Buy A .204 Ruger Ar Upper Or A Dedicated Bolt Gun

[Chills1994]

Hi everyone,

I currently don't own an AR platform of any sort. I was thinking about buying/building an AR. I would most definitely start w/ some sort of M4orgery clone in .223/5.56 or a flattop of some sort that would give me the option of shooting Limited, Tactical, or Open in 3 gun comps depending on if I went w/ iron sights or optics.

As far as price/cost alone goes, it would appear to be cheaper to just buy or build another upper chambered in .204 Ruger.

How is the accuracy of an AR in .204 Ruger vs. a dedicated bolt gun in the same caliber?

Would a bolt gun necessarily have the increase if any in accuracy to make it worthwhile to purchase a dedicated gun?

What is the report or muzzle blast like from a .204?

I've heard that the bigger rounds like .22-250 go BOOM! bad enough to make the prairie dogs hunker down.

What say you?

Much grass

[Joe4d]

Engineers are really smart guys, and girls I guess. Usually when something is designed from the ground up to do a certain job it does it pretty well and lasts forever. Problems come in when other people step in and start modifiing and converting and asking item to do something it wasnt intended to do. All that being said I am sure it is perfectly possible to build a Prairie dog .204 caliber AR but I am sure it'll take more than slapping on a topend. You are citing cost as a factor but how cost effective is it to choose a limited manufactured round which I am sure is way more expensive than .223. Not to mention the problems of maintaining another ammo supply. I guess it all depends on how serious you are about shooting Prairie dogs. The .223 is a fine round and will give you less wind problems than the lighter .204. The .204 will give you a little more range on a calm day half a dozen of one 6 of the other. If I was sticking with an AR platform I would stay with .223. If I wanted to be king of the Praire dog hill I would go with a Bolt Gun which if you price you'll find is about the same price as an AR upper with the acuracy required.

[stubbicatt]

Engineers are really smart guys, and girls I guess. Usually when something is designed from the ground up to do a certain job it does it pretty well and lasts forever. Problems come in when other people step in and start modifiing and converting and asking item to do something it wasnt intended to do. All that being said I am sure it is perfectly possible to build a Prairie dog .204 caliber AR but I am sure it'll take more than slapping on a topend. You are citing cost as a factor but how cost effective is it to choose a limited manufactured round which I am sure is way more expensive than .223. Not to mention the problems of maintaining another ammo supply. I guess it all depends on how serious you are about shooting Prairie dogs. The .223 is a fine round and will give you less wind problems than the lighter .204. The .204 will give you a little more range on a calm day half a dozen of one 6 of the other. If I was sticking with an AR platform I would stay with .223. If I wanted to be king of the Praire dog hill I would go with a Bolt Gun which if you price you'll find is about the same price as an AR upper with the acuracy required.

I like the CZ series of small bore centerfire rifles. I use a 223, but the 204 is interesting in that it shoots flatter, and according to some tables, drifts less with some bullets. The cost of bullets between them is about the same. Let us know what you decide, the 204 is perhaps my next rifle.

[Chills1994]

I did a quick search over at the Sig Forums too and got about 4 pages of hits. I'll have to wade through all the results, make a decision and then come back and let you all know.

I guess if I had the money I could buy both, shoot 'em side by side and see which is more accurate. Then sell off the one that is the least accurate.

It sounds like the guys over at SF, well, at least a couple of regular posters there like the Cooper rifles chambered in .204 Ruger.

[waxman]

Can't really answer the AR portion of the question, but I can add something for you to think about. I have been a Dog hunter for going on 15 years now, so I have learned a thing or 2. All of my buddies and I started out with a .223, since they were cheap to shoot. We then moved on to 22-250, and 220 swift. Now that we are a little more seasoned, we are into more hits and less misses. Every one that i hunt with now has a larger rifle. I use a 6mm rem, my bud uses a 25-06, and my Dad uses a 243. We all still bring the 250's and 223' and even ar-15's, but they just dont compare.Not sure where you hunt, but in South Dakota, very seldom is it not really windy. Also now year after year, the dogs are getting further and further away, from more hunting pressure. I usually take 4 rifles with me, and at the end of the trip, I shoot my 6mm more then all others. You just cant beat the wind resistance, and the job a 87gr v-max at speed does on a pdog, has to be seen to be believed. There is no question when the bullet impacts

[George]

+1 to the 6's and 6.5's and 7mm's for a really flat shooting cartridge that actually buck the wind way out there.

I also agree with the sentiment that making a .204 AR would be a bit of a development job compared to just using something off the shelf. To that end, the 6.5 Grendel in an AR would be a good Prairie Dog choice. Set it up with a 24" heavy bbl and you would have something that makes sense to me.

BTW, an AR platform set up properly can shoot just as small of groups as a well set up bolt gun can. You just get more caliber choices in the bolter. The way the AR system is built up at the receiver end makes this an inherently accurate mechanical system that is capable of shooting with the best bolt rifles out there if you want it to.

If the AR configuration wasn't capable of super accuracy, the Tubb 2000 wouldn't be using it's bbl/receiver/bolt head design ;-)

[Jaxshooter]

Along with the calibers mentioned if you decide on a bolt gun and want to shoot long range check out the 6.5/284.

[Flatland Shooter]

I'd vote for the MOR.

I never tried my AR HBAR for prairie dogs, but my 25-06 worked just fine on them. Its a Remington 700 BDL Varmit Special. After glassing in the receiver and a little tuning, I can't imagine many AR's could be any more accurate than a good bolt gun.

But them I'm just old fashioned.

Bill

[jpark221]

IMHO the bolt gun is the best choice for prairie dogs, you don't need to hunt for brass if you reload and accuracy is usually better. I've shot 204 and 223, IMO the 204 bucks the wind better than a 223 because it's going faster and you even get more range.

The easiest was to describe the 204 is, it's a 22-250 with less recoil.

IMO a 3 gun rifle is just that, you usually get the barrel hot enough it will never a 1/2" gun. If you wanna splat some prairie rats a CZ 527 Varmint, Sako/Tikka, or a Remington are hard to beat. I know someone mentioned Cooper rifles and they are the BEST IMO. I have a Montanna Varminter chambered in 221FB with a Swarovski 6-24x50 in Talley bases. They are hand built and come with an accuracy guarantee! They are not cheap though....

[MyBoyElroy]

Savage 12 Long Range Precision Varmint (LRPV) in .204 Ruger. Right-bolt left-port, three bolt receiver, HS aluminum bedding-block stock, small ejection port and best factory barrel.