.204 Ruger from .222 Rem Mag?

[Vartarg]

Does anyone out there make their .204 Ruger brass from Lapua .222 Rem Mag? If so, what do you do? What are the difficulties? What are any pros or cons? Many thanks, George

[Bayou City Boy]

Here's a link with pictures that shows how Silverfox was taught to do it....

http://www.rugerhunting.com/fire_forming.php

The brass I have made from 222 RM cases is by far the best 204 Ruger brass that I have. The key is keeping the headspace/false shoulder on the case neck where the bolt closes on the brass with a slight crush fit.

-BCB

[skb2706]

When I first started working with the .204 Ruger I made up case from .222 Rem mag brass from Remington. I used Silverfoxs method but the case necks were so bad I quickly abandoned the project and bought factory ammo (I swore it off years ago) just to get brass. Personally I found Hornady .204 brass (its as expensive as hxll) to be excellent and very uniform and would forego the whole fireform operation. .

[Vartarg]

Thanks for the responses. I've also noticed that 222 Mag brass has dried up....neither Sinclair, Midway or LockStock&Barrel are listing it......

[Vartarg]

I just went to Sinclair and see that they're listing it.....must have been a brain fart......

[Silverfox]

Vartarg--If you are interested in purchasing .222 Remington magnum brass I think I can save you some money. I have about 290 pieces of new unprocessed brass and 66 pieces that I neck sized to *.224 caliber size, trimmed to 1.8425", chamfered and deburred. The primer pockets are untouched. I am willing to sell the whole works for $75.00, shipping included. E-Mail me at:



Or, if anyone else is interested, shoot me an e-mail.

This IS NOT Lapua brass, it is Remington.

* [Edited the neck size caliber from .204 to .224--I just used a .224 neck sizing die and NOT the .204 neck sizing die.]

[Graydog]

Vartarg
After reading your post, which I thought was a great idea, I looked up the Lapua site and it stated that 222 Rem mag brass is no longer available, and after reading the rest of the posts on this subject I think that I'll stay with 204 brass. Great thought and well worth looking into. " LOL "

[Bayou City Boy]

I guess this just goes to show that experiences can be different....

I had a 204 Ruger rifle very early on in their life and well before Hornady had shipped any ammo to retailers. As a result, using 222 RM brass was a necessity if I wanted to shoot the rifle. So, I made up 100 rounds of 204 Ruger brass using the process that Silverfox was taught. I am still shooting that brass and it has been fine through several loadings without any brass lost.

In contrast, I did receive some samples of Hornady's first commercial ammo/brass. On the first reloading of the factory ammo/brass, I lost approximately half of the 100 rounds of ammo I had received due to split case necks. It appeared that in their haste to get ammo onto the market that the brass had been poorly annealed or not annealed at all. I have used WW 204 Ruger brass and it has performed fine, but I have never bought any Hornady 294 Ruger brass after the first adventure.

As for Remington 222 Rem Mag brass, I have shot a 222 Rem Mag rifle for years and that is all it has ever seen. I have apparently been fortunate to have not received any poorly made 222 Rem Mag brass as I have never had any problems with case neck variances with any of it. I do lightly clean up all case necks on new brass, but it has been no different/worse than brass from various manufacturers in various chamberings including Lapua brass. And the rifle is one of my more accurate custom rifles used for PD's.

My two most accurate rifles used for PD shooting are a couple of custom Tac 20 rifles. One is a blueprinted Rem 700/PacNor SS super match barrel in an H-S Precision stock and the other is a Cooper Montana Varminter. Both of my 204 Ruger rifles are sporter weight rifles, so neither has seen the PD fields... However, one of the rifles, a 20" barreled stainless Ruger 77 Light Weight accounted for an early spring coyote in Wyoming just after Hornady 32 grain bullet/ammunition became available.

Just my experience..... -BCB