222 vs 204Ruger

[Keith L]

I just missed a 222 carbine barrel on ebay last night.  It sold with shipping for more than I can get Fox Ridge to build me one.   So this morning I got to thinking about it, and found I can get a 204 Ruger for less money in a new barrel.  I have a 222 Super 14, so I thought I wold get a rifle barrel so I wouldn't have to get new dies.  Now I am wondering if it would make sense to switch to 204.

So what do you guys think?

[armory414]

The 204 is essentially a necked-down 222 Rem Mag.  Essentially the same cartridge, but what makes the round is Hornady's bullet.  I've heard some say that it's hard to duplicate performance of the factory round because not all the components (e.g. powder type) are available.  I don't know if this is true or not, as I've not tried to reload or even shoot this round.

[Chuck White]

Keith;
I'd suggest you go with the 204 Ruger!  Because it  is different than the 222!

There is a big difference between the 222 Rem and the 204!

armory414 is correct, the parent cartridge of the 204 is the 222 Remington Magnum!  BUT, the 222 magnum is a lot bigger case than the 222 Rem.  
I haven't heard of anyone duplicating factory balistics either!  This is because they used a special powder which is not available to us, the public!  However, reloaders are getting over 4,000 fps and you aren't going to do that with a 222 Remington!

My 2 cents!

[MickinColo]

The powder that is making the 204 Ruger factory loads so hot is called SMP746. It’s not available to the public (yet), but a number of the regular powders we have all come to love over the years are working just fine in the 204.

[Bim]

What are you looking for? The triple is a reloaders dream the long neck provides excellent bullet alignment(taken from speer manual). Its an awesome midrange cartridge. The .204 is excellent at longer ranges than the .222 but I've heard it has to be kept clean. I have neither cartridge. Lol but I just ordered a custom .222 barrel for my Contender (I missed a bid on e-bay also) because I don't have loooooooong shots. The .222 is good to 250 yards and more on still days. The .222 has a proven cartridge for many years. The .204 is new, if Horady comes out with the new powder what improvements will it make to the .222. Can you tell I'm partial to the .222? Lol. I'd go with the .222 and save the money for a nice custom barrel. I think the .204 is a flash in the pan.

[MickinColo]

Time will tell if the 204 is a “flash in the pan”. At this time though the ballistics (internal and external) are very interesting. The 222 Rem Mag was a round push to the edge of extinction by the 223. I owned one back in the 1970s and it was a good round but necking the case down to a 20 caliber has raised my interest.

[Keith L]

Thanks guys.  I will most likey order a custom shop .222, but haven't really made up my mind yet.  I appreciate all your opinions.

[22shooter]

I recently purchased a .204 Ruger 23 inch barrel.  Using a 3-9x Luepold scope I have gotten 1 1/4 inch grups at 100 yards using Hornady 32 grain ammo.  The 32 grain ammo chrony at 3962 fps.  THis is at 4500 feet elevation and at 52 degrees temp.  

I have Purchased a righthand thrumbhole stock and have used it.  It still need to be finised.  I am sure that I can improve on the accuracy. This is a lot of fun!

[Catfish]

The .222 and the .204 do the same job. The difference is that the .204 will do at 400 yrds.+ what the .222 does at 280 yrds. The guys are right about the .222 mag. being the parent case, but it`s not just necked dowm, the whole shoulder is blown fordward when fire forming so case capisity is more than the .222 mag. even after necking down. The biggest draw back to the .204 is that brass is not readially available yet, but it is starting to become more available. I shoot the .222 in a 14 in. barrel Contender also and the .204 in an Encore 26 in. barrel. Compairing the .204 to the .222 is not really a compairsion, the .204 will shoot alittle flatter than the .22-250 or the .220 Swift. Right now I have 3 - .17 cals., 5 - different .22 cal. rounds, and 2 - .25 cal. rifles for varminting, plus the .204. I think that the .204 is the best all around cal., especially if your reload. The .204 has pleanty of power and shoots the flattest of any of them. It is more fur friendly than any of the .22 cal. rounds, but lacks some to the .17`s. I wouldn`t worry about the .204 being a flash in the pan. There are too many different compaines chambering the round and too many others makeing bullets for .20 cal. now.

[leadthrower]

Has anyone had the chance to experiment with various loads on the 204 yet?  What load has worked out the best for you?

LT

[Catfish]

LT,
   Post that question in June or later. I don`t do any real load work untill hot weather. I did load up a bunch of ammo to fire form brass useing 32 and 40 grn. Hronady mostly, but did load some different Bergers also. I use WC-844 powder, a surplus powder and didn`t spend any time on accuracy. That said, what I have loaded now is good enough to coyote or groundhog hunt with, but don`t want to get in any bench rest compotiation with it.

[22shooter]

I have a contender with a 23 inch .204 barrel.   Using a chrony my ten shot average velocity was 3990 fps using Hornady 32 Gr Ammo.

[Keith L]

I have a 204 barrel on the way.  Lets see how it works for me.

Thanks for the input, guys!

[leadthrower]

Catfish,

Let me know when you have some data.  I will try to make a point to get back with you once warm weather hits.  By that time I might have already broke down and bought a 204 barrel for my Encore.

LT

[Buckskin]

I had the same dilemma, and was looking between the 204 and 22-250.
After looking at all the ballistics and chat rooms, decided hands down that the 204 was the caliber to go with.  And I've read that you can use a 222 mag for reloading this caliber if you know what your doing.  My 204 barrel is on its way!  Beware of the old Navy guy (Flashy) in here, he will say that a 204 is a waste of time, because he shoot the 22-250.

[Catfish]

Well I put my fire form loads on paper. The 32 grn V max. came in at 3 1/2 in and the 40`s at 2 in. at 100 yrds. I had to do alittle load work to get some ammo to carry. Seems as though my barrel prefers the liter loads. With suggested starting load of AA 2230-C I got 4 shot groups under 1/2 moa with every bullet I tried, but with a flier in every group, the 5 shot groups were .75 to .85 in. Starting loads with Bench Mark also run around .5 MOA 4 shot groups , but with the flier went to well over 1 moa. The Berger Bullets seemed to get a little better accuracy than the Hornady, but it didn`t seem to be enough to justify the price difference for hunting bullets. I did not crono any loads yet and have not been able to find any Serria bullets yet.
   I also used fire form .222 Rem. mag. brass that had the case mouth squared but nothing else done to the cases, so I reall don`t know how much case varition intered into the mix. I also used 7 1/2 Rem. primers for all testing and I see were alot of guys like the 205M primers, so I picked up a 1,000 of them today. will be back with more later.

[Keith L]

Thanks Catfish.  I picked up a couple boxes of Hornady factory loads (32 grain) so I can try mine out when it gets here.  It was shipped yesterday so I expect to see it Monday.  I have some surgery happening tomorrow that will keep me off of the range for a week, so it looks like a few days before I can play.  I hope to have a loader set up again by summer and can roll my own.