204 gun powder??

[Papachev]

Hi, relatively new to reloading. Have been using Hodgdon H-4895 with good results. Just signed up on to a loading interactive site and found a load using Hodgdon Lil gun for the 204. The load uses 19 grains pushing a 39 grain pill - stated as max load. He also mentiones to start at 16 gr. to be safe and work from there - a great economical varmint load! I already load Lil gun for my hornet, 17 & 221 fireball - would be sweet if I could use it on my 204 as well - SAFELY!!! What do you guys/gals think about this load? Would it be a safe load? I'm thinking the case will only be 60% full, would that be a concern in itself? Thanks for your time and valued feedback.

[glenn asher]

I don't know anyone who's tried Lil Gun yet. I've read some Blue Dot users have tried that powder, I have tried it in .223 with adequate results, but not the .204.

To be honest, I'm not sure it's a safe alternative. I know of a guy in Indiana who blew up a Contender .17 Remington using the Blue Dot loads, so I'm leary of using it in a rifle, period. He might have double-charged the case, or not, either way, it cost him several surgeries, IIRC, and he's lucky to have his vision.

All I can tell you, is to make danged sure you're wearing GOOD eye protection if you try it. Prudence pays off. I've tried Lil Gun in my .221 Fireball, and it shot great, but that case has a LOT less capacity than the .204 case. I had pressure issues with it, even with the starting loads I was using. I also saw a gun nearly bend a Savage M40 with the stuff, and most folks claim you can't get too much into a Hornet case to hurt anything. They were dead wrong about that.
Be awfully careful if you decide to try it, and don't forget safety glasses. You would probably have some issues with powder positioning in the case, if the load density is only 60%, too. Load only one round at a time, and keep them in the box, primer side down, so the powder is against the flashhole.

I'd be awfully leary about trying it.

[tckurt]

I have 2 -204's and both shoot 28.0 H benchmark real well with 32 V Max
and the same powder does well with 34 Varmint nightmare bullets for me.
I tried H 4895 and it didn't do as well as H Benchmark in all loads and bullets.
H322 worked better than H 4895 but not as well as H benchmark.
your results may be dif but that is what worked for me.
also run out of my Rem 7½ primmers and had to use Fed 205
primmers and picked up a bit tighter groups with them over the Remington,Also what works in mine may not work for yours

[scott_r]

Im my Tikka .204 h4895 will give me .25 MOA...its amazing. Benchmark powder will give me groups in the .75-1" moa
Im going to post my targets with my Tikka and some of my load info here today.
One tip I'll give you is that each rifle is different and you can't use one persons load and expect the same result.

Cheers!!