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russaz1911 · January 28, 2008, 10:51 PM

I shot 60 rounds of 204 Ruger loaded with rl-15 yesterday. I didn't know why I wanted to find something that shot better than H335 but I wanted to try it any way. I worked these loads up at a temp of 33 degrees so be careful to start a little lower if you decide to try this load. My first test was a fifteen round ladder test at 300 meters. I started out by fouling the bore with 5 factory loads. After that I began my ladder test which consisted of 15 rounds loaded with Berger 40gr BTHPs and RL-15. The loads started at 26.0grs and went up to 27.4grs. The battery in my chronograph died before I got to the 26.5 load but the accuracy was fantastic. The 26 gr load dropped 1" below the rest of the rounds, all others fell in to a 1.9" group with several rounds touching the round before. I wouldn't be upset with that if they were all the same load. I couldn't find a point where the bullets all magically grouped for a range of powder weights like I usually do with other calibers so I just settled on 27.0 grs. I loaded up the rest of my casings with 27.0 grs and fired them for 5 round groups at 100 meters and at 300 meters. My 100 meter group was 0.262" and my 300 meter group was 0.596". The wind picked up before I could to any shooting at 500 meters so I finished up the 204 ammunition shooting ping pong balls from 100-300 meters, then went to shooting clay pigeons out to 500 meters. I had more hits than misses so I am happy. I hope that this load data helps some of you out there and I will try to get some velocities for you soon.

January 28, 2008, 10:51 PM	#18
russaz1911 Member Join Date: February 11, 2006 Posts: 16	RL-15 REALLY WORKS IN THESE 204s I shot 60 rounds of 204 Ruger loaded with rl-15 yesterday. I didn't know why I wanted to find something that shot better than H335 but I wanted to try it any way. I worked these loads up at a temp of 33 degrees so be careful to start a little lower if you decide to try this load. My first test was a fifteen round ladder test at 300 meters. I started out by fouling the bore with 5 factory loads. After that I began my ladder test which consisted of 15 rounds loaded with Berger 40gr BTHPs and RL-15. The loads started at 26.0grs and went up to 27.4grs. The battery in my chronograph died before I got to the 26.5 load but the accuracy was fantastic. The 26 gr load dropped 1" below the rest of the rounds, all others fell in to a 1.9" group with several rounds touching the round before. I wouldn't be upset with that if they were all the same load. I couldn't find a point where the bullets all magically grouped for a range of powder weights like I usually do with other calibers so I just settled on 27.0 grs. I loaded up the rest of my casings with 27.0 grs and fired them for 5 round groups at 100 meters and at 300 meters. My 100 meter group was 0.262" and my 300 meter group was 0.596". The wind picked up before I could to any shooting at 500 meters so I finished up the 204 ammunition shooting ping pong balls from 100-300 meters, then went to shooting clay pigeons out to 500 meters. I had more hits than misses so I am happy. I hope that this load data helps some of you out there and I will try to get some velocities for you soon.