Below are several 204 Ruger Ballistics charts featuring a few different brands and grain weights of ammunition.
Federal Premium’s 204 Ruger Ballistics Charts
This 204 Ruger Ballistics Chart shows 32 grain Federal Premium Varmint & Predator Nosler Ballistic Tip ammo.
| Muzzle | 100 YDS | 200 YDS | |
| Velocity (FPS) | 4030 | 3465 | 2968 |
| Energy (FT/LB) | 1154 | 853 | 626 |
| Drop (Inch) | / | 0 | -1.4 |
The below 204 Ruger ballistic chart shows 32 grain Varmint & Predator rounds (Loaded with Hornady V-Max).
| Muzzle | 100 YDS | 200 YDS | |
| Velocity (FPS) | 4100 | 3536 | 3040 |
| Energy (FT/LB) | 1194 | 888 | 657 |
| Drop (Inch) | / | 0 | -1.3 |
Our next 204 Ruger Ballistics table shows 40 grain Federal Premium Varmint & Predator Nosler Ballistic Tip Ammunition.
| Muzzle | 100 YDS | 200 YDS | |
| Velocity (FPS) | 3650 | 3200 | 2793 |
| Energy (FT/LB) | 1183 | 909 | 693 |
| Drop (Inch) | / | 0 | -1.9 |
Hornady’s 204 Ruger Ballistics
The below 204 Ruger ballistics chart shows 24 grain Hornady NTX Superformance Varmint ammo.
| Muzzle | 100 YDS | 200 YDS | |
| Velocity (FPS) | 4400 | 3667 | 3046 |
| Energy (FT/LB) | 1032 | 717 | 494 |
| Drop (Inch) | / | 0 | -1.1 |
Our next 204 Ruger Ballistic table shows 32 grain Hornady V-Max Superformance rounds.
| Muzzle | 100 YDS | 200 YDS | |
| Velocity (FPS) | 4225 | 3645 | 3137 |
| Energy (FT/LB) | 1268 | 944 | 699 |
| Drop (Inch) | / | 0 | -1.2 |
The below ballistics and drop chart for 204 Ruger shows 40 grain Hornady V-Max Superformance ammunition.
| Muzzle | 100 YDS | 200 YDS | |
| Velocity (FPS) | 3900 | 3482 | 3104 |
| Energy (FT/LB) | 1351 | 1077 | 855 |
| Drop (Inch) | / | 0 | -1.4 |
Winchester’s 204 Ruger Ballistics
The below 204 Ruger ballistic table shows 32 grain Winchester VarmintX Polymer Tip rounds.
| Muzzle | 100 YDS | 200 YDS | |
| Velocity (FPS) | 4000 | 3449 | 2962 |
| Energy (FT/LB) | 1137 | 845 | 623 |
| Drop (Inch) | / | 0 | -1.4 |
This 204 ballistics chart show 34 grain Winchester SuperX Jacketed Hollow Point ammo.
| Muzzle | 100 YDS | 200 YDS | |
| Velocity (FPS) | 4025 | 3339 | 2751 |
| Energy (FT/LB) | 1223 | 842 | 571 |
| Drop (Inch) | / | 0 | -1.7 |
Remington’s 204 Ruger Ballistics
Next up is our ballistics chart for the 32 grain Premier AccuTip-V 204 Ruger rounds.
| Muzzle | 100 YDS | 200 YDS | |
| Velocity (FPS) | 4225 | 3645 | 3137 |
| Energy (FT/LB) | 1268 | 944 | 699 |
| Drop (Inch) | / | 0 | -1.1 |
Our last 204 ballistic table shows 40 grain Remington Premier AccuTip-V ammunition.
| Muzzle | 100 YDS | 200 YDS | |
| Velocity (FPS) | 3900 | 3482 | 3103 |
| Energy (FT/LB) | 1351 | 1077 | 855 |
| Drop (Inch) | / | 0 | -1.4 |
204 Ruger History:
The .204 Ruger is a newer centerfire rifle cartridge developed by Hornady and Ruger, making its debut and being 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 factory Hornady load is listed at 4,225 fps with a 32 grain bullet at the muzzle, which is hyper fast. To achieve these velocities, Hornady uses a powder specially formulated for the .204 Ruger.
More experience hand loaders should have no problem meeting and even exceeding the 4,000 fps, even without the use of any special purpose powder.
The .204 Ruger is definitely a varmint-only proposition as a bullet of this caliber does not have the frontal mass, or the capability to deliver enough energy, 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.
Any decent rifle will need a good scope. Check out this one from Bushnell.
The .204 Ruger is definitely 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.
