I was at the gun show today and tried to find a good deal on a NIB 22-250. After searching for 3 hours I left without a new toy because everyone was proud of their guns and the prices confirmed that. I drove to the local gun shop and the salesman tried to sell me a 204 instead. I plan to buy one of these guns in the next few weeks. Firearm will be used mostly for coyote and I plan to reload as well.

Any suggestions as I do not have any experience with the 204?

I own and love the .22-250 caliber. I own one in Rugar #1 and its incredibly accurate and very flat shooting. Enough power to yotes for sure.


-DallanC

I don't have a 204 so I don't know how good it is but I do have a 22-250 in a Remington and I really like it.

My mainstay twentytwo centerfire cartridges for coyotes have been the 223 and the 220 Swift, although I have used the 22-250 as well over the past four decades of calling. After reading much hoopla about the 204, I decided to give it a try on coyotes and prairie dogs.

The 204 may be the consumate prairie dog round. It has a flat trajectory: the 32gr bullets can be handloaded easily to 4,200fps. The recoil is so mild that I seldom loose sight picture through a variable scope, so hits on prairie dogs are witnessed in full splendor. As a coyote round, for me, it was inconsistent.

So far, 18 coyotes have been shot with the 204, all under 150 yards. Many required followup shots, several were never recovered, some died instantly. I've used Berger 40gr, Hornady and Sierra and the Nosler as well. At this point I have low confidence in its ability. Handloading for the 204 is a little more complex, too.

After trying numerous loads, I found only a few with standard deviations under 20fps. In fact, many loads were 40+fps. By contrast, my Swifts run around 6 to 11fps. The round is tempermental and shows rapid pressure increases as one approaches maximum load. 20 caliber cleaning rods (mine is a Dewey) and brushes aren't easy to find either, but, both are necessary.

The most consistent and reliable Coyote load for the .204 has been the Berger 35 gr. According to most folks on the .204 Forums this is the preferred round. Most .204's are real tack drivers with the 32 and 35 grain bullets, but the 40's don't shoot well out of a lot of rifles.

It's flatter than the 22-250 out to about 300 yds or so. The barrel will definitely last longer than the 22-250 because the .204 uses less powder.

One of the best features of the .204 is that it's has zero recoil and you can see your kills in the scope.

Thanks for the suggestions. I also own 3 .223's and use them quite frequently. I was just needing an excuse to buy a new gun and couldn't decide between the two.

bkthomas: I returned from a three day varmint calling trip into Southern Utah. We took a 204 Ruger to accompany the 220 Swift and 223s (223 Rem and 223 WSSM). I was surprised at the 204; it did a credible job on coyotes on this trip.

We had 14 stands and shot 9 coyotes, three with the 204 using 40gr Bergers. Those three were at 25, 70 and 225 yards and in all cases the round performed well. This is somewhat contrary to my previous experience. The main advantage, when compared to the Swift and WSSM, is the lack of pelt damage and two of the pelts were spectacular.

I'm still not convinced that the 204 is the best choice for varminting when coyotes are the main target, but, I'll take it on the next trip later this month and see if we can get a better reading on its pros and cons. In contrast the Swift and the WSSM have been totally consistent in their kills in the past.

One superb application of the 204 is fox, especially if pelts are taken. We have shot numerous fox with the 204 and have had only two ruined pelts.

bkthomas wrote:

Thanks for the suggestions. I also own 3 .223's and use them quite frequently. I was just needing an excuse to buy a new gun and couldn't decide between the two.

needing an excuse, hmmm lets see... the 223's looked lonely so i had to buy them a COUPLE friends.. so now go grab both the 22-250 and the 204!!

I have a .243 win, and for buying it for ground hawgs and yotes, and deer, I love it! I wasnt too thrilled over it at first, though i never had a "smaller caliber" rifle, the more research i did the more it sounded like the best bang for the buck. then after i got it and shot it a few times, and some more research I am real glad i got it.. now just tricking it out...

Around here the chance of calling in a cougar when coyote calling are always there and for that reason alone I prefer to stick with my 22-250 over the 204. I don't want to become cat scat..............

hahah never thought of that.. new flavor of meow-mix...

Morax wrote:

needing an excuse, hmmm lets see... the 223's looked lonely so i had to buy them a COUPLE friends.. so now go grab both the 22-250 and the 204!!

Well you know how it goes, always need some type of justification no matter what excuse I use.

I did purchase the 22-250 on the way to work this morning. Next payday I'll see if I can get a good deal on the 204. Thanks for giving me the nudge I needed, just don't tell my old lady that I spent more money on guns or I'll be sleeping with the dogs.

bkthomas, congrats, I'm sure you'll like your new 22-250. I've had mine for almost 30 years

Well after a week of the new 22-250 sitting in the gun safe, I was able to get out today and put a few rounds downrange. Using Hornady 50gr V-max molly, we were able to consistently hit unopened beer cans @ 250-300+ yards. I am really impressed with this gun / round considering I just boresighted the scope this morning. Once the initial boresight was done, no other scope adjustments were made. Friday I will put it to the real test on some yotes.

Uh... I wouldn't mind openin' them beers for ya...

On a side note, the beers came from my buddys garage, previously frozen and thawed out at least 10 or more times, they were about 2 years old and tasted really bad (Skunky). At first I thought this could be considered alchol abuse or a serious party foul but they made great targets.

If ya want 4rum, I can send others we may find for your personal consumption.