Help Reloading for Accuracy in 204 ruger

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Julian537

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I need some help. I have been reloading now for 6+ years. I have a ruger Mk77 rifle 26" bull barrel, Target model in 204 ruger. My groups used to be 2" at 100 yds. I have gotten them down to 1/2" or less at 100yds. I ladder tested my powder loads and this got me to the smaller groups. My OAL is maxed for the magazine. I cleaned all my brass, deburred the flash holes inside. I bump the necks back, just a bit, since I am firing this brass from the same gun. Cases are trimmed to the same length after fire forming.

My question is, where do I go from here, to get more accuracy? I have looked into neck turning, but is that the answer? What about lee collet dies? Bushing dies?
Any advise would be appreciated.
 
In my opinion, the seating depth is one of the most important things you can do. Try shortening it up by say .005 down to where it is getting too short and see if that helps. Max OAL isn't always the best. You might try another bullet also. Turning necks is best left for match chambers and bushing or custom dies. 1/2 inch ain't too bad, that is still 2 inches at 400.
 
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Make sure your bore is clean also. I hope you are using the same headstamp brass, have a good trigger, action bedded, good scope and mounts, all of the usual suspects. You may need all of these to come together to get smaller groups. Like anything, the easy parts make up a lot of the improvement, the last 5-10 percent will be the hardest. Experiment with primers too, they will sometimes make or break you.
 
I've not been able to get a whole lot better than .4-.5 inch groups in my 26" heavy Savage either...at least not on an everyday basis. Tried neck sizing dies, collett dies as well as FL (my best groups have been using FL dies actually) I'm doubtful that a typical factory barrel/chamber will respond much to turning brass, etc and I've become convinced that is about as good as it gets without spending a few hundred on a custom high end barrel. 1/2 inch groups on a consistent basis is very good accuracy for a factory tube, and it would likely take a lot more $ and brass prep time to get cut those in half again. Maybe when it's time to rebarrel anyway....

I was able to do slightly better with certain bullets seating longer than mag length but that's not what I usually load and shoot. Tangent ogive like the V-Max and BlitzKing don't seem to mind the longer jump to the lands anyway and for my style use I'd rather be able to feed from the mag if I want.
 
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Are you using wind flags? Can you demonstrate smaller groups from another rifle during the same range session? Is the scope and scope mount known good? Any parallax or slop in the scope at all? Has anybody else who can show smaller groups with his own rifle tried yours? How do the various factory loads shoot from your rifle next to your hand loads?

If the loaded cartridges are currently straight then bushing die won't make them any straighter. If the necks are currently uniform then turning them won't make them any more uniform.

Check the stability index for your loads using Bryan Litz's work on the Berger website or on his own.

At this point and assuming I was satisfied everything else was as good as it gets especially including the scope then I would try different bullets. I have no idea what the twist is in your own Ruger barrel but there are a barrels out there with a variety of twists. My own Shilen barrel was specifically chosen with a twist on the faster side for plastic tipped boat tail bullets.
 
thank you all for the great advise.

Rifling is 1:12. I have used the hornady headspace gauge. I cannot get the bullet even close to the lands in this gun, or the other 204 Ruger Hawkeye predator I have. The bullet falls out of the case, before it touches the lands. Both of my ruger rifles have a bunch of freebore.

I have been using 32 grain V-max bullets. I have some 40 grain V-max as well as some berger 39 grains that I will try next.

I will be looking at the stability index on the berger site to learn more.

I purchased this rifle. I will shoot it and see how it goes.
 
My Savage is a 1 in 12 and it shoots the 39/40gr pills better on average than the 32s, so don't let that stop you from trying them. The velocity of the .204 makes the twist rate a touch more forgiving I think...mine does just fine with the 40gr Berger varmints.
 
More speed gives more rpm but also means hitting more molecules per time (effectively increases air density) so both stability and need for stability increase for less net gain than you might expect.

Hence I ordered my own Shilen barrel with a 1/9 twist.

Lots of possibilities from the scope to the bedding to the bags. Just maybe as good as it's going to get.
 
My 204 Ruger Savage Model 12 with a 1-12 twist barrel struggles to get good, consistent groups with 39-40 grain bullets.

My 204 Ruger AR-15 with a 1-10 twist, 26" WOA barrel does pretty well with 39-40 grain bullets. Fortunately, ammunition that groups well in the Savage, groups well in the WOA barrel. For my last prairie dog hunt in 2014, the Savage was my back-up for the WOA AR-15.

I also have a 204 Ruger AR-15 with a 1-9 twist, 24" Shilen barrel. I have not shot it in a while but I remember it likes about anything i feed it. Feeding issues since corrected kept this rifle at home during my 2014 hunt.

The Savage is box stock. It shoots very well with ammunition that it likes but as said, 39-40 grain bullets are a struggle. Except of care in loading, no special methods are use for reloading. For 2014, I loaded all my prairie dog hunt rounds on a Pro2000.

The AR-15s have higher quality barrels, free float hand guards, and high quality triggers.
 
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