45 grain 204 ?
- Thread starter 1eyedjack
- Start date
hoginator204
New member
From the different forums I participate in the 45 gr. Hornady has shot better than the 40 gr. Hornady in most rifles,especially the T/C Encore/pro hunter.
Kdog
New member
Jack,
I have shot these out of my Encore and they grouped good about 5/8" for 5 shots at a hundred yards.Matter of fact i just ordered another box.Im useing them for pred hunting and with the bad rep on the V maxes i wanted to try these.I bought some Bergers but havent loaded them yet.Hope this helps,
Kdog
I have shot these out of my Encore and they grouped good about 5/8" for 5 shots at a hundred yards.Matter of fact i just ordered another box.Im useing them for pred hunting and with the bad rep on the V maxes i wanted to try these.I bought some Bergers but havent loaded them yet.Hope this helps,
Kdog
b78_shooter
New member
I called in and shot a coyote facing me at about 100 yds last weekend. I was useing 45gr hornady sp. I hit her just a little to the right of center and it tore off her whole front shoulder. When she layed down I shot her in the neck to finish her off and it made a nice little hole in and out. I'm loading some 35gr bergers tonight for the weekend and hopefully the weather will be good so I can tell you how they worked. B78
BRADFORDcoHUNTER
New member
I sighted in my new CZ with the 45gr SP's. They shot really well, and did not "keyhole" as some have reported. Since I don't reload, this seems to be the most logical bullet choice for Yote hunting with the 204. I'm heading out in Feb for a 3 day yote hunt...hopefully, I'll have some performance reports and pic's when I return.
Bayou City Boy
New member
Quote:
I don't understand why you would want to shoot 45 gr bullets it was made to shoot light bullets for the speed it produces.If you want to shoot 45gr why wouldn't you just shoot a 223 probably close to same ballistics but ammo for 223 much more available.
The big marketing carrot stick that Ruger/Hornady held in front of all new 20 caliber/204 Ruger shooters was the initial muzzle velocity of the 32 grain bullets.
However, if you check a good ballistics program, you'll see that the heavier bullets (39-40 grains) hold up much better ballistically at exended ranges in the 204 Ruger as well as in any of the several other 20 caliber larger cased wildcats. When the lighter bullets are losing velocity very quickly, the heavier bullets keep on trucking fast and flat out beyound 300 yards.
The 45 grain bullet finally provides at least an attempt to equip coyote hunters with a little better constructed bullet than the current crop of factory bullets designed with small varmints in mind. Whatever little bit it might give up in velocity....I bet it will still catch up with a running coyote fairly easily. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
-BCB
I don't understand why you would want to shoot 45 gr bullets it was made to shoot light bullets for the speed it produces.If you want to shoot 45gr why wouldn't you just shoot a 223 probably close to same ballistics but ammo for 223 much more available.
The big marketing carrot stick that Ruger/Hornady held in front of all new 20 caliber/204 Ruger shooters was the initial muzzle velocity of the 32 grain bullets.
However, if you check a good ballistics program, you'll see that the heavier bullets (39-40 grains) hold up much better ballistically at exended ranges in the 204 Ruger as well as in any of the several other 20 caliber larger cased wildcats. When the lighter bullets are losing velocity very quickly, the heavier bullets keep on trucking fast and flat out beyound 300 yards.
The 45 grain bullet finally provides at least an attempt to equip coyote hunters with a little better constructed bullet than the current crop of factory bullets designed with small varmints in mind. Whatever little bit it might give up in velocity....I bet it will still catch up with a running coyote fairly easily. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
-BCB
BRADFORDcoHUNTER
New member
Quote:
I don't understand why you would want to shoot 45 gr bullets it was made to shoot light bullets for the speed it produces.If you want to shoot 45gr why wouldn't you just shoot a 223 probably close to same ballistics but ammo for 223 much more available.
It still shoots 45 gr bullets at about 3600 fps. It's called "matching the bullet to the desired game species you are hunting." This is something we do with ALL caliber's. ie- If I shoot a 300 win mag with a 150 gr corelokt for deer, I probably wouldnt use that bullet combo to hunt bear with. I'd prefer something with more sectional density to tranfer kinetic energy.
Other reasons: The 204 is faster, period! The 204 is quieter. The 204 is much flatter shooting, and has almost zero recoil. And lastly, because I live in the USA, I can choose to shoot whatever I desire. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
I don't understand why you would want to shoot 45 gr bullets it was made to shoot light bullets for the speed it produces.If you want to shoot 45gr why wouldn't you just shoot a 223 probably close to same ballistics but ammo for 223 much more available.
It still shoots 45 gr bullets at about 3600 fps. It's called "matching the bullet to the desired game species you are hunting." This is something we do with ALL caliber's. ie- If I shoot a 300 win mag with a 150 gr corelokt for deer, I probably wouldnt use that bullet combo to hunt bear with. I'd prefer something with more sectional density to tranfer kinetic energy.
Other reasons: The 204 is faster, period! The 204 is quieter. The 204 is much flatter shooting, and has almost zero recoil. And lastly, because I live in the USA, I can choose to shoot whatever I desire. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
I don''t think it matters that you live in the United States or Canada because i also shoot a204.I also have2,22-250s,17 hmr,25-06,300-ultra mag,I wasn't trying to give insulting advice,I really don't know that much about the 204 and haven't spent much time with it,just bought it a month ago.I usually shoot tikka,22-250 for longer ranges 300-450 yds although I can't wait to spend more time with the 204 in model 12fv please don't take what I said as a insult,I'm not like that.
IDBob
New member
My 204 is also new, got it last October and so far have shot the 32 grainers and a few 39 grain Sierra's and the 40 grain Hornedy's. Only thing I've killed is a couple of crows, but it's devistating on those. I shot at a couple of running yotes, but missed.
groups are running dime size with everything I've put thru it so far. Midway had a sale a while back on the 32 and 40 grain Hornedy's in the 250 count boxes so there's one of each on the bench now. Figured I'd use the 32 for spring squirrels and the 40's for coyotes.
I didn't even consider the 45's, but if they will stabalize they should make good coyote medicine. I used to use a 22-250 and liked what it did at longer ranges, then went to the 243 with the 55 grain Noslers. Great performance, but not hide friendly. With prices of hides going up a little I thought the 204 might make harvesting the hides worth while.
Mine is a CZ 527 Varmit with the 25.5 inch bbl. It's topped with an old Tasco 8 by 32 Target dot scope I've had for several years. Probably a little to much power, but works great on the snow.
It's nice to see more 204 users out there that are happy with them.
groups are running dime size with everything I've put thru it so far. Midway had a sale a while back on the 32 and 40 grain Hornedy's in the 250 count boxes so there's one of each on the bench now. Figured I'd use the 32 for spring squirrels and the 40's for coyotes.
I didn't even consider the 45's, but if they will stabalize they should make good coyote medicine. I used to use a 22-250 and liked what it did at longer ranges, then went to the 243 with the 55 grain Noslers. Great performance, but not hide friendly. With prices of hides going up a little I thought the 204 might make harvesting the hides worth while.
Mine is a CZ 527 Varmit with the 25.5 inch bbl. It's topped with an old Tasco 8 by 32 Target dot scope I've had for several years. Probably a little to much power, but works great on the snow.
It's nice to see more 204 users out there that are happy with them.
gube204
New member
I started out with the 32 & 40 gr hornady V-Max in my savage 12 VLP. The 32 gr was fairly accurate. The 40 gr V-max were over 1/2" with numerous flyers. I found the sierra 39 gr and the nosler 40 gr were the most accurate using RL-10X and H-4895. Excellent launching action with the prairie poodles. The only problem was that these bullets would occasionally splash on yotes. They were too frangible. I also found that the heavier 39 and 40 gr bullets bucked the wind better than the 32's. Next, I tried the 35 and 40 gr bergers with the RL-10X and H-4895, and these gave me by far the best accuracy to date but not the best for launching the prairie poodles.
The 35 bergers have so far been ideal for yotes. The 40 bergers were good as well but did have some large holes on fur at shots under 100 yds. Not all of the time but on occasion.
Next I tried some factory loaded hornady 45 gr soft points, with the thought that the accuracy would be worse than the 40 gr V-max. I was wrong. The factory 45 sp were as accurate as my bergers. In my opinion they are well worth trying.
The 35 bergers have so far been ideal for yotes. The 40 bergers were good as well but did have some large holes on fur at shots under 100 yds. Not all of the time but on occasion.
Next I tried some factory loaded hornady 45 gr soft points, with the thought that the accuracy would be worse than the 40 gr V-max. I was wrong. The factory 45 sp were as accurate as my bergers. In my opinion they are well worth trying.