The .204 Ruger / 5.2x47mm is a

centerfire Two rounds of .357 Magnum, a centerfire cartridge; notice the circular primer in the center A center-fire (or centerfire) is a type of metallic cartridge used in firearms, where the primer is located at the center of the base of its casing (i. ...

rifle A rifle is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting and higher stopping power, with a gun barrel, barrel that has a helical or spiralling pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus o ...

cartridge developed by

Hornady Hornady Manufacturing Company is an American manufacturer of ammunition cartridges, components and handloading equipments, based in Grand Island, Nebraska. History Joyce W. Hornady began manufacturing bullets in the spring of 1949 with a .30 cal ...

and

Ruger Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc., better known by the shortened name Ruger, is an American firearm manufacturing company based in Southport, Connecticut, with production facilities also in Newport, New Hampshire; Mayodan, North Carolina; and ...

. 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 This is a list of firearm cartridges which have bullets in the caliber range. *''Length'' refers to the cartridge case Case or CASE may refer to: Instances * Instantiation (disambiguation), a realization of a concept, theme, or design * Sp ...

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. 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 The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

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.

Bullets A bullet is a Kinetic energy weapon, kinetic projectile, a component of firearm ammunition that is Shooting, shot from a gun barrel. They are made of a variety of materials, such as copper, lead, steel, polymer, rubber and even wax; and are made ...

available in .204 caliber range from 24 to 55 grains (1.55 to 3.56 g). The

factory load is listed at 4,225 ft/s (1288 m/s) with a bullet. To achieve these velocities, the factory uses a proprietary

powder A powder is a dry solid composed of many very fine particles that may flow freely when shaken or tilted. Powders are a special sub-class of granular materials, although the terms ''powder'' and ''granular'' are sometimes used to distinguish se ...

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 with the 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 A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...

cartridge introduced in 2003 for the

Super Redhawk The Super Redhawk is a line of double-action magnum revolvers made by Sturm, Ruger beginning in 1987, when Ruger started making weapons using larger, more powerful cartridges such as .44 Magnum, .454 Casull, and .480 Ruger.Taffin, John (2002 ...

. 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 Bolt action is a type of manual firearm action that is operated by ''directly'' manipulating the turn-bolt via a bolt handle, most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the firearm (as most users are right-handed). The majority of b ...

Model 77 MKII, and the

single shot In firearm designs, the term single-shot refers to guns that can hold only a single round of ammunition inside and thus must be reloaded manually after every shot. Compared to multi-shot repeating firearms ("repeaters"), single-shot designs ha ...

Ruger No. 1, and Hornady offered loadings with bullets. The .204 Ruger has proven to be a very accurate and efficient cartridge: an early tester reported 1/2 MOA groups at 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 Benchrest shooting is a shooting sport discipline in which high-precision rifles are rested on a table or benchrather than being carried in the shooter's handswhile shooting at paper or steel targets, hence the name "benchrest". Both the fo ...

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 Point-blank range is any distance over which a certain firearm or gun can hit a target without the need to elevate the barrel to compensate for bullet drop, i.e. the gun can be pointed horizontally at the target. For targets beyond-blank range ...

of more than .

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 was available only from Hornady using a special powder not available to the general public..204 Ruger by Chuck Hawks
/ref> Handloaders typically achieve velocities more in the area of using a bullet..204 load data at Hodgdon
Handloads using 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 . Hornady now offers a 24-grain lead free cartridge that claims 4,400 ft/s from a 26-inch barrel. However, Hornady's 35 gr NTX .22-250 claims 4,450 ft/s from a 24-inch barrel.

References

External links

.204 Ruger info
at Hornady website
Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc.Ballistics Chart By Hornady
{{DEFAULTSORT:204 Ruger Sturm, Ruger & Co. Pistol and rifle cartridges Weapons and ammunition introduced in 2004

Characteristics

Development

Velocity

See also

References

Further reading

External links