January 30th, 2022Sunday GunDay: Cooper.204 Ruger M21 Montana Varminter January 30, 2022 Sunday GunDay: Cooper This means that people will be getting ready to go on varmint safaris. Here’s a story to help you choose the right cartridge for your next Varmint rifle. Ken Lunde traveled to South Dakota many years ago to visit his father and do some varmint hunting. This article features Ken’s Cooper Model 21 Montana Varminter, chambered in the.204 Ruger. Ken was able to compare the speedy.204 with his “old reliable” and.223. The.204 was preferred by Ken for its accuracy, flat trajectory and superior performance in wind. Ken said that while he loves his.223, the.204 is better for Dog-Town duty. “The Cooper Montana Varminter in RugerStory and photos courtesy Ken Lunde
Since my dad introduced them to us a few years back, Cooper Arms rifles have been a favorite of mine. Cooper Arms rifles are my favorite because they perform well out of the box and have exceptional workmanship and beauty. You get both form and function. You don’t have to choose one or the other. Cooper Arms rifles are great value for the money. I mount a quality scope, usually a Leupold 40mm objective, and go through barrel break in. They perform exceptionally well. All of my rifle shooting is for hunting. This means that any shooting I do on paper should be considered preparation for hunting with the same rifle, whether it’s for prairie dogs or larger game.
Photos Copyright (C. Ken Lunde), All Rights ReservedCooper Varmint Rifles – Components and Variations
Cooper Arms M21 Montana Varminter (aka MTV) is the featured rifle. It is chambered in.204 Ruger. It has a 24? It is a varmint-taper stainless Steel barrel with a 1 inch twist. This twist rate is typical for.204 Ruger barrels made by other manufacturers. The stock is AA+-grade Claro Walnut and features the Montana Varminter standard varmint foreend, “Buick”, vents and steel grip cap. Varminter is my favorite of the three Cooper wood-stocked varmint rifles. I also like the “Buick” vents. They are very pleasing to my eyes. Perhaps that’s why I have seven of them in M21 and M22 actions and in a variety calibers. [Editor] Ken’s father owns a nearly identical.204 Ruger Cooper with a consecutive serial number. I mounted a Leupold VX-III 6.5-20×40 LR scope and Varmint Hunter reticle to this rifle. The rifle came with Leupold STD base in Matte, and I used Leupold 30mm StD rings in Medium and Matte. I made sure to align the bottom rings on their bases and properly lapped them. I did not do any custom work except for mounting the scope. The trigger works flawlessly right out of the box, as Cooper rifles are known for. Load Development and Accuracy
I tried factory ammunition loaded with Hornady 32gr V-Max and 40gr V.Max. The 32gr load shot best — five-shot groups at 100 yards were slightly larger than a quarter-inch. My dad had heard that Alliant Reloder 10X was a good powder to use with this cartridge. He created a load using the Sierra 32gr BlitzKing Bullet. He found that 26.5 grams was the right amount for his rifle. Given that my rifle was likely made the same day as mine, with a serial number consecutive, I decided to test my Dad’s load. It included a half-grain up or down: 26, 26.5 and 27 grains of powder. My rifle prefers 26.5 grams of RL10X. This load allowed me to shoot consistent quarter-inch groups of five shots at 100 yards. Cartridge OAL is 2.353 or 1.990? Measured from the ogive. I use Forster dies and load them with a single-stage Forster Co-Axial single stage press. These are two examples of targets. This.204 powder can shoot. WARNING: Reloder 10X powder might be in different lots. 26.5 grains of Reloder 10X powder may be too hot for your rifle and 32gr bullets. Pressures will be affected by the depth of your rifle, throat length, COAL, and other factors. Start at 24.5 grains, then increase. Cartridge Smackdown –.204 Ruger and.223 Remington Ken made the following comments when he tested his.204 Ruger against his trusty (and very precise).223 Remington. The first was my varmint rifle that I had ‘proven’, and it was chambered in Rem.223 Rem. It is made of stunning wood and was clearly obtained from the factory with AAA-grade Claro Walnut. The rifle shoots consistently at 100 yards with consistent five-shot, quarter inch groups. Winchester brass, Federal 205M primers and Hornady 40gr V–Max bullets (nonmoly) are my preferred loads for the.223. I also use 26.2gr VihtavuoriN133 powder. I enjoyed shooting the.204 Ruger rifle so I only used the.204 Ruger on my second trip. However, I also brought the.223. Why did I prefer the.204? The 32gr bullets are very bright and zing out of the barrel with a flat trajectory similar to a.22 or.250. They buck the wind well, maybe even better than.223. Although I’m not a ballistics expert, I believe this may be due its high velocity of over 4,000 feet per second. Due to the flat-shooting characteristics in the.204 Ruger cartridge I found that I could rely on my Leupold Varmint Hunter reticle to provide both bullet drop compensation and wind compensation. It was a pleasant experience. It was a very pleasant experience. Comparative Ballistics: .204 Ruger vs. .223 Remington vs. 22-250 Cartridge Bullet BC Powder Max Load Muzzle Vel 400yd Drop 400yd 10mph Wind .204 Ruger 32gr V-Max .210 Benchmark 28.0 4047 fps 25.50? 17.88? .204 Ruger 40gr V-Max .275 H4895 27.7 3741 fps 26.93? 14.10? .223 Rem 40gr Nosler BT .221 Benchmark 27.3 3666 fps 30.67? 19.02? .223 Rem 50gr Nosler BT .238 BL-C(2) 28.0 3428 fps 34.21? 19.01? 22-250 40gr Nosler BT .221 H4895 37.0 4060 fps 24.73? 16.67? Load data from Hodgdon.com for 24? barrel. 2.250? 2.250? 2.210? COAL for.223 Rem Winch SR. 2.350 COAL for 22-255, Winch LR. Always start at 10% and work your way up. Calculated at 1000? altitude, 80? F. Dakota Dog-Town Adventures with Dad Editor : Ken Lunde went to South Dakota twice in the summer to hunt prairie dogs with his dad. Here’s his account of these summer-time adventures. I drove to South Dakota twice that year. Two Coopers were brought on my first trip. They were both M21 MTVs in.223 Ruger and.204 Ruger. My.223 Cooper had been proven on previous South Dakota trips. I fired 300 rounds total, 200 from my.204 Ruger and 100 with the.223. The.204 Ruger was easier to shoot than the.223, and it seemed to buck wind better even with the 32gr bullets. I shot 301 rounds on the second trip using the.204 Ruger rifle. The.204 Ruger was a great rifle for hunting prairie dogs. There are many variables to consider when shooting: wind speed and direction, bullet drop, steadyness, accuracy of the load, and distance to target. The more variables I can control or compensate, the greater my success. I think I bagged approximately 250 prairie dogs each trip, which is about 500 total for the season. There were some misses, but they are usually at 400 yards or beyond when wind becomes too strong or shooter error. Each trip I managed to score two or three “doubles”, which is lingo that says that one bullet can kill two prairie dogs. Prairie dogs are known to gather, so “doubles” and “triples” can be possible. One of these “doubles”, was clearly visible through the scope. These trips are great because I get to spend time with my dad and do something we both enjoy: hunting and shooting. My parents moved to South Dakota in December 2004 after I was born in Wisconsin. Because of their outstanding hunting opportunities, South Dakota and Wyoming have become our favorite hunting states. It’s great that my parents chose to settle in one these states. It is actually not difficult to drive from California. It takes just over one day. My teenage son was also with me. He loved the opportunity to fish with Grand-Dad and was able to catch six trout one day as a “teen-angler”. My first trip to South Dakota was at the end June. First Stop Guns was hosting a show that coincided my time in the area. Cooper Arms founder Dan Cooper was present at the show. My dad and me decided to host a small meal at my parents’ new house. Dan Cooper and other guests were also invited. For this event, I brought tenderloin steaks made in California. Dan Cooper, Mark Blote and Steve Blote from First Stop Guns, as well as Paulette Kok from Dakota Arms, attended this dinner. It was an honor to be with them. They are all very friendly. Dan Cooper was invited to look at the Cooper Arms rifles that my father had. A few of them turned out be very special. Cooper Arms produced one of the first.22-250 rifles. It is a Model 22 Varmint Extreme rifle with an ebony fore end tip. Another Model 21 Classic rifle Dan mentions is the Schnabel fore end. It can be seen in the rack photo at left. Two of Dad’s rimfires were also very early Coopers. They have two-digit serial numbers. They were made before Cooper began using the Ansch?tz magazine insert. The rack also features the middle rifle. It’s a Dakota Arms Model 97 Deluxe Hunter, which I bought for my dad. He carefully selected the incredible wood blank and made it into an exceptional rifle stock. It is clear in the photo. It is interesting to note that the day before we had dinner, I used Dad’s M21 with Schnabel stock, chambered at.222, in order to hunt prairie dogs on the 9,000 acres bordering my Dad’s 56-acre “recreational” property. This property is just north of Hot Springs. Here’s a picture. This is a great place for hunting and “get away” from it all. Similar Posts:Tags: .223 Rem, 204 Ruger, Cooper Model 21, Cooper Rifles, Ken Lunde, Montana Varminter, South DakotaPermalink – Articles, Gear Review, Hunting/Varminting
