204 Ruger History and General Information.  The .204 Ruger is a new centerfire rifle cartridge developed by Hornady and Ruger, making its debut and introduced to the shooting public in 2004.  The .204 Ruger is a wildcat cartridge based on the 222 Remington Magnum cartridge case. By moving the shoulder forward and sharpening its angle to 30 degrees the new 204 Ruger cartridge gets a definite case capacity edge over any similar wildcats based on any other small capacity case.  The .204 Ruger, at the time of its introduction, was the highest velocity commercially produced cartridge, and the only centerfire cartridge produced commercially for bullets of .204 inch diameter.  The .204 Ruger, Hornady factory load is listed at 4,225 fps with a 32 grain bullet. To achieve these velocities, the factory uses a powder specially formulated for the .204 Ruger that is not available to handloaders. Handloaders of experience will easily exceed the 4,000 fps. even without the use of the special purpose powder.  The .204 Ruger is definately a varmint only proposition as a bullet of this caliber does not have the frontal mass to cleanly kill anything larger. One of the primary objectives of a good varmint round is that it should have a flat trajectory and the .204 Ruger meets this requirement with no problem.  The .204 Ruger is definately a very accurate, low recoiling, and efficient cartridge.  For a beginner just getting into the world of varminting the .204 Ruger cartridge is highly recommended. 204 Ruger Barrel Specifications. Common Barrel Twist Rate - 1 in 12". Bore Groove Diameter - .204" 204 Ruger Reloading Specifications. Bullet Diameter - .204" Maximum Case Length - 1.845" Trimmed Case Length - 1.840" Primer Size - Small Rifle 204 Ruger Loading Data Hints.  The 204 Ruger cartridge seems to prefer Hodgdon’s H322 powder delivering good velocities and excellent accuracy. 204 Ruger Reloading Data. Hodgdon Reloading Data Center. 204 Ruger Rifles. New Browning, Remington, Ruger & Savage, .204 Ruger rifles here.  Sponsor - Impact Guns. 204 Ruger Trajectory and Hunting Applications.  This is a down range trajectory chart for the 204 Ruger cartridge with the scope mounted 1.5 inches above the bore center line plus if you were using this load, its effective hunting bullet energy range with well placed shots on, Varmint / Predator size game, such as Bobcat, Cougar, Coyote. Deer size game, such as Antelope, Blacktail, Hogs, Javelina, Mule, Whitetail. Elk size game, such as Caribou, Black Bear, Sheep. Moose size game, such as Brown Bear. Bullet diameter .204" Bullet weight 32 grains Bullet ballistic coeffecient .210 Bullet velocity 4,135 feet per second Range 100 yds. 200 yds. 300 yds. 400 yds. 500 yds. + + 1.2 + 1.3 - 2.4 - 11.0 - 26.8 920 680 500 355 250  Varmint + + + + - -  Deer - - - - - -  Elk - - - - - -  Moose - - - - - - Copyright 2001 - 2010