Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles 204 Brass...

I've been flamed for not warming up to this round ever since it came out..
however I got a brand new take off barrel for Free, so I mounted it and scoped it on a Ruger Action ( it was a Ruger Take off)..

Comparing it to the 223, besides other issues, I am wondering about the Brass that is available..

Are other folks experiencing the same things:

1. Hornady Brass... poor Quality, split necks in short periods of times, regardless of annealing every 3rd to 4th time... neck sizing etc..

in batches of 10, by the time I have gotten to the 10th reload, I have had a 50% casualty rate on split necks..

Primer pockets also had to be reamed and uniformed..

2. So I tried a batch of Win Brass;
Primer pockets were uniform. Still after 10 reloads, I am finding that I am averaging a 30% average on neck splits, while annealing every 3 to 4th reload, while neck sizing most of the time also..

I haven't experienced stuff like this with 223 reloads...

anyone else experiencing this? and this is just the life span of smaller bore brass?

gets frustrating....

I have a Ruger 77 in .204 and have not lost any brass as yet.
Sounds like you have a chamber or headspace problem.

Dew

The only 204 brass that I've ever had split were already creased; Winchester.

I've used Hornady, Nosler, Norma and Winchester and have even necked some of each to 222 Mag without issue, unless they already had a fold or crease and only the Winchesters (very few) were like that.

I don't own a 204 but have 3 wildcats on the 204 cas a 224, 6mm, and a 257. The 257 is the roughest on them, I start loosing cases to split necks at 5 loadings but they have not been anealed after expanding. Winchester bases are undersized and the first loading capacity is less than the others. The Hornady and Rem seem about equal. I buy whatever I can get cheap and allthree work fine as far as accuracy.

erich

That is why I never got a .204 I went the TAC 20 route plenty of brass and quality brass if you want to go that way.

If I get 8 reloads out of my brass, I figure I got my money's worth simply put..........It does not last forever and the amount of powder & velocity does affect the life of said brass.

All the Hornady brass I have the primer pockets are to deep. They are way below the surface of the head when seated. They seem to fire ok but it just doesn't seem right. I'll stick to Rem. or Win. from now on. Haven't had that problem with either one of them. So far I've had no trouble with splitting.

This seems kind of stupid.... complaining about split brass and not getting 10 reloads on 204 brass, when you gentlemen get 5 to 8 and call it a day.

I have to admit, Latenews ( welcome to the forums by the way)
did what I am thinking about..

I have to admit, annealing every 4th time and necksizing with a Lee Collet Die and bumping shoulders back with a Body Die, the life span of what I get out of 223 brass from all manufacturers is 400% plus of this 204 brass..

40 plus loads out of 223 brass is pretty normal. That is why I was wondering it being the small diameter.

Guess I'll just have to accept that, or do like Latenews and set the shoulder back a hair and chamber it for the 20 Tactical.

Have you measured how far?

That is exactly what I've been doing with 204 ruger and haven't split a neck yet. I'm at 10 reloadings on 100 Win cases and they're still going fine.

I'm at 8 reloadings on 100 Hornady cases and haven't split a neck on any of them either. I'm mostly shooting 8208 with either brand and using 32's in Win cases and 40's in Hornady.

Double Up...

what powder are you running in yours..

so far for accuracy, IMR 3031 is the accuracy champ in this barrel, bar none.

Seafire, I've pretty much settled on IMR 8208 XBR because it gives me the best accuracy and velocity combination. Benchmark gives me as good accuracy, but I lose a little (100 fps) in the velocity department.

Thanks.. one powder I don't have out in the cabinet..
out of about the 75 or 80 types I seem to..

currently playing with W 748, in Win brass with Win Primers..

see if that helps out..

mine is a Ruger Ultralite Barrel..so 2 shots and it is starting to get hot...

I shot 748 in my first 204, and it did pretty well. It was a Savage Model 11. This one is the Weather Warrior, so neither one of them had heavy barrels but both shot well.

Just out of curiosity, Seafire, measure us your fired necks, sized before seat, and final after seat. I want to know how much you are pushing and pulling those necks.
I use a bushing die on my 223 and go for two thousandths grab, and have no issues with case life at all == so far.

Doug, while we're waiting on Seafire to respond, I'm using the same process and here is what I'm getting. Fired neck .232 outside, sized neck .224 outside, loaded neck .226.

Maybe that will give Seafire a comparison when he gets back.

Dubup, thanks. Clue one.

You have 2 thou of grab, so you are not over-working the brass with the dies you have. Groovy for you.

Kind of interesting that you are seeing .232 for fired. I have a problem-child gun (actually, not mine, but in my circle of projects) that has a .233 neck from Greg Tannel, a recut of the factory Ruger chamber. I think I have some Cerrosafe casts laying around from the factory nightmare, if you want, I'll try to find them and mike them. Greg shortened the throat and narrowed the neck, but didn't get the fat end down to virgin metal. Had I known the end result, I would have had him go for the gusto.

If yours were mine (it ain't) I would try neck sizing only as far down as the bullet base goes -- a second shoulder? I do that with most of my bolt guns. I don't push the loads that hot anyway so the second shoulder is still visible after firing. And it seems to be worth about two-tenths in group size.

Dave thanks for the info and suggestions. Yes, I'd be interested in what you find when you mike the casts. This is just a stock Savage model 16, so I don't have anything more than a factory cut chamber, but the rifle shoots good for me, probably better than my ability at 64 and beginning to need a cataract removed.

Maybe Seafire will be back on the board shortly and compare what he is getting from his cases. As I said, I haven't split a case neck yet.

Sorry guys for missing this..

I did polish up the expander ball on the Redding Die and that helped out a lot.. guess it was a little on the rough side...

also evidently the powder was building up residue in the neck area, causing for a rough surface..

so I have cleaned that up, and also am scrubbing out the necks with a bore brush and then lubing them with a bore brush, and some spray on Amsoil version of WD40...

I also tried changing to W 748 powder for several reloads on new brass.. that seems to be working quite well..

probably reduced velocity, at least reduced pressure..
even with 29 grains and a 32 gr V Max, I have to neck size it every 3rd shot! the first two shots the neck tension sprung back to hold a bullet securely enough to not move..

wasn't quite as accurate as a full load of 3031... but good enough for the 200 yds I plan on using it on..its just a walking varminter anyway..

I was down at Bi Mart yesterday. and they have 17HMR on sale for $10 a box... was thinking of picking up 200 rounds.. and thought that was $40....

two boxes of 32 grain V Maxes was $34.00 and I have loads of primers...so I thought, what the heck... I'd rather use the 204 over the 17 HMR... longer range, less wind deflection etc..

and if I want to get economical, a pound of Blue Dot or SR 4759 will give me 400 to 500 rounds...

so I'll use a walking varminter in 204, where most guys plan on using the 17 HMR....

i guess i am odd i shoot h-4895(27.7gr) in my 204 win brass fed 205m primer 40gr v-max seated =.005 into lands rem 700 24"bbl. =3792fps and very accurate hitting a aulm. can at 400yds no big deal thats about as far as i have shot it well under 1/4 in groups at 100m