Finally shot my .204

[Alan Engstrom]

Due to other priorities I didn't get a chance to shoot my new .204 until last Mon. It is a Savage .204 Mod. 12FV, heavy barrel, 26". I was very pleasantly surprised with my loads. I had decided, based on info I gleaned on the "net", that I would try H335 powder. I started with 26 gr. of powder with a 32 Gr. V Max bullet in Hornaday once fired case. (Cases bought on ebay) I worked up the loads in .5 Gr. increments to a max of 28.3. My Chrony indicates bullet speeds of 4150 FPS average with the loads at 27.5 Gr. H335. Very little gain in speed at 28 Gr. or 28.3 Gr. My groups with a 20x scope at 100 yds were quite amazing. One inch without even having a small enough dot to hold on. Next time I can tighten up the group by using a smaller dot. Thought I'd share my results FYI. I was impressed.
I should add that I used CCI BR4 primers. OAL was 2.250. Cases trimmed to 1.840