al4x Posted December 23, 2010 Report Share Posted December 23, 2010 i was chatting to my feo and he said if thay grant me it i could use it to shoot munties aswell as fox as for shooting fox with 17 hmr i think its wrong even steve horndy who made the round said it was not made for that. 204 is not hard to get hold off my local gunshop said he can have me one in a week and all the brass and bullet heads i need also bear in mind the minor issue that it would be illegal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Logic Posted December 23, 2010 Report Share Posted December 23, 2010 GENERALISATION>>>>There are always exceptions!! Odds are a .223 40g will give better ballistics than a 40g .204, nevertheless you also need the right barrel/twist for the .223 to achieve it, and the right home load will almost certainly help to! .204 ballistics excel at the 32g area, not 40g where other calibres can often be better, and .223 50g round can produce exceptional results as well, carrying its energy much better than 40g generally. I'm afraid this is actually inaccurate. The 32gr .204 is slightly worse than a 40gr .224 bullet, although you can drive them faster with 204 than .223. The 1:12 twist of most factory .204 rifles is ideal for this weight of bullet. The 40gr is where the .204 excels. Its ballistics are similar to a 55gr 224 bullet (IIRC slightly better actually) and you can drive it as fast or faster than 22-250 can drive the 55gr .224. The problem with the 40gr is that 1:12 is marginal for bullet stabilisation, and therefore you may not get the right result with this bullet. This is where 22-250 wins because it is a more established calibre and things work well with it. Other 204 problems include standard cleaning rods etc being for 22 cal, and also some reloading accessories. Also, the bullets expand really fast indeed (I had one 32gr fail to exit a bunny, shot side on). So in summary - 204 ballistically very good, very accurate. Drawbacks as Dekers mentioned - you need a flagpole of a barrel to get the best velocity, twist rates for 40gr bullets, oddities with reloading equipment, ridiculously fast bullet expansion. IMHO the 204 is an exceptional long range bunny/crow tool rather than a fox tool. For foxes, I'll take a 22 cal, I trust them more. That's why I sold my 204 - needed to shoot foxes not long range crows! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njc110381 Posted December 23, 2010 Report Share Posted December 23, 2010 (edited) i was chatting to my feo and he said if thay grant me it i could use it to shoot munties aswell as fox as for shooting fox with 17 hmr i think its wrong even steve horndy who made the round said it was not made for that. 204 is not hard to get hold off my local gunshop said he can have me one in a week and all the brass and bullet heads i need also bear in mind the minor issue that it would be illegal Yeah. And to think - these are the people that both give advice to new shooters and decide the suitability of calibres that more experienced shots may ask for. No wonder the whole system is a mess! EDIT... I wonder where Dan would stand if he was to **** a Deer with a .204 after having it conditioned on his FAC for such tasks? Would it be up to the shooter to read up on the law or up to the licensing office to not mislead him? Edited December 23, 2010 by njc110381 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al4x Posted December 23, 2010 Report Share Posted December 23, 2010 yes up to the shooter, all my ticket says is these firearms shall be used for pest control and deer stalking and its up to me which ones are suitable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dekers Posted December 23, 2010 Report Share Posted December 23, 2010 I'm afraid this is actually inaccurate. The 32gr .204 is slightly worse than a 40gr .224 bullet, although you can drive them faster with 204 than .223. The 1:12 twist of most factory .204 rifles is ideal for this weight of bullet. The 40gr is where the .204 excels. Its ballistics are similar to a 55gr 224 bullet (IIRC slightly better actually) and you can drive it as fast or faster than 22-250 can drive the 55gr .224. The problem with the 40gr is that 1:12 is marginal for bullet stabilisation, and therefore you may not get the right result with this bullet. This is where 22-250 wins because it is a more established calibre and things work well with it. Other 204 problems include standard cleaning rods etc being for 22 cal, and also some reloading accessories. Also, the bullets expand really fast indeed (I had one 32gr fail to exit a bunny, shot side on). So in summary - 204 ballistically very good, very accurate. Drawbacks as Dekers mentioned - you need a flagpole of a barrel to get the best velocity, twist rates for 40gr bullets, oddities with reloading equipment, ridiculously fast bullet expansion. IMHO the 204 is an exceptional long range bunny/crow tool rather than a fox tool. For foxes, I'll take a 22 cal, I trust them more. That's why I sold my 204 - needed to shoot foxes not long range crows! From a man with more experience of the calibre .... do I take it that first .224 was a typo, had me puzzling for a moment! As said by many earlier, if you get one that works well and have the right specialist niche, then go for it, spend a few moments considering some of the additional points raised above though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dann boy Posted December 23, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2010 for peoples info i am not new to shooting have been shooting for numbre of years wich is more than you can say for lot of people on here it just seems that all people do on here is bitch and back stab over and out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Logic Posted December 23, 2010 Report Share Posted December 23, 2010 From a man with more experience of the calibre .... do I take it that first .224 was a typo, had me puzzling for a moment! As said by many earlier, if you get one that works well and have the right specialist niche, then go for it, spend a few moments considering some of the additional points raised above though! Nope not a typo - bullet rather than calibre comparison. Technically I should have put 20 cal 32gr vs 40 gr 224 - my apologies! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyb Posted December 23, 2010 Report Share Posted December 23, 2010 kthxbye Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kent Posted December 23, 2010 Report Share Posted December 23, 2010 i was chatting to my feo and he said if thay grant me it i could use it to shoot munties aswell as fox as for shooting fox with 17 hmr i think its wrong even steve horndy who made the round said it was not made for that. 204 is not hard to get hold off my local gunshop said he can have me one in a week and all the brass and bullet heads i need it would have been nice to get that in writting and use it to prove what a bunch of no nothings work in licencing and tell us experianced and more qualified persons what we might do! yeah availibility wont be any issue when your spending on a whole new rig, but try getting another 100 .20 bullet heads of a certain type to match your favourite load within that 1 week window some time in the future without paying through the nose for them or buying lots. been there done that Love my 7mm but i shall not buy another in a hurry for this very reason alone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al4x Posted December 24, 2010 Report Share Posted December 24, 2010 for peoples info i am not new to shooting have been shooting for numbre of years wich is more than you can say for lot of people on here it just seems that all people do on here is bitch and back stab over and out are the toys being thrown out of the pram after the legality of muntjac was questioned :look: Its not even much of a question its illegal whatever your FEO has said, as Kent says get it in writing and I'm sure it could be used as a cracking example of why we need FEO's that know what they are doing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dekers Posted December 24, 2010 Report Share Posted December 24, 2010 Nope not a typo - bullet rather than calibre comparison. Technically I should have put 20 cal 32gr vs 40 gr 224 - my apologies! See....... just too much for my simple little brain, especially after the mandatory few glasses of juice at this time of year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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