.204 Ruger

Last updated

.204 Ruger
TypeRifle
Place of originUnited States
Production history
Designer Ruger/Hornady
Designed2004
Produced2004–present
Specifications
Parent case .222 Remington Magnum
Case typeRimless, bottleneck
Bullet diameter.204 in (5.2 mm)
Neck diameter.2311 in (5.87 mm)
Shoulder diameter.3598 in (9.14 mm)
Base diameter.3764 in (9.56 mm)
Rim diameter.378 in (9.6 mm)
Rim thickness.0449 in (1.14 mm)
Case length1.850 in (47.0 mm)
Overall length2.2598 in (57.40 mm)
Rifling twist1-12
Primer typeSmall rifle
Ballistic performance
Bullet mass/typeVelocityEnergy
32 gr. (2.1 g) BT4,225 ft/s (1,288 m/s)1,268 ft⋅lbf (1,719 J)
40 gr. (2.6 g) BT3,900 ft/s (1,200 m/s)1,351 ft⋅lbf (1,832 J)
45 gr. (2.9 g) SP3,625 ft/s (1,105 m/s)1,313 ft⋅lbf (1,780 J)
40 gr. (2.6 g) Hornady V-Max, Norma3,806 ft/s (1,160 m/s)1,195 ft⋅lbf (1,620 J)
24 gr. (1.55 g) Hornady Super Performance varmint ammunition4,400 ft/s (1,341 m/s)1,032 ft⋅lbf (1,399 J)
Source(s): Hornady [1] Norma [2]

The .204 Ruger / 5.2x47mm is a centerfire rifle cartridge developed by Hornady and Ruger. At the time of its introduction in 2004, the .204 Ruger was the second-highest velocity commercially produced ammunition and the only centerfire cartridge produced commercially for bullets of .204 inch/5 mm caliber. [3]

Contents

Characteristics

The .204 Ruger was developed from the .222 Remington Magnum, which has the second-largest case capacity in the family that began with the .222 Remington. [4] Only the European 5.6×50mm Magnum is larger, which itself is a lengthened version of the .222 Remington Magnum. The .222 Remington Magnum provides about 5% more usable (below the neck) case capacity than the most popular member of the family, the NATO 5.56×45mm (.223 Remington). To make the .204 Ruger, the .222 Remington Magnum case was necked down to .204 inches (5 mm) and its shoulder moved forward and angle increased to 30 degrees. [5] Bullets available in .204 caliber range from 24 to 55 grains (1.55 to 3.56 g). [6] The Hornady factory load is listed at 4,225 ft/s (1288 m/s) with a 32-grain (2.1 g) bullet. [7] To achieve these velocities, the factory uses a proprietary powder composition known internally as SMP746, specially formulated by Primex, and, as of 2013, not available to handloaders. The propellant features a de-coppering agent (bismuth pellets) that helps prevent fouling. Reloading data from Hornady, using commercially available powders, indicate velocity peaking at just under 4,200 ft/s (1,300 m/s) with the 32-grain (2.1 g) bullet in longer barrels.

Development

The .204 Ruger was the second Ruger-named cartridge produced by a partnership between Ruger and Hornady, the first being the big bore .480 Ruger revolver cartridge introduced in 2003 for the Super Redhawk. With the backing of a major gunmaker and a major ammunition company, the round was an instant success, with other ammunition makers and firearms makers quickly adding the new chambering. Ruger's initial offerings included the bolt action Model 77 MKII, and the single shot Ruger No. 1, and Hornady offered loadings with 30-and-40-grain (1.9 and 2.6 g) bullets.

The .204 Ruger has proven to be a very accurate and efficient cartridge: an early tester reported 1/2 MOA groups at 100 yards (91 m) with the Hornady loads and a Ruger No. 1 varmint rifle. The first cartridge in the family, the .222 Remington, was a top benchrest shooting cartridge for many years after its introduction.

The .204 Ruger was intended primarily for varmint rifles, which require bullets with flat trajectories but not much mass or kinetic energy. The .204 was "splitting the difference" between the popular .224 varmint rounds such as the .220 Swift and .22-250 Remington, and the tiny .172 caliber rounds such as the .17 Remington and the .17 HMR. The resulting cartridge provides somewhat higher velocities than any of these, giving a maximum point blank range of more than 270 yards (250 m).

Velocity

Ruger's claim to being the velocity king with the .204 was based on two points.

First, no other high-performance .20 caliber cartridge was commercially produced. Second, the ammunition used to achieve the 4,225 feet per second (1,288 m/s) was available only from Hornady using a special powder not available to the general public. [8]

Handloaders typically achieve velocities more in the area of 4,100 ft/s (1,200 m/s) using a 32-grain (2.1 g) bullet. [9] Handloads using 40-grain (2.6 g) bullets in other commercial cartridges such as the .22-250 Remington also achieve velocities similar to those of the .204 Ruger. The advantage of the .204 Ruger is that it achieves these velocities with less powder, less recoil, and less heat than the larger cartridges. The .204 Ruger has a maximum range of approximately 500 yards (460 m). Hornady now offers a 24-grain lead free cartridge that claims 4,400 ft/s from a 26-inch barrel. [10] However, Hornady's 35 gr NTX .22-250 claims 4,450 ft/s from a 24-inch barrel.

.204 Ruger 32 GR V-MAX 83204Muzzle100 yds200 yds300 yds400 yds500 yds
Velocity/energy
(ft/s) / (ft-lbs)		4,225/1,2683,645/9443,137/6992,683/5122,272/3671,899/256
Trajectory (inches)-1.50.60.00-4.1-13.1-29.0
.204 Ruger 40 GR V-MAX 83206Muzzle100 yds200 yds300 yds400 yds500 yds
Velocity/energy
(ft/s) / (ft-lbs)		3,900/1,3513,482/1,0773,103/8552,755/6742,433/5262,133/404
Trajectory (inches)-1.50.70.00-4.3-13.2-28.1
.204 Ruger 45 GR SP 83208Muzzle100 yds200 yds300 yds400 yds500 yds
Velocity/energy
(ft/s) / (ft-lbs)		3,625/1,3133,188/1,0152,792/7782,428/5892,093/4381,787/319
Trajectory (inches)-1.51.00.0-5.5-16.9-36.3

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Table of handgun and rifle cartridges</span> Small arms cartridge data

This is a table of selected pistol/submachine gun and rifle/machine gun cartridges by common name. Data values are the highest found for the cartridge, and might not occur in the same load.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.223 Remington</span> Firearms cartridge

The .223 Remington is a rimless, bottlenecked, centerfire intermediate cartridge. It was developed in 1957 by Remington Arms and Fairchild Industries for the U.S. Continental Army Command of the United States Army as part of a project to create a small-caliber, high-velocity firearm. The .223 Remington is considered one of the most popular common-use cartridges and is used by a wide range of semi-automatic and manual-action rifles.

The .256 Winchester Magnum is a firearms cartridge developed by Winchester, and was produced by necking-down a .357 Magnum cartridge to .257 diameter. It was designed for shooting small game and varmints.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire</span> Rimfire cartridge

The .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire, also known as the .22 WMR, .22 Magnum, .22 WMRF, .22 MRF, or .22 Mag, is a rimfire cartridge. Originally loaded with a bullet weight of 40 grains (2.6 g) delivering velocities in the 2,000 feet per second (610 m/s) range from a rifle barrel, .22 WMR is now loaded with bullet weights ranging from 50 grains (3.2 g) at 1,530 feet per second (470 m/s) to 30 grains (1.9 g) at 2,200 feet per second (670 m/s).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wildcat cartridge</span> Custom cartridge for firearms

A wildcat cartridge, often shortened to wildcat, is a custom-made cartridge for which ammunition and/or firearms are not mass-produced. These cartridges are often created as experimental variants to optimize a certain ballistic performance characteristic of an existing commercial cartridge, or may merely be intended as novelty items.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.270 Winchester</span> Rifle cartridge

The .270 Winchester is a rifle cartridge developed by Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1923, and it was unveiled in 1925 as a chambering for their bolt-action Model 54 to become arguably the flattest shooting cartridge of its day, only competing with the .300 Holland & Holland Magnum, also introduced in the same year.

The .375 Remington Ultra Magnum, also known as the .375 RUM is a .375 rifle cartridge introduced by Remington Arms in 2000. The cartridge is intended for large and dangerous game.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.25-06 Remington</span> US hunting rifle cartridge

The .25-06 Remington was a wildcat cartridge for nearly half a century before being standardized by Remington in 1969.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.17 HMR</span> Rifle cartridge

.17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire, commonly known as the .17 HMR, is a rimfire rifle cartridge developed by Hornady in 2002. It was developed by necking down a .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire case to take a .17 caliber (4.5mm) projectile. Commonly loaded with a 17 grain projectile, it can deliver muzzle velocities in excess of 775 m/s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.444 Marlin</span> Rifle cartridge

The .444 Marlin (10.9×57mmR) is a rifle cartridge designed in 1964 by Marlin Firearms and Remington Arms. It was designed to fill the gap left when the older .45-70 cartridge was not available in new lever-action rifles; at the time it was the largest lever-action cartridge available. The .444 resembles a lengthened .44 Magnum and provides a significant increase in velocity. It is usually used in the Marlin 444 lever-action rifle. Currently, Marlin, now owned by Ruger Firearms, does not offer the .444 chambering in any of their rifles. It remains to be seen if they will bring the chambering back into production.

The .222 Remington Magnum was a short-lived commercially produced cartridge derived from the .222 Remington. Originally developed for a US military prototype ArmaLite AR-15 rifle in 1958, the cartridge was not adopted by the military, but was introduced commercially in sporting rifles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">7mm Remington Magnum</span> Rifle cartridge

The 7mm Remington Magnum rifle cartridge was introduced as a commercially available round in 1962, along with the new Remington Model 700 bolt-action rifle. It is a member of the belted magnum family that is directly derived from the venerable .375 H&H Magnum. The original purpose of the belted magnum concept taken from the .300 H&H Magnum and .375 H&H Magnum, was to provide precise headspace control, since the sloping shoulders, while easing cartridge extraction, were unsuitable for this purpose. Improved cartridge extraction reliability is desirable while hunting dangerous game, in particular when a fast follow-up shot is required. The 7mm Remington Magnum is based on the commercial .264 Winchester Magnum, .338 Winchester Magnum, and .458 Winchester Magnum, which were based on the same belted .300 H&H Magnum and .375 H&H Magnum cases, trimmed to nearly the same length as the .270 Weatherby Magnum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">6mm Remington</span> Rifle cartridge

The 6mm Remington rifle cartridge, originally introduced in 1955 by Remington Arms Company as the .244 Remington, is based on a necked down .257 Roberts cartridge using a .24/6mm bullet. Known for a combination of high velocity, long range, flat trajectory, and accuracy, it is suitable as a dual use hunting cartridge for both medium-sized big game and varmints. When used in the less common earlier slow twist barrels, it offers exceptional range for varmint applications. While not as commercially popular today as the .243 Winchester, the 6mm Remington enjoys a slight ballistic advantage and continues to be popular with handloaders and custom rifle builders.

The .264 Winchester Magnum is a belted, bottlenecked rifle cartridge. Except for the .244 H&H Magnum and .257 Weatherby Magnum, it is the smallest caliber factory cartridge derived from the 2.85 in (72 mm) Holland & Holland belted magnum case. It was introduced in the late 1950s and early 1960s with the .338 Winchester Magnum and the .458 Winchester Magnum as one of a family of short-cased 2.5 in (64 mm) belted magnum cartridges developed by Winchester based on the .375 Holland & Holland parent case. It was officially introduced to the public by Winchester in 1959. After many years of dwindling use it began enjoying a mild resurgence in popularity in the mid-2000s among long range rifle enthusiasts and reloaders due to the high ballistic coefficient of the heavier 6.5mm bullets and increasing popularity of cartridges such as 6.5mm Creedmoor, .260 Remington, 6.5 Grendel, benchrest and wildcat cartridges in 6.5mm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.416 Remington Magnum</span> Rifle cartridge

The .416 Remington Magnum is a .416 caliber (10.57 mm) cartridge of belted bottlenecked design. The cartridge was intended as a dangerous game hunting cartridge and released to the public in 1989. The cartridge uses the case of the 8 mm Remington Magnum as a parent cartridge. When the cartridge was released in 1988, author Frank C. Barnes considered the .416 Remington Magnum to be the "most outstanding factory cartridge introduced in decades".

The .375 Ruger (9.5×65.5mm) is a rimless, standard-length rifle cartridge designed for hunting large, dangerous game. It is designed to provide an increase in performance over the .375 H&H cartridge within the context of a standard-length rifle action. The cartridge was designed in partnership by Hornady and Ruger. In 2007, it was released commercially and chambered in the Ruger Hawkeye African and the Ruger Hawkeye Alaskan rifles.

The 7-30 Waters cartridge was originally a wildcat cartridge developed by author Ken Waters in 1976 to give better performance to lever-action rifle shooters than the parent .30-30 Winchester cartridge, by providing a higher velocity and flatter trajectory with a smaller, lighter bullet. By 1984, Winchester introduced a Model 94 rifle chambered for the 7-30 Waters, establishing it as a commercial cartridge. In 1986, Thompson/Center began chambering 10-inch, 14-inch, and 20-inch Contender barrels for the cartridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">6.5mm Creedmoor</span> Centerfire rifle cartridge

The 6.5mm Creedmoor (6.5×48mm), designated 6.5 Creedmoor by SAAMI, 6,5 Creedmoor by the C.I.P. is a centerfire rifle cartridge introduced by Hornady in 2007. It was developed by Hornady senior ballistics scientist Dave Emary in partnership with Dennis DeMille, the vice-president of product development at Creedmoor Sports, hence the name. The cartridge is a necked-down modification of the .30 Thompson Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.458 Lott</span> Cartridge

The .458 Lott is a .458 caliber rifle cartridge designed for the purpose of hunting large, thick-skinned dangerous game animals in Africa. It is based on the full length .375 H&H Magnum case blown out and shortened to 2.800 inches (71.1 mm).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Varmint rifle</span> Mostly 22 Caliber Rifles Used For Hunting Small Game Animals.

A varmint rifle or varminter is a type of small-caliber, precision-oriented long gun primarily used for varmint hunting and pest control. Such rifles are typically characterized by sniper rifle-like designs such as heavy free-floating barrel, enhanced bedding, ergonomic gunstock, the use of bipod/beanbag and high-power telescopic sight, and the choice of high-muzzle velocity, high-ballistic coefficient munitions, which are all accurizing features of needed for improving repeated shooting, often over long distances.

References

  1. ↑ "Hornady" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 12 July 2007.
  2. ↑ Norma product catalog
  3. ↑ "204 Ruger | Lynx Defense". 26 November 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  4. ↑ "20 caliber cartridge guide, .204 Ruger". accurateshooter.com. Archived from the original on 11 September 2018. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
  5. ↑ Harvey, Nick (4 October 2017). "Considering a 204 Ruger". sportingshooter.com.au. Archived from the original on 12 September 2018. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
  6. ↑ "20 Cal 55 Grain Match Grade Long Range BT Varmint". Archived from the original on 21 April 2014. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  7. ↑ Barnes, Frank C (2016). Woodard, W. Todd (ed.). Cartridges of the World (15th ed.). Iola WI: Krause Publications. pp. 68–69. ISBN   978-1-4402-4642-5.
  8. ↑ .204 Ruger by Chuck Hawks
  9. ↑ .204 load data at Hodgdon Archived 11 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ↑ "Hornady Manufacturing Company :: Ammunition :: Rifle :: Choose by Caliber :: 204 Ruger :: 204 Ruger 24 gr NTX Superformance". Archived from the original on 31 October 2013. Retrieved 17 August 2013.

Further reading

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