I think it's called a 222 Remington Magnum

I believe the 222 Mag still carries a 23 deg shoulder, so a 204 reamer would give you a 30 deg for a small increase in capacity.
Otherwise very similar?

Greg

 

Yep it would be an improved 222 Remington Mag with some very pricey dies.

 

I believe if I was to do something like that I would just build a 222 mag so I could just use available dies (222 mag) and brass(204). To be honest there is more velocity difference between barrels than actual difference between the 222 mag. and the 223. just my two cents worth.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
Glenn

 

If you are looking to improve the 222mag ... why not shoot a 22-250? If you load it down to what the 222mag improved would be the brass would last darn near forever!
I do find it humorous that the hype on the 204 is over and the owners are looking for more... neck it up to what it used to be.

 

I made up a dummy round and it's more than just a 222 mag. Have to remember that Hornady also moved the should forward to give it a shorter neck. The 22-204 would have more capacity than a 222 mag AI. The dummy round sitting next to a 223 AI shows quite a difference in capacity.

 

I think it would be a worthy round. 223AI+ capacity without any of the feeding issues many encounter. Get the pick of .224 bullets out there including real game bullets. Most likely barrel friendlier than the 204 ruger as well. 40's at 4000+ on 28 grs. powder make it a 204R with more options.

 

The 223 AI should be in the 3800/3900 range with 40 gr bullets. All three of mine shoot 55 gr in the high 3500/low 3600 range.

 

Yes,I get 3900+ out of my 223AI but the feeding sucks. Have spoke to quite a few name smiths as well as seen many example of 223AI's that do not feed well though there are certainly many that do. Holland has it figured out and has a good reamer with the slightest of taper to it, which is all it needs.

 

I don`t see how your getting longer case than the .222 mag. by forming them from .204. When I got my 1 st. .204, .204 brass was very hard to get so I formed it from .222 mag. brass. In fact all I did was run it through my .204 dies and load it.

 

Catfish:

Before 204 Ruger brass became available, I did like you and made 204 Ruger cases from 222 Mag brass.

When you ran the 222 Mag brass through a 204 Ruger die, all you did was neck the brass down partially. Part of the neck was left at .224" as a false shoulder for the longer head spaced 204 Ruger case. When you fired the case in a 204 Ruger rifle, you blew the shoulder forward on the 222 Mag case and created a bigger boiler room for powder. I think that's what's being talked about here....

JMO - BCB

 

There are quite a few .22-204's around. Ackman has one. It's definitely NOT a .222 Mag. Or even a .222 Mag Imp. It has more capacity than either. It's about all you can get out of a .375 bolt face. With 40's, you should see over 4000 fps.

- DAA

 

With the right powder/brass a .223 will shoot 40's at 3900-4000 depending on barrel length. The .223AI shoots 50's at 3825 and 40's at 4200......again depending on barrel length and quality, and strong IMI brass.

A .223AI and 222Mag hold about the same amount of powder. Trouble is, 222Mag brass is Rem. and not nearly so strong as what's available in .223.

OK....instead of assuming what is and what isn't, all anyone needs to do is actually LOOK at the .204 and 222Mag cases side by side to see they're not the same. The 22-204 holds close to 1gr more powder than the .223AI and should be a good idea. I thought about that cartridge for awhile before finally getting around to having one built. Seemed worth a try. One gun manufacturer has reamers for the cartridge and may actually introduce it, who knows? Mine has .250"nk and 0 freebore. A twin to that rifle was also built at the same time, chambered in .223AI with the same throat specs. Both have 14-twist 28" Krieger barrels, trued 700 actions, McMillan stocks, and 4200 scopes. The idea is to compare the 22-204 and 223AI as evenly as possible. The hope was for another 75-100fps from the 22-204, but I haven't messed with them yet. It probably still won't be exactly an even playing field because the 22-204 uses Win. brass and the 223AI uses IMI which is much stronger. We'll see.

Edit: Dave, I was typing when you posted.

 

Guess the effort and money isn't worth the gain. The bolt face on the Ruger Varminter I have looks like it would be easy to open up for the 22 BR so I think that is the route I will go. Thanks for your inputs.

 

The only cartridge that is larger as to case capacity is the 5.6x50 mag from Germany or Austria and it doesn't look that much bigger. I was using the dumming case from the 204that I necked up to 224 and a actual 5.6x50 mag that I have in my collection. I would think that if the 22-204 was improved there would be about the same capacity for both. I was going to put together 5.6x50 mag a few months back but brass doesn't seem to be available anymore and if any could be found, the price would be out of sight.

 

Everyone Has Their Favorites

And, the .222 Mag Improved just happens to be my favorite cartridge
for a Varmint Rifle. Why ? Probably becasue it was my first really very
accurate Varmint Rifle. I have two .222 Mag Improved Rifles, one a 40X
& the other a Stolle Panda. Like everyone else in the early days I used
the Sierra 50 Blitz becasue it was about the only Varmint Bullet available.
When the Bullet Manufacturers started making quality 40 Grain Bullets it
gave all the smaller .224 Caliber Rifles new life with much higher velocities.
3,800 to 3,900 fps is very readily achieved with many powder/bullet
combinations with a long case life. Why not a 22-250 ? Or should the
question be why a 22-250 ? The 222 Mag Improved round has less recoil,
less noise, longer barrel life, and is generally a softer round with excellent
accuracy & velocity. I also have a .223 AI in a Stolle Panda. Never fired
it but one round just to fire form a case to see what it was going to look
like. I am sure it is likewise a good round. I love to use my little 40X with
an Edge Stock and the Sierra 40 Blitz King Bullets on Prairie Dogs. Sure
makes life difficult for the critters. When Winchester came out with the
204 brass I picked up several hundred rounds to make .222 Mag Improved
brass with. The question was ask in an earlier post about the brass growing
in length. This is due to the shoulder being blown forward & the case wall
being blown out to a straighter less tapering wall. In short the case
stretches. Another reason that the cases should be annealed. I have several
sets of dies (becasue I have several different versions of the .222 Mag). I
had the gentleman that chambered the rifles use his reamer that he used to
chamber the rifle & made my dies from Wilson .222 Mag Dies. But, this cannot
be done with dies that have been heat treated. It will trash the reamer. I also
have two or three 222 Mag Rifles with factory chambers. I really like all the
rifles in the .223/222 Mag Family. The .221 Fireball is probably one of the most
efficient cases for any rifle. Anyhow good luck with whatever your choice in
a chamber is. Good hunting/shooting.

 

Holland 223AI

Holland's 223AI has a slight radius on the neck/shoulder junction, and not a severe angle change at the body/shoulder junction also as some 223AI reamers produce.

My Holland-built M700 is only shot from the bench with a single shot follower, so I can't comment on feeding characterists. But it's easy to see that the 204 Ruger case has more capacity compared to the 223AI.

At this point in time, I've got three 204's, one a full custom with tight neck chamber, and ever since taking them out into the varmint patch here for ground squirrels, my 223AI gets left home more often than not. The 204R shoots flatter to any rat range I normally shoot (usually inside of 500y), and the hits are easier to see, given a rifle of the same weight, even when shooting the 39 SBK or any of the 40's. Both calibers are quite good, but to me, the nod goes to the handloaded 204R, at least for what I use them both for.

Now about that 20-250........there was a couple of good articles in SCN not too long ago that featured the 20-250 very well as a real LR performer, especially with 50gr bullets in a fast twist barrel.