By The Giant Ginger
I am a self-proclaimed black gun guy, so why is it that I am writing an article on the 204 Ruger?
I was doing some research for an article on affordable high capacity pistols and cam across a Remington 700 VLS rifle chamber in .204 Ruger at my local Cabela’s. The condition of the stock was the first thing that caught my eye. It was a very nice laminated stock, in near mint condition. It’s a rare thing to find a stock in any sort of good condition on most used gun racks. I most confess now I am not only a ginger, but I also suffer from the affliction of being a southpaw. I shoot most handguns right handed but have never been able to transition my long guns over to my right side. I have one bolt gun in my collection and it is right handed. I tend to shoot it from the prone position and have found that I am extremely fast with follow up shoots. I tend to favor A5 style stocks, which allows me to not have to break my grip while working the action, so I was not immediately turned away when I noticed that is was a right handed action. On closer inspection it became quickly apparent that I had found someones safe queen. The gun was in immaculate condition. There wasn’t a sign of use or wear detectable, and the rifling was in pristine condition. It was topped with a like new Bushnell elite 3200. It’s not the best scope but for the price they are hard to beat.
I asked my cohort what he thought the price would be, more in jest than anything else. We have found over the years that Cabela’s tends to be very proud of their used guns and have rarely found deals. He speculated that the asking price was around $800. I agreed and was shocked to see they were asking $600 for the package. I have always had the belief that asking price is just that, and will haggle over price more for principle than necessity. We were able to get the “gun expert” to take the trigger lock off and were surprised to see it was one of the older model triggers (denoted by a ribbed trigger shoe), which are easily adjusted and can produce quite a nice trigger pull if done right. I was becoming interested in the rifle but I already have enough guns in different calibers that my mind was racing with the thought of having to buy new dies, brass, bullets for another dedicated varmint rifle when I just built up a dedicated AR-15 two years ago for squirrels. I thought what the hell I will make a low ball offer and see how it plays out. I told the “gun expert” I was interested, but want to haggle. He said, “Let’s see what I can do.”. I was going to make an initial offer of $540 thinking I would end up paying around $575. The quick math in my head was that the package was worth around $800-$900. He came back and said I could have it for $535. My first thought was SHIT! I just bought another rifle; hopefully I don’t get castrated when I get home.
My goal with the rifle is to build a $1200 system that I could justify to the wife as saving money by not having to buy a Volquarsten semi auto 17 HMR. I had priced the Volquartsen out and was looking at $2500 with an optic on the low end. Which seemed tardtastic for a dedicated rimfire rifle. I plan on writing a multi part article on building up the rifle, load development and the final results over the next few months. I hope this rifle can meet or exceed my expectations while I share my joy of building up a complete system.