Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats 6mm-.204 RR

Interesting online article at HANDLOADER Magazine.

Pretty spiffy little cartridge if you see the need.

Or the want


Mike

I am working on a 22/204 now, 6mm variant is next. Thanks for the heads up!

That already exists as a factory cartridge named the .222 Remington Magnum. The 6mm variant is called the 6x47. They're both old cartridges.

Wrong.......

There is always one out there.

There 22-204 could also be called the 222 Rem Mag Improved 30 degree, not AI'd as the shoulder is moved forward also.

The 6mm-204 would the be a 6x47 Improved 30 degree. I built one of these about 14 years ago right after 204 Ruger brass became available it was my goto rifle for coyote control work. When I built it I rechamberred a 6x47 barrel for it and there is no need to set the barrel back.

I built the 22-204 and 6mm-204 in 2006 and the 25-204 in 2005. The 22-204 is my goto pelt hunting round and the 25-204 matches original factory ballistics of the 250 Sav. and 257 Roberts and is my goto deer hunting round. The 25-204 is virtually a clone of the 257 Kimber without the need to do any fireforming. All three can be loaded with a 204 Ruger Type S FL bushing die with the guts changed out and slight mods to the die body for neck clearance.

First deer taken with the 25-204

Aalf, how many times have you gone around that mountain...?

It keeps on popping up...

I just learned that one can crunch a .204 case to create a .222 Rem Mag case while expanding the neck. I guess that's good news for existing .222 Rem Mag rifles, as brass has long been as issue with that round. Building from scratch, I'd definitely go .22-204, as I already did, and with fast twist. To me the twist is a big deal.

DF

Good Friday mornin 24hr, if it isn't to much trouble could someone give me some honest velocity out of your own gun (bbl length??? For the, 22-204,& 6mm-204. All so the new nosler 224. Or the same case in 6mm. Wood be much appreciated. Thanks & have a good weekend. Bill out. 👣🐾🇨🇦

I like to think of it more along the lines of a 22-204 Gibbs with a 30* shoulder.

22-204 22" barrel 40gr NBT 3950 t0 4000

6mm-204 21" barrel 55r NBT 3700

25-204 21" Barrel 100gr NPT 2850, 85gr NBT 3000, and 75gr V-max 3150

Exscuse my doubt but I've never heard of a .22-204. I should have known. But the way it was initially described it sounded like a .222 Remington Magnum, one of the cartridges I grew up around. And it has become somewhat of an obscure cartridge and hardly ever brought up, I just assumed you had never heard of it and were off on a quest to make something new. I apologize.

aalf, I love that picture it says it all.

I've used it a couple times but have given you the credit for it.

Thanks aalf, you got me straight. I think I like the .22-204.

Have seen that before, never get tired of looking at it. Well done illustration.

"Prof. aalf" holding class, yet again...

DF

I have been a 223 AI freek for a long time, no down side...pick a twist...the case will impress all!

I really have no need for a detachable magazine as I hunt, and one shot is usually all it takes, schitt is not hard to kill.

On a lark, I tried this case, new Winchester brass, expecting primer pockets to take a crap on me sooner than later, has not happened yet. I got a free 9 twist Shilen, so I chambered it with a .020 freebore reamer from JGS. 55's are in the 3650 fps with blistering accuracy, 60g Sierra is in the 3350 shooting 1/4" or smaller groups and for a 69g Sierra MK, 3250 is a single bullet hole groups with 1/2" groups at 3350 using CFE powder.''' Hard to believe that a 69g SMK would group in a .020 freebore, but they are impressive to say the least.

The single reason to go 22/204 vs the 223 AI was to avoid a detachable magazine. I do not shoot steel, just hair. I can not remember the last time I shot more than one shot on an animal. I could have shot a 223 AI single shot and accomplished the same thing having better magazine latitude.

I shot 40g noslers through this 9T and accuracy with the short freebore was seriously impressive, not that it is worth a crap 275 yards and over. years ago on on p. dog towns, 40g ran out of gas starting at 250...hello!

8T are on the back burner and will be throated for a 77g tmk as I have to see what I can see.

Stick keeps talking about 88's, and I simply don't know if the Win brass will take the pressure with heavy bullets even when properly throat-ed, clueless window licker here for sure...might as well own up to the truth. If you don't listen to him, you are a dump [bleep] for sure as much as he shoots.

I've had at least seven 22-204's, all with 8 twist. I've only experimented with light bullets in one of those barrel, just for curiosity's sake, starting with 40's up to 55's. As weight went up, groups got smaller, confirming yet again that matching twist to bullet weight is the key to best accuracy.

My 22" guns run 75 VLD's at 3075

My 24" guns run 80 VLD's at 3025

My 26" gun runs 80 VLD's at 3125. This one likes & accepts another half grain of powder.


Luckily, I never had the hots for the 6mm version, as the 6 Dasher & 6x47 Lapua keeps me well occupied......

7 twist Brux .22-204 with Lone Wolf stock, Jewell trigger. It was a .223. I knocked out the mag block, which turned it into a 2.8" box. I took a .308 follower, filed it slimmer to accommodate the .22-204, which is longer than the .223. I don't need the full longth mag, but it does feed smoothly.

This one really likes 75's and 80's.

Not that pretty, but a great, light weight truck gun for hogs. It has smoked more than a few....

75 gr SSII's over Varget is a hog killer. They don't like it...

I do...

CDS is set up for that load, seems to track OK. Not that easy to shoot a light weight rifle at 400, but it does find the target. Although not the accuracy champ in this rifle, SSII's have great terminal performance. I guess everything is a compromise one way or the other.

DF

I taught you that......

One of the 24" guns....

The other 24 incher: