SmallCaliberCentral

Went to a friends to do some shooting for load development. This was the second trip w/ the new lilja 204. My results were so sub standard. It's has already had a good # of rounds down the pipe. For break in purposes and development. Started off w/ factory hornady 32gr v-max. Box says 4225 fps, not even close :bash:. Magnetospeed read 3500 and change. Could barely cover groups w/ a xlg pizza pan. lol It was bad. So I switched to my hornady hand loads. Better but anything was better than where it was at. Speeds just were'nt there. From my data I should be pushing 38 -3900 fps w/ cfe 223 not even close. Useing the hodgdon web site. Today I got my hands on a 9th addition hornady manual. I'm almost one full grain low with their data :yike:. So many what the hells have been answerd today you wouldn't beleive it. Now I'm excited to start with a fresh slate and see where this takes me. Beleive me I'm not kidding when I said pizza pan :chuckle:

What length is your barrel?

lilja 17 inch. I new I would lose sum fps with that barrel length just not that much.

Hmmm…if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there. I don’t know anything with regards to your experiences, so;

- Make sure your action to stock fit is tight and not moving around.
- Make sure your sighting system is sound.
- Try the OCW and/or the Audette Ladder system, if your gun will group it should show in these tests.
- Make sure your loads are within the cartridge size SPECS.
- Try different combinations of components; brass, powder, bullets and primers.
- Experiment with neck tensions, and bullet seating depths.
- You mentioned it was a Lilja, so I presume it has been re-barreled or it is a custom rig. Check your bullet jump or distance to lands. The 204 Ruger in factory configuration have very long throats. If yours is short, you may need to adjust your loads downwards.

Okay guys here's a little more info. BTW thank you for your interest and imput. I appreciate it.

17" lilja barrel 1-12 custom
Nikon 3x9x40 bushmaster w/ M223 scope mount. I rechecked and all was nicely snug.
areo upper 60lb torque
MI free float SS rifle length
There is no movement or slop between upper an lower
RCBS 204 dies.
Solid bench and bags were used (very comfy) lol
My plan is to resize full length. Bump the powder charge up to hornady 9th addition recommendation. Which I was almost a full grain low. Recheck chamber length and load accordingly.

...and DON'T shoot in the wind testing loads... it will drive you nuts, lol!!

I doubt you will ever get it to group at a distance of 100 yards. I'm not sure why you would choose a barrel length of 17" for a .204 if you are wanting to shoot at that range or further. When your bullet reaches the muzzle, you are still burning powder. Most barrel lengths are standardized for the amount of powder you are burning.

Basically you will always have too much "fuel" (or powder) because you will never be able to push the bullet long enough in a barrel to get it up to velocity. If you cannot optimize the burn....you will never be able to maximize accuracy.

17" barrel is going to be just fine. Remington's early XB's in 222 mag were I believe 18". Personally, I prefer an AR with a shorter barrel.
Maybe give a thorough cleaning backed up with some Barnes CR10 or Sweets 7.62 for copper fouling.
After you full length size, try taking the expander ball out of a neck sizing die to give some AR platform neck tension and startup pressure
for the 204 jump.
Lots of proven loads on this site. Pick a bullet/powder/primer and marry it. Hardest/costliest thing is jumping around to different combinations.20 cal bullets can be finicky. .2 gr. makes a difference in some powders. I shoot a bolt gun, and prefer IMR 8208/39gr. BK's/ Rem 7 1/2's..
It's a flat shooting round and you'll find great happiness with one of Lord Lilja's finest....Let'r rip tater chip

According to JBM, that 32gr vmax is only marginally stable going that slow.
Remember with a gas gun, velocities are always slower. And I have said for YEARS now that Hornady's velocity claims are a flat lie. CFE may not agree with the gas system. AR patterns are rather fickle, if you want precision work. Generally will feed extract, but accuracy requires keeping the gas system in harmony.

I have a savage model 12 with a 26 in. bbl. I shoot off of a lead sled and with 35 gr. bergers, 30.6 grains cfe-223, rem 7 1/2 primers my chrono shows 4000 fps and my best to date was three shots in .142, several groups below .2 in. less than .375 in. is normal. if you have a lilja .204 bbl it has probably been hand lapped and I would be suspicious that the scope rings may not be good or maybe the scope has a problem. of course it is really hard to tell without taking it to a competent gunsmith. the last thing I would suspect would a barrel by lilja--that does not mean there isn't a problem with it. if that is the problem I am sure lilja will take care of it if he agrees that is the fault. good luck I hope you will love your .204 as much as I love mine.

all above groups were shot at 100 yards.

I think with that short barrel you lose at least 30fps for every inch of barrel. 9" less length will probably cost you close to 300fps velocity. makes seem to me that you are getting pretty good velocity from that length barrel.