For years the only rifle I had was my ol' trusty Marlin 336W. I love the hell out of this gun, but it's kind of a bummer only being able to shoot 6 rounds at a time and I really like to be able to reach out and touch targets at distances over 300 yards. I've hit targets at 300 with my .30-30 but I have to aim really high and I probably hit 2 out of 5.
So I started looking for a magazine fed rifle, one that could easily hit 300 yards, but with a little less recoil than than the .30 caliber rounds. One day I stumbled upon a DPMS AR-150 in .204 Ruger. I had never heard of the .204 caliber before and did a little research. All the reviews I read were all the same, "stupendous round, excellent trajectory, outstanding velocity, and great accuracy". I was sold, and so was the rifle.
I took my baby home and proceeded to test the limits of my local outdoor range.
The rifle it's self is a flattop AR-15 style platform with the standard A2 buttstock. I purchased a bipod to attach to the sling swivel, as the rifle is 10.5 lb empty. It has a 24" fluted stainless heavy barrel and free floating hand guard ending in a picatinny gas block 8" short of the muzzle. I also installed my old 3-9x32 scope that I've had for years. The upper and lower receivers fit so tightly that there is literally NO movement at all between the two!
After only 9 rounds at 100 yards, (I'm not the best shot) she was zeroed and ready to go!
After annihilating the center of my target at 200 yards I placed the next target out at 300 yards. It didn't take long to put a gaping hole in the middle of that target either. I ended the day playing connect-the-dots on a target that was 500 yards out. After expending all 80 rounds that I started with I never failed to hit the target.
For those unfamiliar with the round the .204 Ruger is very similar to the .223, (both use the same magazine which is convenient!) with a few key differences. The .204 has a much higher muzzle velocity at 4,200 fps for the 32 gr bullet. This translates into a longer, flatter trajectory. Time to target is also reduced, thus reducing the amount of time the wind and gravity have to effect the bullet.
But enough with the physics lesson. How did she shoot?
Awesome! I have pumped well over 500 rounds through this rifle in the 6 months that I've owned it. It's never once jammed on me, never failed to feed or eject. The accuracy is outstanding, recoil is comparable to a .22 mag.
Pros - Outstanding accuracy, minimal recoil, standard AR magazines, standard AR platform allowing easy customization.
Cons - .204 ammo is expensive, around $20 for a box of 20. The small caliber is great for varmits and small game, but isn't going to take down anything much larger than a coyote.
All in all it was a great purchase and I highly recommend it!
So I started looking for a magazine fed rifle, one that could easily hit 300 yards, but with a little less recoil than than the .30 caliber rounds. One day I stumbled upon a DPMS AR-150 in .204 Ruger. I had never heard of the .204 caliber before and did a little research. All the reviews I read were all the same, "stupendous round, excellent trajectory, outstanding velocity, and great accuracy". I was sold, and so was the rifle.
I took my baby home and proceeded to test the limits of my local outdoor range.
The rifle it's self is a flattop AR-15 style platform with the standard A2 buttstock. I purchased a bipod to attach to the sling swivel, as the rifle is 10.5 lb empty. It has a 24" fluted stainless heavy barrel and free floating hand guard ending in a picatinny gas block 8" short of the muzzle. I also installed my old 3-9x32 scope that I've had for years. The upper and lower receivers fit so tightly that there is literally NO movement at all between the two!
After only 9 rounds at 100 yards, (I'm not the best shot) she was zeroed and ready to go!
After annihilating the center of my target at 200 yards I placed the next target out at 300 yards. It didn't take long to put a gaping hole in the middle of that target either. I ended the day playing connect-the-dots on a target that was 500 yards out. After expending all 80 rounds that I started with I never failed to hit the target.
For those unfamiliar with the round the .204 Ruger is very similar to the .223, (both use the same magazine which is convenient!) with a few key differences. The .204 has a much higher muzzle velocity at 4,200 fps for the 32 gr bullet. This translates into a longer, flatter trajectory. Time to target is also reduced, thus reducing the amount of time the wind and gravity have to effect the bullet.
But enough with the physics lesson. How did she shoot?
Awesome! I have pumped well over 500 rounds through this rifle in the 6 months that I've owned it. It's never once jammed on me, never failed to feed or eject. The accuracy is outstanding, recoil is comparable to a .22 mag.
Pros - Outstanding accuracy, minimal recoil, standard AR magazines, standard AR platform allowing easy customization.
Cons - .204 ammo is expensive, around $20 for a box of 20. The small caliber is great for varmits and small game, but isn't going to take down anything much larger than a coyote.
All in all it was a great purchase and I highly recommend it!
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