I'm gathering all I need to reload my brass. I do have dies from RCBS coming. A couple questions I'm having trouble finding answers to are these. I haven't located any case trimmer pilots,(the trimmer we have is a Lyman) or a overall lenght cartridge for the .204. Also I'm curious what people are using for powder. I went to Hogdon's site, and I'm wondering if the H322 might be a place to start? Any suggestions? I looked on Hornaday's site and they don't, or I couldn't find any useful info. What about primer selection? I really like my new Ruger gun. It shoots those 40 gr. Hornaday loads pretty tight. I am going to reload the 40gr. V-max because of all the wind we deal with. Any help with all these questions I have would be greatly appreciated.

W-748 From 26.3 grains to 28.3 grains
Remington 7-1/2 Primer

The COL is determined by your rifle.

The Aug. issue of The American Rifleman has a artical on loading the 204 with some data listed.

Handloading Magazine--August issue had some reloading information for IMR powders for the .204 Ruger. Most of the loads they had listed were WAY below the kind of velocity I want to get out of my .204 Ruger.



I have been using Remington 7 1/2 primers and 27.0 gr. of H4895 in my fire forming loads in the Remington .222 Magnum brass. The bullets I have used for this process are the 40 gr. V-Max bullets seated very slightly into the lands. I neck size the .222 Mag brass just a little bit so that when the casing is chambered I can feel it taking a little extra force on the bolt to close it so I don't run into a headspace problem. This process has been working great. I have posted the photo below before, but in case you didn't see it, here it is again.







I wanted to see what would happen if I upped the load to 28.0 gr. of H4895. That much powder just barely fits into the casing and is up into the neck a wee bit. I got flattened primers, but bolt lift was OK and no blown primers. I will probably drop the charge back to 27.5 gr. of H4895. I am also going to try using some 32 gr. V-Max bullets for fire forming and see if I can find a fire forming load that is accurate enough for shooting prairie dogs so I can do that and fire form at the same time.



Other powders shooters are using for the .204 Ruger include Benchmark, Win 748, WC846, H322, BL-C(2), H335, H4895, IMR 4895, Varget, H380, IMR 4064, and TAC. Accurate 2230, 2460, and 2520 might even work OK, but that's just a guess on my part--no experience with them in the .204 Ruger.