.204 Ruger Barnes Varmint Grenade

Rustydust

Rustydust

Active member
Yo all you.

A buddy fell into some hard times and ended up selling his .204. I got some of his brass and dies (did not need them but eh, helped him out) and a box of 26 grain Barnes Varmint Grenades. 26 grains out to really cook out of a .204 so was wondering what you fellahs were using for loads.

Been loading for my personal .204 ever since they came out, but never that light a bullet and want to try it. I will be shooting it in a box stock Savage 12 that had given me 3/8" 5 shot 100 yard groups with cheapo Dogtown bullets.

Any and all help as always is appreciated.
 
Rustydust, You might want to look over on the 204ruger forum for load info on those light weight bullets... They have a whole section dedicated to loadings that have worked for members...

Neither of mine seem to like those lighter weights, so I don't collect data for them..
 
I could not get the little VG to group in my boys 204 his gun shoots the best with 40 gr vmax or 39 gr sierra's rp
 
I couldn't get the 26 gr VG to group either. Clocked about 4350 but just wasn't very accurate. Went back to the 32 gr VMax at 4050 and sub MOA.

I use TAC for the VMax, 28.5 gr and I'm sure that's what I tried with the VG. I'm at work and can't remember the loads I tried, but I'm sure it was TAC and FED 205s because that's all I use for the 204.
 
If it were me I would sell them or trade them off for some lead bullets.

The 224 and 243 Varmint Grenades are not as accurate or as explosive as good lead varmint bullets. Also the BC on the lead free bullets is much lower than the lead bullets BC are.
 
Originally Posted By: derbyacresbobIf it were me I would sell them or trade them off for some lead bullets.

+1. It's good to hear others have the same opinion of them that I do. I couldn't get the 22 cal 50 grs to shoot at all with anything I tried.
 
Once I started using boattail, I never looked back.

Go for something other than Varmint Busters.


Just one mans opinion.
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I tried them, IMO they are worthless. Couldn't get them to group well, and I don't really see a use for them other than shooting starlings. lol. I just stick to my 40gr. Noslers and 45gr Hornadys
 
Originally Posted By: derbyacresbobIf it were me I would sell them or trade them off for some lead bullets.

The 224 and 243 Varmint Grenades are not as accurate or as explosive as good lead varmint bullets. Also the BC on the lead free bullets is much lower than the lead bullets BC are.

Ah, well they were free, or pretty much so anyway. I have a couple thousand jacketed .204 bullets on hand that have served me well over the years, but since I had these VG's I figured that I would give them a try. Perhaps I will reserve them for squirrels less than 100 yards. I would think that a ground squirrel hit with one of those bullets moving at 4000+ fps would be quite a toss. In many directions too I would think.
 
I don't know if this video will work, but here is the effect of a 50 grain VG out of my .223 AR. I have had more explosive results on a bottle of water with FMJs. Also notice some of the pathetic groups on the target - this gun shoots right around .75" with anything else. I tried H335, Benchmark, 8208XBR, and BL-C2. Nothing worked.
 
I live in the area in California where we have to use lead free bullets. The 50 gr Varmint Grenades out of my AR-15 RRA Predator Pursuit did not work very good at all on ground squirrels. Some of the squirrels would actually crawl down their holes after being hit pretty good.

In my 243 Win and 243 WSSM the Barnes 62 gr Varmint Grenades are not near as explosive as the Hornady 75 gr V-Max bullets I use to shoot.
 
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