22-204 coyote rifle

[HillbillyLongRifle]

I just built a 22-204 on a Rem 700 and a krieger 1-12 twist rem Varmint barrel cut at 24 inches long. Wanting to use it mostly on coyotes but i will be testing it out on some Groundhogs too! So far i have shot 57, 53, and 50 grain bullets out of it with IMR 8208 xbr powder with several super good groups. Im talking .1 and .2 at the biggest. This is off sandbags at 106 yards. I was wondering what speeds others are seeing with this cartridge and 50 or 55 gr Bullets? Also what powders you like best in this? So far im really impressed with the accuracy of this cartridge. Its just going to be hard for it to replace my favorite 20 TAC!

 

[Adam in WI]

What's the difference between what you've made and the .222 Magnum?

 

[HillbillyLongRifle]

22-204 holds more powder. Its a blown out case and shoulder is moved forward

 

[Matt_3479]

Sounds interesting and looking forward to your results, but come one let’s be real with ourselves here. There’s no way it’s going replace the 20 tac lol just started load work up on my 20’tac today

 

[HillbillyLongRifle]

It want replace my 20 TAC but im hoping i get some decent speed out of it as well.

 

[rockrat]

I ran a 223AI reamer in deep to where I can use 204 Ruger brass, kind of a super 223AI. With the 53Vmax my chrono was reading 3798fps. Out of a 26" bbl.

 

[GAnderson]

What's the difference between what you've made and the .222 Magnum?

Here is the difference...left to right, 221, 222, 223, 223AI, 222Mag, 22-204, 22-204 with 80vld, 22 Dasher, 22x47
Not hard to see the difference at all.

 

[AWS]

I've been shootiing the 22-204 since 2006 and is one of my favorite pelt hunting rifles. 40gr NB at 4000 fps out of a 22" barrel, Sightron II 1.5-6x40mm

Last coyote of the season, pulled the plug when I saw the fur on this. I was experimenting with lead-frees.

Last one 2021 same rifle and scope

I love the cartridge, a very simple wildcat. I've also have built a 6mm-204 and a 25-205 with the 25 being my goto deer rifle 100gr Partitions at 2850fps.

For coyotes my goto bullets are the 40gr NBT in the 22-204 and the 52gr Speer flatbase HP in everything else 222 Rem, 223, 5.6x50R, 22-250.

 

[Adam in WI]

@AWS love the bike! Looks like a great way to stretch your range. How's it handle off-road with the added bulk?

 

[AWS]

It handles very well. It spends most of it's time on two tracks out in the desert, most too rough for my truck. Plus I can travel the highways out to where I'm going to hunt. On State and BLM lands we can't drive off of a designated road(although it might not have been maintained in the last 50 yrs) so the bike is perfect for me since it rarely gets below the mid 20's in the winter. 80 mpg is nice.

If you want more info PM me, we don't want to highjack the thread.

 

[HillbillyLongRifle]

Im getting 3485 fps with 53 gr vmax

 

[snert]

The RWS 5.6x50 is basically the same thing. 1970 creation for German hunting

 

[AWS]

Yes it is basically the same with a longer neck and more taper in the body. The big difference is scarcity of brass and pretty much needs custom or special order dies.

I shoot the rimmed version of the 5.6x50R Mag in a Italian combo gun for coyote hunting. C&H dies, RWS and S&B brass, as far as I know S&B doesn't import the 5.6x50 Mag in either form. My S&B brass is GI bring back RWS from Huntingtons.

50 miles south of the Canadian border

15 miles north of the Mexican border

 

[nakneker]

Here is the difference...left to right, 221, 222, 223, 223AI, 222Mag, 22-204, 22-204 with 80vld, 22 Dasher, 22x47
Not hard to see the difference at all.View attachment 1269203

Nice post, thank you.

 

[GAnderson]

Nice post, thank you.

Actually I did not do this picture...another member made this picture some time back to show all the nay sayers. I think it was alf or aws that originally put the pic together. So I just borrowed it so people could get a visual of things. Thanks

Gene

 

[AckleymanII]

It sure gets old educating people on the fact that the 222 Mag is smaller than the 22/204!

 

[AWS]

ALF gets the credit, I keep it available to post also. It s hard for some to realize the 204 is on an improved version of the 222 Rem Mag case. I started with the 204 case when looking to build a 257 Kimber (25-222RM Improved) and found that Ruger had done all the case forming already and all I had to do was neck up the 204 case to .257 to build a virtual clone of the Kimber and be able to use off the shelf dies.

An interesting side note, by drilling out the top of a Lee Quick Trim 204 die I can trim 204, 22-204, 6mm-204 and 25-205 cases without any adjustments. I keep an old Lyman four hole turret press(opened to 7/8x14) on the bench with drilled out 204 and 223 Quick Trim dies in it and can trim 20 Practical, 223, 6x45, 204, 22-204, 6mm-204 and 25-204 with no adjustments. It is really handy.

 

[GAnderson]

It sure gets old educating people on the fact that the 222 Mag is smaller than the 22/204!

It sure does...but they keep trying.

 

[HillbillyLongRifle]

 

[HillbillyLongRifle]

Imr 8208 and 53 Vmax