gunsmiths for prices. It may be next years project. Ryan
 
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For CatShooter...

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A new barrel is required because the factory barrel won't spin heavier bullets fast enough to stabilize them - very expensive dies - VERY short barrel life - fussy to load...




None of that is true.


Is too!

1 - Very short barrel life - true.

2 - Dies are expensive. Even a "plain old" Redding bushing "S" die is ~$50 and bushings are ~$18, and going from 224 to 204 is one pass is shaky because the case is not supported in the "S" die, so the necks can wind up with a lot of run-out. for that kind of size down, Redding recommends doing it steps with at least two bushings - true.

3 - The 12" twist is marginal for the 40 V-max, the best over the counter 20 cal bullet available for 500yds. Hornady recommends at least 11" - true.

4 - There are no seater dies available for the 20-250, so seating is shaky too - true.

The whole thing is "klugie".

Even if we split the difference in speed and call it 350 fps more, what does that give you at 500 yds that is worth the money a project like this will cost... 5" less drop.

Add up the cost of the re-chambering, the cost of renting the reamer, the cost of the new extractor (or the labor to convert the old one), and the cost of the Redding "S" die, and bushing(s), and the cost of some kind of klugie seating arrangement... all for 5" less drop at 500yds???

I'm glad you like yours, but I wouldn't put a dime in a project like this.


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Here's something to consider:

There's a lot more going on between 300 and 500 yards than just bullet drop. Shooting in the soup is more than putting the cross hairs on the target and twitching the trigger finger. It is my belief that the 204 has plenty of speed, it's trigger time that will make those long range kills possible.

By the way, I am a big Ruger #1 fan, but I don't know as I'd rely on them as a long distance rig. They are plenty accurate enough for the real world shooting distance most of us experience, but for the long stuff ... well ... not so much!
 
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