Hi VG -
Yeah, I can't imagine manually making fireball brass from .223. Tee-dee-us. Total waste of time when you can buy from midway. In fact (hint to Seafire) the Sportsman's Warehouse in Medford had a bag or two last time I was in. Since I already had 600 cases, all I bought was the 700 SPS they had on sale for $427 NIB. That's more than $100 cheaper than the .22 rimfire I was eyeballing when I went in there.
Personally, I don't shoot all that far with the .17s, 200, 250 yards. Beyond that bullets don't expand real spectacularly. To that distance, they resist wind as well as the .22-250 and Swift with conventional bullets.
As far as .204, I'm sure glad I gave it one more try after the first two (cheap) guns failed to deliver accuracy. I'm having more fun with it than anything I've owned except maybe a slow twist 6x.284 (1-14, for mostly 70 grain ballistic tips) I had built a few years back. .204 is pure death on our ground squirrels. The absolute only complaint I have is that there is not a lower cost, conventional hollowpoint or soft point of light construction, something like a Speer TNT or Hornady SX, so it's a little more expensive than .223 to feed. But who cares, at the cost of gas to get to the shooting, and food, etc, what's an extra $20 bucks max for more entertainment from a day's shooting?
Tom
