Reloading tips for Model 1 AR?

[shotgunred50]

I have ordered an ar in 204 from model 1 sales. I am curious if any of you guys have any suggested brass, bullets, die sets or whatever that will produce good reliable ammo that will cycle well in an AR. I am sure some of you have been doing this for years and know a lot of tricks. As for me I have been reloading for about 4 or 5 years, but only loading .30-06, .22-250, .45 acp and .357 mag. I have been reading a lot of your posts and i have been confused with some of the terminology( im just a good ole boy). I know that expanding the brass and bullet seating depth have a lot to do with accuracy, I was just wondering if you can give me any good ideas. I am definately in the market for some good dies, brass and bullets to get ready since my AR may take until christmas to arrive at the door thanks to the current administration.

[joghotrod]

I have ordered an ar in 204 from model 1 sales. I am curious if any of you guys have any suggested brass, bullets, die sets or whatever that will produce good reliable ammo that will cycle well in an AR. I am sure some of you have been doing this for years and know a lot of tricks. As for me I have been reloading for about 4 or 5 years, but only loading .30-06, .22-250, .45 acp and .357 mag. I have been reading a lot of your posts and i have been confused with some of the terminology( im just a good ole boy). I know that expanding the brass and bullet seating depth have a lot to do with accuracy, I was just wondering if you can give me any good ideas. I am definately in the market for some good dies, brass and bullets to get ready since my AR may take until christmas to arrive at the door thanks to the current administration.

Hi Red,

I have 2 AR's in .204 and I use Forster dies. I also use Remington brass. Most of the .204 guys like the 32 and the 39 grain SBK's, but there are a lot of good bullets out there that work well. If you want to shoot your AR single shot you can load your rounds longer than mag. length. The .204 shoots accurately even with them loaded to mag length. Put a good trigger in your AR and that will help with accuracy also. You should full length resize your brass everytime to make sure your AR feeds with no problems. I hope this helps you some. If you have any other questions let us know.

Jimmy

[jwc41]

I load for a DPMS barreled 204 AR that has a real tight chamber. I started several years ago with a set of RCBS dies. The sizing die had two problems. First, the expander ball was too big for the case mouth to hold the bullet tightly during the feed cycle without a crimp. Second, even screwed into the press at maximum it failed to set the shoulder back sufficiently to chamber and extract a loaded round easily. This also proved to be the case when my reloads were used in a CZ bolt gun. I wound up getting a Redding sizing die that solved both problems.

One issue you can't get away from with the standard AR action is a dirty chamber. I discovered a trade-off when using the cleaner/hotter burning powder (typically AA2300 or H335) that I use for 223 AR loads. With the 204's much higher velocities these clean powders exacerbated the copper fouling. So I found a happy medium by fire-lapping the barrel with David Tubb's bullets and using H4985.

I also discovered that since AR's are over-gassed anyway, the higher pressures of the 204 (compared to 223/5.56) really played havoc with brass life. I used several methods to avoid tossing brass after 2 uses. One, I switched to Winchester and Hornady brass, which seem to have slightly tighter primer pockets than Remington brass. Two, I switched to a slightly stronger buffer spring and a hydraulic buffer. Finally, I backed off the powder charge slightly. I'm now toying with getting a JP adjustable gas block.

I should note that the chamber in my shooting buddy's Model 1 204 barrel isn't quite as tight as mine, but is just as accurate. Both our guns like the 39 grain Sierra bullet, although he prefers Benchmark powder.

All the extra TLC for my 204 AR is worth the trouble. The combination of accuracy, flat trajectory and fast follow-up capability is unbeatable on those days when the prairie dog towns need rapid population reduction.

[acloco]

Put some non aggressive metal polish on a shotgun cotton mop and polish your AR chamber. This helps 99.9999% of all AR's to feed, extract, and function.