I went to a 204 Ruger not long after it came out, as my first small caliber centerfire gun, mostly thanks to a persuasive salesman at the time. I went in looking for a 22-250, came out with the .204 and have had no regrets. That first .204 was a Remington XR-100 single shot action. I thought I would be at a disadvantage shooting PDs with my friends - one with a .223 AR, the other had a 22-250 bolt gun. I was able to keep up due to the flat trajectory, but mostly because I could see all of my hits because the gun just didn't move much. I had my guy thread the barrel and I installed a muzzle brake and now the gun just doesn't move at all.
My kids now shoot PDs with me and I've since picked up a Savage 12FV while they still made those in .204 and with the 39gr Hornady's we can reach out farther than the .223s with no ricochets, we can see all the impacts, unlike the guy with the 22-250.
Both guns will shoot the 35gr Bergers, 40gr Bergers, 40gr Sierras, but both prefer the much cheaper, and in my experience, more effective Hornady 39s. I never bothered with anything lighter than 35gr due to the distances we shoot. Both guns are still on their original barrels with at least 5k through the Rem and probably 2500 through the Savage, they are both still going strong.
So -GVJM if you are considering a .204 as a dedicated PD rifle, I will just say I love mine, and despite my interest in fun wildcats - for volume PD shooting, 204 is hard to beat.