For coyotes and such......



700 short action, in stainless steel, of course

Kampfeld bolt flutes

PT&G .250" lug

22" Krieger 7.7" twist, .680" at the loud end

McMillan Marksman stock in Gap camo with 3 studs and 2 flush cups

Nightforce 3.5-15x50 in Seekins rings, setting on a 40 MOA Nightforce base

Chambered in 22-204......

I like it. Who fluted your bolt?

Nice. You leaving it silver?

Kampfeld. I was editing the post as you asked.

Yeah, probably so. Cost get you half way to a barrel.....

Now I've really got to get one of those Marksman stocks! Great looking rifle there!

beautiful.

I really dote on the Marksman. A perfect stock off the bags for p'dogs, bipod for varmints, or offhand for the runners.

Kicks the snot outta a Varmint, IMHO.....

Very nice,I really like the Gap Camo,who did you use for the smith?

Chambered by my BR smith in MN with my reamer.

I'll bed it myself if I see a need.

I did a SAKO in that caliber about 3-4 years ago. Neat round, about the max one can get from that boltface and format.

True. The only one that beats it is the 5.6x50mm Magnum. Brass is as hard to find as a dodo bird, and costs more if you can find a hoard.

First off, very nice rifle, I can dig it.

However, what gains do you get from this cartridge? Seems to be about a 222 mag AI'd or something. How much better can it be than said cartridge or a 223 AI for the troubles?

It already has only .0015 total taper in the body and a 30 degree shoulder that's blown forward over the 222RM, ala Gibs.

The provisional picture tells a thousand words....

Left to right for comparison,

221FB - 222 - 223 - 223AI - 222RM - 22-204

I was gonna say the same thing. Sweet looking rig, but I thought the 204 was a necked down 222, so a 22-204 would just be a 222. Of course the pics appear to be a bit bigger.
Sweet ride. How much does it weigh and out of curiosity, how much does it cost to build something like that?

204 was/is sorta a 222 RemMag with the shoulder moved forward and necked down. As you can see, powder capacity is maxed out for that series of cartridges. To get more, you have to go up to the larger case head series of rounds a la 22-250 (30/06 case head size)

This method that Rocky Gibbs developed is a wildcatting technique that hasn't received the recognition it deserves. I've used the technique of moving the shoulder forward, increasing shoulder angle to 35 degrees, and reducing body taper to 0.007"/tpi in several wildcats based on the 300WM case and found it produces the maximum case capacity possible for any case head diameter. All while reducing apparent bolt thrust, as Gibbs claimed. There's no free lunch so the downside is that chamber pressures can get frighteningly high before bolt lift starts to stick. After that, disaster is a couple of powder grains away IME.

Which is why I do not use the sticky bolt lift method of waiting for prerssure signals. Nor do I rely on proimer inspection or case head marks. Especially not with AI'ed or other staight cased wildcats. When my chronograph says I have hit the speed I should get with the powder and case and bullet I am using, I quit. I was not always that way, pounded the heck out of a few bolt handles to get them open back when I was trying to magnumize my 30/06's and what not.

Nice pic, thanks.

So what are the velocity gains over a 223AI say with a 69-75 gr bullet?

thanks....

aalf,

Very impressive, I've been thinking this cartridge for some time and remember talking with sfhunter here about his.

Makes much more sense than to AI a 223.

No fire-forming needed.

Have you tried seating a boattail bullet in the mouth and sending it up the seating die and have instant cartridge?

What powders work best in it?

That's one fine 22 aalf !

aalf - I dig the rifle!

What are you using for dies?

How true. I've been shooting 22 and 6 Dashers for the last several years. Same program, neck up, neck down for snug fit on the false shoulder, and shoot. Pretty simple really.

Case capacity is about a grain over the 223AI and around a 100 FPS gain.

Fireforming is a bitch. Of course the ability to pickup 22-204 ammo anywhere is a plus??(!!?>?!

Hey Al, how ya been? This is the rifle you purchased a lifetime supply of food from Midway for huh?

Death is coming for the coyotes! Nice rifle Al.

Very Nice. I'm thinking of making my 223AI into a 22/204. The bit of taper and hair less shoulder angle I'm thinking it would be a easier round to get to feed well and the hair more capacity icing on the cake.

How bout a 222 RM?

Hate to rain on your parade, but it ain't gonna work unless you cut off part/all of the threads and set the chamber back to clean up the fatter shoulder/body juncture of the AI.

I'd work on the feeding issue first.....

SH's idea on the 222RM has the same issues, but has it's advantages with it's long neck, if you prone to using the full spectrum of bullet weights.

Options are open. It is going to be a rebarrel job, not rechamber, as I want to change the twist from 1 in 14 to 1 in 8 anyway.
If I size down the shoulder of my 223AI just .005 it feeds fine.
Having it done is a ways off yet but the 22-204 has garnered my attention.

Yeah, I know.

If you want to get real crazy, the 6mm/223 has been a joy so far and feeds like it has eyes. So far the 70gr Ballistic tip was worked well. Barnes TSX will be the next test.

Seen your pics and the 6mm./233 thought has already been thrown in my mental blender. The more I think about it, the more sense it makes.
Nice shooting by the way.

Dandy buck.

I ran almost 7 thousand rounds of 6x47 Imp (6x222RM) with a 45 degree shoulder through a Shilen on prairie dogs before it finally puked. Never did try the feeding, as it was only used as a single shot. Pretty sure it wouldn't feed for [bleep] though.....

I don't think there is a small cartridge I don't like. I might get goofy one of these days and do a 25 caliber on a 223/204/222RM case.

On the feeding subject,

This gun has another tube in 223 in an 8 twist Rock that I shortened the mag block for the 75 A-Maxes. With the 22-204, my reamer has .060" freebore, which gave me a loaded length of 2.660" hard in the lands. Rather than making another shorter block to accommodate the longer length, I just run a regular 308 machined follower, narrowed up a bit for clearance in the full length 223 mag box without a block. I had to tweak the left side of the box to stop the second to last round from popping out when trying to chamber. All's good now.

Should easily be the same as a 223AI over a standard 223, apples to apples pressure wise.

So far I tried 335, 380, 414, and AA-2230-C with the 75 A-Max.

2230-C's in the lead.....

Very cool Al!
That'll thump coyotes for sure.

All these critters were 6mm/.223 or 6x45'd or whatever you want to call it.

Deer show exits.

Nice Greg!

Al...I like it a lot!

The front rest rocks. Most have probably never seen one of those.

Good shootin' and be well. -Al

What bullet you shooting Greg?

Nice pics....

Thanks,

There was one like it on BR for a fair price. Thought about scoopin' it, just because. Then my head cleared....

Hope the new year treats ya better,

Al

75 grain Sierra HP in that one at 2770 or something like that. Everything has had an exit thus far including 3 deer.

Wow dude. You look frickin' hammered in this pic......laffin'

I left LA at midnight, drove 11 1/2 hours and killed him that evening. I was hammered.

Yep. That'll do it.

Nice, symmetrical rack on that puppy.......

Redding 204 neck die honed out and L.E Wilson did me a bullet seater.

Hey thanks!