What Brass?

Share information about reloading the 204 Ruger.
User avatar
fishy
Junior Member
Posts: 58
Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2010 6:37 pm
.204 Ruger Guns: Ruger M77 Hawkeye
Location: Central Nebraska

What Brass?

Post by fishy »

I am going to be investing in some brass for my 204 soon and I was wondering which one would be the best to go after without spending a ton of money on it? I am looking at getting 500 rounds. Right now I have about 100 cases of hornady, but would like your opinion on which one would be best. I would like to stick with Remington, Winchester or Hornady, but would be willing to spend a little more if you think it will save me some frustration in the long run.

Thanks
Mark
User avatar
Trent
Senior Member
Posts: 280
Joined: Mon Nov 29, 2010 11:26 am
.204 Ruger Guns: Remington 700 SPS Varminter
Location: Columbus, GA

Re: What Brass?

Post by Trent »

I use Winchester for all my brass in all my cartridges. I'm happy with it and will continue to use it in future calibers as well.

1 vote winchester
K22

Re: What Brass?

Post by K22 »

I mainly have Hornady brass in 204, but my vote would go to Remington. That's what I use in all of my other calibers.

1 vote for Remington.
User avatar
Ray P
Senior Member
Posts: 645
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2005 10:32 am
.204 Ruger Guns: 2-Rem 700 and Ruger#1 S/S
Location: NE Pa
Contact:

Re: What Brass?

Post by Ray P »

Plus 1 for winchester in the 204 Ruger. I have tries Nosler and norma brass. You can weight sort winchester and get more bang for the $$.
Just my .02
Later
Ray P
Life is an adventure and often to short. Make the most with family and friends. Shoot often and shoot a small hole. Love the 204 Ruger!! NRA Life Member
"We are never to old to learn"
Bill K
Senior Member
Posts: 2324
Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2011 10:00 am
.204 Ruger Guns: also now, a Savage switch bull barrel in 204R. 23 inch SS
Location: Lake Forest, Ca.

Re: What Brass?

Post by Bill K »

Either Rem or Win. I always seem to prefer Rem, no real reason, just have always been a rem fan, for over 60 years. Bill K :D
User avatar
Rick in Oregon
Moderator
Posts: 4942
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2005 4:20 pm
.204 Ruger Guns: Sako 75V, Cooper MTV, Kimber 84M, Cust M700 11 Twist
Location: High Desert of Central Oregon
Contact:

Re: What Brass?

Post by Rick in Oregon »

I'll weigh in too FWIW.

My own personal brass preferences run like this:

Best: Nosler (Norma) - All weight sorted, drilled vs. punched flash holes, trimmed, chamfered, deburred. (But you pay accordingly for all this work.)

Yeoman Duty: Winchester or Remington - You must weight sort and completely prep these domestic cases, but the cost is reasonable, and with proper inspection and prepping, they do very well. Some of my very best groups have been shot with prepped WW brass. For most of my varmint calibers, WW has become the bulk of my stash for each rifle.

Worst: Hornady - I've never had so many problem with ANY rifle brass as with this stuff. Primer pockets so tight that a uniformer will not even enter, let alone a match primer being seated properly without any deformation, and weights all over the scale. I'll never use this stuff again....ever.

As long as you have the proper tools and willing to take the time to work the domestic WW or R-P brass, you'll get along just fine, but it really NEEDS the TLC required to make it perform to any degree of precision you might expect out of your rifle. Again, JMO.
Semper Fortis
Rick in Oregon
NRA Life/OHA/VHA/VVA

Oregon, East of the Cascades - Where Common Sense Still Prevails

Image
User avatar
bow shot
Senior Member
Posts: 778
Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2009 8:04 am
.204 Ruger Guns: Rock River Arms AR-15 Varminter
Location: Central NY: infested with liberal wack-jobs and their damage

Re: What Brass?

Post by bow shot »

1+ on RIO's comments.

I prefer to buy great brass rather than prep decent brass. More a sign of laziness than wisdom...
User avatar
futuretrades
Senior Member
Posts: 835
Joined: Sat Aug 25, 2007 11:16 am
.204 Ruger Guns: HOWA 1500 .204 Ruger Varmint, Bull Bbl, Lupy 6-18x40 custom

Re: What Brass?

Post by futuretrades »

My personal preference is and will always be R-P brass. When I first got my 204, I bought 500 Winchester brass. I had some problems with it, so I switched to R-P brass. In fact I don't even have any more of the WW brass for my 204, because I sold all of it on this site!
NRA Benefactor Life member
HOWA 1500 Varmint 204 Ruger, Bull Barrel, Hogue Overmold Stock, Leupold VXII 6-18x40mm AO LRV Custom Reticle Timney Trigger
Cooper Mdl 21 20VarTargW/Leupold VXIII, 6-20x40AO Varmint Hunter reticle.
User avatar
fishy
Junior Member
Posts: 58
Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2010 6:37 pm
.204 Ruger Guns: Ruger M77 Hawkeye
Location: Central Nebraska

Re: What Brass?

Post by fishy »

thanks for the info guys!! I learn more and more each day about this reloading thing and in years past I would had never guessed that the kind of brass you use would impact your shooting at much as it can. I dont have all the proper tools for tooling my brass yet, but sometime in the future I will. For all my other calibers I use all winchester brass and its just purely a coicidence that its all the same. I just bought bulk bags from Cabelas, and I just happened to always buy winchester.
User avatar
ryutzy
Senior Member
Posts: 563
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:40 am
.204 Ruger Guns: Superior Arms Custom AR-15 Leopold VXIII 4.5-14X50
Location: Plain City, OH

Re: What Brass?

Post by ryutzy »

I echo exactly what Rick said. I'll never buy Hornady again and I now buy Nosler or Lapua cases. The frustrations that I had with WW and Hornady have cured me forever and was not worth the cost savings for cheaper brass because I ended up spending much more money and countless hrs that are now wasted. (Except my new education) Im not saying that you should never buy WW but it does require lots of prep work. Hornadys cases that I've used in 204 and 7MM were so bad that all the prep work did not completely fix the issues and it showed on the target.
It's hard to detect good luck, It looks so much like something you've worked hard for and earned.
Stay humble, Stay teacheable
User avatar
Rick in Oregon
Moderator
Posts: 4942
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2005 4:20 pm
.204 Ruger Guns: Sako 75V, Cooper MTV, Kimber 84M, Cust M700 11 Twist
Location: High Desert of Central Oregon
Contact:

Re: What Brass?

Post by Rick in Oregon »

ryutzy wrote:I'll never buy Hornady again and I now buy Nosler or Lapua cases.
Re: Lapua.......as they now make 20 Tactical cases, I'm hoping it's only a matter of time until they start to make 204 Ruger cases also. There's many more fellows shooting 204's, being a factory round, than 20 Tact's, that's fer sure. (The 20 Tac is an excellent round, and will be a future additon to my .20 cal battery, but the 204R is miles ahead of the Tac in terms of usage.)
Semper Fortis
Rick in Oregon
NRA Life/OHA/VHA/VVA

Oregon, East of the Cascades - Where Common Sense Still Prevails

Image
User avatar
zx10mike
Senior Member
Posts: 111
Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2011 1:01 pm
.204 Ruger Guns: TIKKA T3 VARMINT

Re: What Brass?

Post by zx10mike »

gutted i know you guys know your stuff and i am sat on more hornady brass than you can shake a stick at.i do love doing the prep work so hopefully can sort them.
User avatar
Trent
Senior Member
Posts: 280
Joined: Mon Nov 29, 2010 11:26 am
.204 Ruger Guns: Remington 700 SPS Varminter
Location: Columbus, GA

Re: What Brass?

Post by Trent »

What are the problems you fellas are having with WW cases? I use it in five different calibers and have not had any issues at all. In fact it works fantastic. I have one batch of 100 7mm-08 cases that have 20 reloads on them.
User avatar
Hotshot
Senior Member
Posts: 809
Joined: Wed Apr 04, 2007 2:32 pm
.204 Ruger Guns: Savage and ar-15
Location: Rapid City
Contact:

Re: What Brass?

Post by Hotshot »

I've done mostly Win for my prairie dog loads, I have over 2000 loaded. I've been satisfied.
This past winter I was loading for one of my shooting buddies and I couldn't get as much
Win brass as needed so I bought the Rem(at a dollar/100 cheaper) and I was really pleased with it. This seems to go in cycles and sometimes one is good and the other sucks. When I recently loaded 1000 17FB for a new rifle I had no choice but Rem brass, it was great. A couple guys on Saubier forum were complaining how terrible Rem brass is. One thing is for sure in my mind, I have the flash hole tools made by wirelessguy and the Rem brass is way nicer inside than the Win. These comments are from a long time Winchester fan.
User avatar
ryutzy
Senior Member
Posts: 563
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:40 am
.204 Ruger Guns: Superior Arms Custom AR-15 Leopold VXIII 4.5-14X50
Location: Plain City, OH

Re: What Brass?

Post by ryutzy »

Trent--I bought 4 bags of WW brass (200 cases) in .243 Win. I could not even seat a primer in the one bag of cases. I tried about 10 cases in that bag then gave up and wrote off that bag of 50 as bad because of the primer pockets. In the 2nd bag some of the pockets were "normal" and others had the same issue. I also found several cases that the necks were malformed. (as in not usable) At this point I packed them up and sent them all back to Winchester for a refund. They only gave me a 50 dollar credit. I spent more than that on those. Not happy. I replaced them with Lapua. AWESOME. If I buy cheaper brass it will still be Winchester as Hornady brass is unacceptable in my book.
It's hard to detect good luck, It looks so much like something you've worked hard for and earned.
Stay humble, Stay teacheable
Post Reply