Ruger .204

[unclebuck]

I recently purchased a Ruger M77 Hawkeye in .204 cal. The 24" barrel has a 1-12" twist. It has been zeroed at 200 yds. with 32 gr. v-max Hornady factory loads. I have been told that with that barrel length and that particular barrel twist that it will not handle 40 grain bullets with any consistency. Can anyone give me their experience with that particular set of parameters or what the ideal load might be? Thanks.

[Bushmaster]

About a year ago I got a 204 in a Rem SPS.....and decided that I liked the ballistics of the 40 gr. over the 32 gr. And I have had absolutely no problems with consistency from the Hornady factory 40 gr. ammo.

[sbtennex]

If sheer blazing speed is what you want, those 32's are it. Your Ruger will stabilize either, but I tend to agree with the above post - the 40's are what we use most. 204 isn't very fussy about what it's fed - seem happy with just about any appropriate load with pretty well all the powders you'd think would be right. Fun guns.

[gube]

I have two of them and they do quite well with the different bullet selections. My VLP does not care for the 40 gr V-max. The sierra 32 bk's tend to tumble unless I use min loads. The 45 gr hornady sp's do well due to having a shorter length as compared to the 40's. The most accurate in both of my 204's are the 39 gr sierra BK's and the 35 gr bergers.
A lot of people have had accuracy problems with the 40 gr pills due to the 1 in 12 twist is just on the edge for providing stable flight. A 1 in 10 or 11 twist would really tighten up those groups with the longer 40 gr ballistic tip bullets.
You can find a lot of info at the 204 ruger web site http://www.rugerhunting.com/
Great bunch of guys with a vast wealth of knowledge.