6x204 RUGER ( 6x47 REM. IMP) Who has Built one?

[muleystalker]

I'm looking to build a 6x204 Ruger and would like hear from people who have built them and how they went about it.I was thinking of doing a 6x45 Rem. and improving it. Im thinking it would be easier to do a 6x204, you would end up with improved shoulder angle0f 30 deg. verses 22 deg. and easier to find brass. Let me hear your guys experiences with this and how you went about it.

Thanks, Dave.

 

[JohnHenry]

Attached link for your info. Particularly note posts by stevec who built a couple 6mm-204Rugers. One may also want to consider the 6TCU(223 parent case). I shoot a 22-204 and the only negative has been the life of the various makes of 204 brass. I get 6 to 7 reloads versus three times that number in a 223AI using Lapua brass.

http://benchrest.com/showthread.php?65397-6mm-204-Ruger

 

[muleystalker]

Thanks Johnhenry, that is the stuff Im looking for. That pic says a lot. I been thinking off and on about this for about 6 months, was going to do a 6x45 and read about a 6x 47R. But 222Rem Mag brass is hard to find, the 204 brass is easy to find and it has a better shoulder profile . Basically be a 6x47rem Imp without any fire forming. I ordered some Norma brass today so I can form up a case and get some specs. Cant wait.

Thanks again, Dave

 

[Catfish]

The 222 mag. is the parent case of what you call the 204 and the 22-204 is just a 222 mag. Johnhenry if you buy 222 mag. brass you will have little to know brass forming. Muleystalker, you also should start with 222 mag. brass. To bad your not here in Ohio, I have a 6 - 47 10 lb. bench gun with 2 barrels. One has less than 100 rounds through it and the other is new. I don`t have any idea what case is used for a 6 - 47R, as the R means rimmed, and I know of no 47 mm case with a rim. Also, by putting a 30 deg. shoulder an the case will less than 25 fps. over the standard 222 mag. case. The difference between the 6 - 45 and the 6 - 47 is less than 100 fps. For future reference here is a good rule of thumb, " If you increase the volume of a case, your increase in velocity will be 1/2 the % increase in the volume of the case." I had my first wildcat built back in the 1970`s and have been playing with them ever since. At present I have wildcats for 17 cal. to 411 cal. If you have a specific question PM me. I check in regularly for a while then things come up and I`m not in for a while. If you pm me your reply may be slow, but you will get it.

 

[lpreddick]

The 204 ruger's parent is the 222 rem mag that has it's neck shortened(shoulder moved forward) and shoulder changed to 30°. I built a 6x47 imp(30° shoulder) and searched far and wide to find 222 rem mag brass. I found three good souls on the marketplace who sold me three different batches in that they had very different weights. On batch came in rem red boxes, 20 per box, and the address had no zip code...really old brass. Found 100 pieces of herter's 222 rem mag brass. All these cases have the same drawback...primer pockets can't take much pressure. Norma is offering 204 ruger brass and it is the best! Expanding it to 6 mm is easy...did 100 with no splits(annealed first). Shooting it as a 6/204 should be fun but the short neck gets .010 shorter after expanding, so bullet weight, barrel twist, and chamber specs need attention. I fl sized mine to a 6x47 in my whidden type s bushing fl die(reamer by jgs with a 30°shoulder) and I have plenty of neck to seat bullets jumping or jam. Was very happy to realize the Norma brass had a 30° shoulder. My case capacity is less than a 6/204 but I am getting 3550 fps with 58 vmax bullets and primer pockets are tight and groups are very small.

 

[muleystalker]

Thanks for the reply Catfish, the 6x47R i was referring too was the 6x47Reminton. I put the R because a lot of people get confused and think Im talking about the 6x47 Lapua. I was looking at going to the 6x204 over the 6x47 first off because of brass availability, second you get the 30 deg. shoulder so hopefully a little less case stretching. and buy doing the 6x204 all that is required is necking up and possibly a little neck turn, but i won't have to push back or change the shoulder,i.e. no fire forming. And if I gain a little case capacity, well thats a plus. From what Ive been reading it seems the 204 brass can handle more pressure than the 222mag.
Im glad that you took the time to respond, its always good to bounce an idea off some new people to get a different view point before you just leap in. And i will probably PM a few times before Im through. LOL. Im always open to hearing a different point of view on an idea.

Thanks again, Dave

 

[fredo]

Dave,
Brass availability is a wonderful reason to consider a 6x45, an Improved version, or a 6 T/CU . Can use any matter of milsurp 5.56 brass, middle of the road it with Winny/FC/Rem/Hornady, or moon-walk in style with Lapua. When loading milsurp brass, you'll have to deal with crimped primer pockets, but there are tools for the task that work fine. That aside, a quick pass thru a F/L die with tapered expander, and you're in the game...

Fireforming to Improved is as easy as pie, and a warm loaded 6x45 charge isn't wanting for accuracy. In my 6x45AI, net gain in capacity with Lapua brass ~2.3gr when formed to 40° Improved (30.1--->32.4 gr h20) Fairly appreciable gain, and you reap the benefits of a sharp shouldered case (no trimming & great brass life)...

Formed 6x45AI case measures 0.2gr more capacity than QL's data for 6 T/CU (32.2gr), and only ~0.6 less capacity than a 6x47/6-222RemMag and 6PPC (33.0gr)

Just sharing that info to illustrate how it almost comes down to splitting hairs when considering any one of these neat bunch of 'little' 6mm cartridges! Personal preference, component availability, having dies/brass on hand already, and "cool factor" are all pieces of the puzzle...

That said, I think a 6/204 would be cool as heck! I sure look forward to following along with whatever you decide on!!!

One thing I'd like to ask...what are your desires for this rifle? Targets, varmints? Field rifle, bench rig?

Fred

 

[muleystalker]

The 204 ruger's parent is the 222 rem mag that has it's neck shortened(shoulder moved forward) and shoulder changed to 30°. I built a 6x47 imp(30° shoulder) and searched far and wide to find 222 rem mag brass. I found three good souls on the marketplace who sold me three different batches in that they had very different weights. On batch came in rem red boxes, 20 per box, and the address had no zip code...really old brass. Found 100 pieces of herter's 222 rem mag brass. All these cases have the same drawback...primer pockets can't take much pressure. Norma is offering 204 ruger brass and it is the best! Expanding it to 6 mm is easy...did 100 with no splits(annealed first). Shooting it as a 6/204 should be fun but the short neck gets .010 shorter after expanding, so bullet weight, barrel twist, and chamber specs need attention. I fl sized mine to a 6x47 in my whidden type s bushing fl die(reamer by jgs with a 30°shoulder) and I have plenty of neck to seat bullets jumping or jam. Was very happy to realize the Norma brass had a 30° shoulder. My case capacity is less than a 6/204 but I am getting 3550 fps with 58 vmax bullets and primer pockets are tight and groups are very small.

Thanks for the response, great info. Im ordering Norma 204 brass, and some dies, as soon as those get here i can neck one up and we can take some measurements and seat a bullet so we can get a reamer ordered. I can't wait,it should be fun.

 

[muleystalker]

fredo, i was also looking at the 6x45 AI, I love the look of it too. Im trying to weigh all the plus and minuses of each. 6x45AI i still have to buy a reamer, have to fire form, but brass is plentiful and I believe dies are available. then I started looking at the 204 case and thought i could get the best of both worlds, get an improved case of sort without having to fire form and good brass is available. still have to buy a reamer, no factory dies available but I can buy the 204 bushing dies and get the busing I need,so Im good there.
I know the fire forming on this case isn't bad, but with the price of supplies now I think not having to fire form is a little bit of a plus.I have to say i saw a 22-204 AI and it looked awesome, I thought about that but in 6x204 AI. But then I would have to have dies made. Im trying to get the most bang for my buck,lol. This all started out by me getting a good price on some MOD. 7 actions in .223 bolt face, and then shooting swd's 6x45. Well thats all it took,but I hate to do thing twice so I figured I would get the most out of those action and still keep it reasonable. As good as the 6x45 shoots I feel this will be a great little cartridge. Thanks for your info it has been very helpful and we will keep you posted.
Its mostly going to get used for field and varmint, target, and maybe a few long rang varmint matches( not sure of the proper name)with
swd. Also a rifle i can shoot a lot for practice for LRH, shooting steel at long rang.
Its a model seven action, Kreiger 6mm 5R, light palma at 29" 1;8 twist, probably a Manners T5A, not sure on that yet.