Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles Anyone play with a 224 Ruger? AKA 20-204Ai?

The 22-204 might have some merit, but the existing AR-15 platform (mag length) limits the cartridge (any many others) to compete with the 223 in platforms designed around that cartridge, which is why Ruger probably never did anything with it. Plus, there's the possibility of a 223 case being fired in one. They had to pass.

The 22 Nosler even has a hard time offering much in the way of improved ballistics, especially with heavier bullets. I've toyed with one and its biggest limit is the brass. It has to be leaned on to beat a 222 Mag running at sedate levels.

The 22-204, from those who own them, get a little ahead in bolt guns. Your probably not going to see much difference between a 223 AI, 222 Mag or 22-204 on a chronograph. If you want to build a 22-204, do so.

Take that, buttfudge...

Well she's awfully cute and her English is pretty good...

But someone should let this Russian babe, that Jim Jones Cult wasn't in India, it was in Guiana in South America...

those blue eyes are awfully enchanting...

other wise, sadly another campfire thread, going the usual campfire way in short order...

As Rodney King said... can't we all get along???

When I built my 22-204, it was about as much as you could get out of a.378 bolt face without going to exotic brass(5.6x50Mag) or spending big bucks. With the 22-204 you can rechamber 223's without having to set the barrel back, not having to buy custom dies(no factory 223 AI dies made in 2006). You don't even need a gunsmith to build one as no lathe work is needed either. In 2006 it was a really nice wildcat. As for not fitting a AR that's your problem, I don't care for them, for me they are awkward in the field for hunting and yes I have some experience with them.

For me the 22-204 was a experiment, 204 brass had just become available the year before and I built a 25-204 in 2005, after reading about the 257 Kimber (222 Rem Mag expanded to .257 and the shoulder moved forward and body blown out) the 204 case pretty much duplicated all the case forming on the 222 Rem Mag right from the factory. It was a great success for me, so the next thought was a .224 on the 204 case again it worked great and then I built a 6mm-204. An interesting note you can load all three with the same 204 Ruger FL Bushing die with a little modding and changing out the bushing and expander ball. Pretty handy batch of wildcats considering all were built without the aide of a lathe or gunsmith.

The 25-204 will match original factory data for the 250-3000 and 257 Roberts so it turned out to be a pretty decent deer rifle and way too much for coyotes(I save fur).

The 22-204 doted on 40gr NBT's and became my favorite pelt hunting rifle. Was it head and shoulders above anything else, no most of the coyotes I killed could have been killed with a 222 Rem(and a lot were). I built it and have confidence it it so it is one of my favorites.

The 6mm-204 was a great little cartridge and I used it doing summer control work, shot it in a couple Egg Shoots(it was accurate). It was too much for pelt hunting and I don't summer hunt coyotes any longer and in MY opinion not enough for bigger game. So it is now a 20 Practical, why not a 204 Ruger, I won a 20P AR at Egg Shoot so I was all set up for the 20P already, I really liked the cartridge just not the platform so I built a bolt action in 20P .

Would I build on the 204 case today, in 2005 there were no 22 Nosler, 6.8 Rem, 6.5 Grendel or other fat short cases that equal the capacity of the 204. Now there are short actions, the CZ-527, Mini Mauser and Mini Howa that come in the Grendel bolt face and would make really handy little hunting rifle. A Mannlicher stocked Mini Mauser in 22 Grendel might be the ultimate coyote calling rifle. I have a little Sako in 222 Rem that is right up there at the top.

When I was a kid my dad had a book called "The Varmint Hunter's Digest" - written by Jim Dougherty

I think it came out in 77 - called the 22-250 the 22 Varminter, pretty dated stuff these days but in there he doted on the Sako Vixen in 222 Rem mag.

Well I could have used some last summer when I picked up a Winchester model 70 so chambered but I sold it when doing so made me another $300. Last summer the gunshow scene was so messed up I found not one piece of brass.

Well fugg I missed it last year.

I have no dog in this fight but it looks like there is a debate over what to use to make 22-204s.

Great post, love the diagrams.

I don't think there is a debate over what to use to make 22-204s but whether it is worthwhile building one. But that can be said for a lot of cartridges, 221 Fireball over the 222 Rem, no advantage in accuracy killing power or smaller action. There must be over 50 wildcats that people can see no advantage over a similar cartridge.

It seems to work for quite a few of us.

The .22-204 vs. 223AI.......I've been shooting the .223AI for about 15yrs or so and like it a lot. Very good accuracy and surprisingly more velocity than the std. .223, more than you'd expect. And 40gr bullets will really put a smile......about 4190 with VV powder. This is accuracy/working velocity, not see-how-fast-it'll-go velocity. Only fly on this cartridge was making it feed smoothly in my rifles. So they use a loading block and work just fine. But I wanted something that would feed with no hiccups. The .204 case is a beautiful thing and I've a couple 22-204's. One is used with 40gr BT's and the load it likes is 2015 powder for 4170, essentially the same as the 223AI. That's cooking right along with a 40. I'm not concerned about whether or not it works in my AR. The case is pretty maxed out and perfect for wildcatting. Years ago I had a 222mag and it was nicely accurate, but working/accuracy velocity wasn't in the same league as either of these two other cartridges. But the case doesn't hold as much powder either.....in a case that small it doesn't take a lot of extra powder to make a noticeable difference, that and a better shoulder angle. So to me the 22-204 is a really good one and definitely worthwhile. The 6-204 is said to be a terrific cartridge and I look forward to having one of those also.

I’m a 222mag guy, nothing against the 22-204 but I got a deal on everything I needed for the 222 mag a log time ago and went that route.

I will say that in my experience with 222,223, and 222 mag on game coyote sized and larger I notice no difference. I’m sure there’s something to see when using 40s for colony varmints where the added speed adds destruction, but with tougher bullets on bigger stuff they all seem more alike than different to me. I haven’t noticed a marked difference until getting up to the 22-250.

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THIS


I bought into the 24HCF craze for the .223AI

Performance wise on anything...I couldnt tell the difference between that and a plain vanilla .223

I saw a comment someone had made not long ago, regarding the 20 Practical.

I have both it and the 22.250. Comment was there wasn't much difference on how flat shooting each was compared to the other...

sorta on topic, and sorta not....

If this isn't on topic... I claim senility.

Can you tell the plain vanilla 223 from a 222, that's the real question...

And actually a good one. Yes, I can tell a difference, but not till I get past 175-200 yards.

And likely when sourcing brass....

222 brass is everywhere.