Ive been thinking about getting a nother gun. this one for shooting cyotes and doing it from far away.
so I was looking at the calibures these "varmint" rifles come in and I saw one that i did not recognise, the .204 ruger. what is it? how does it compare to the .223?? will it be a really good cyote killing round still out at 300 yards? what about 400??

The .204 is a fairly new round and is proving itself a challenger in the predator hunting world. It is faster and flatter than the .223. 400 yards would be stretching it to the limit, as would the .223! 300 yards, should be jsut fine with either cal. If you will have a high percentage of 400 yard shots, maybe you should concider the 22-250!
Ammo. suited for coyotes in the .204 is hard to come by right now, unless you reload. The .223 ammo. is some what cheaper too. the v-max bullets have been found to lack penetration on coyote side critters out of the .204. The most popular bullet choice so far is the 35 or 40 gr. berger bullets!

The 204 is not what I would buy. Unless you just want more guns.I allso would not go for a 22-250. If you want to shoot 400 yards go to a 243. they are a bigger bulet and the wind will not be as big facter.

I think the 223 is the best all around for yotes. Cheep bulets nice range. Many bulets to pic from.If you are going to shoot long shots with the 223 go to a 63 gr bulet.

charles bradford

personally, after owning a .223, i wasnt really impressed with the long range ballistics, and i would go for the .22-250 instead, yeah wind could be a bigger factor, but i like the flat trajectory and have heard many many fantastic success stories about it, plus you have many different bullet choices, and if you want a fast round, the .22-250 round holds the record for fastest bullet speed at over 4100 fps

I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the .220 Swift is the fastest factory loaded round which can reach velocities of 4200 fps. It's also very deadly on coyotes at extended ranges.

The .223 will kill coyotes as far as you care to shoot them, as will the .222, .22-250, and .220 Swift. The .223 just has a lot more choices in ammo. Of course, Black Hills is all you'll ever need.

definately go with the 22-250 over both rounds

Exactly my thoughts, many squad snipers in the Marines in Iraq are using m-16's w/ scopes, and are getting kills outwards of 500-600 yrds. My uncle was telling me about it when he came back, and I read an article about it in American Rifleman. The 223 plenty of lead.

I have to disagree with akhunterteen and westokman because the fastest bullet on the market today is the .204 ruger my dad owns one. In my opinion I would go with a .223 because its bigger(easier kills) lots more ammo(cheaper) very accurate(long range shots) Heavier( able to take on wind) and long range. Go with the .223, easier to find the rifle and bullet with way more choices. .204 is good but i like .223 a little more!

The fastest round of the above mentioned is the is .220 swift if the .204 is shooting a 40 grain bullet. If the .204 is shooting a 32 grain then it tops it by a mere 50fps. This ishornaday factory loads not hand loads. Over the last 70 years the swift has been the most compared to round out there when talking about varmit hunting. I have read about but never have tried to make my swift go above that velocity.My hand loads shoot the best around 4150fps from my ruger. The .223 wssm will top the swift when hand loaded and I am sure there are plenty more wildcat cart. out there.Most of the time speed is not most important factor in shooting.