H4198 in 204 Ruger

[FireBallGuy]

Has anyone tried H4198 in the 204 ruger? Read in several places today that this stuff works well in the round. Have a bunch left from the 17 fireeball experiment so I thought I would use it up. Any thoughts?

[Big_Bullseye]

Don't know about the 204 but seeing that I own a Cooper in 17 Fireball I would like to learn about this 17 fireball experiment...

Tell me what loads have worked well for you with the fireball please, sorry for the OT.

I have been working up several loads just have not had a chance to get out and shoot some of them. Hope too this week and then I'll let you know what worked well for me. I have loaded at least 4 different loads for my fireball this week.

TB

[FireBallGuy]

remington cases and federal 205M primers throughout, cases trimmed to 1.400" COL as per hodgdon data center. 17.0 grains H4198 and 20 gr Vmax are great, 16.6 grains H4198 and 25 gr hornady hollowpoint are great and the guns favorite, 18.7 grains of benchmark with the 25 gr bullet a solid sub 1/2" load. Have not tried any powders other than these because the results really have not warranted further experimentation. To me, this round really shines with the 25 grain hornady hollowpoint. Results with 20 and 25 grain vmax bullets were OK but not fantastic with the 17 gr load being the exception. Moving to the heavier bullet made the gun shoot period. Remeber the day I started 25 gr load develoement, used H4198 and benchmark with the 25's, shot 25 five shot groups and only 2 went OVER 1" and just barely, I was amazed!!!! All this before the gun had made a trip to a gunsmith. Has been in someone else's hands now and I really have not had time to shoot it but I am sure things have got even better. There are other charge weights that worked really well but I have to consult my notes first. Hope that helps you out.

[Big_Bullseye]

Thanks - I had just prepped 100 cases and I loaded 50 of them with that 18.7/Benchmark/25GR load. I'll give them a try.

[Silverfox]

FireBallGuy--The only bullet I tried H4198 with in my Savage 12VLP in .204 Ruger was the 32 gr. Sierra BlitzKing. On June 20, 2005, I tried loads of 22.7 gr., 23.0 gr. and 23.2 gr. of H4198. I used WW casings and Remington 7½ primers. Average velocities at 11.5 feet from the muzzle for the 3-shot test groups I fired were 3,789 for the 22.7 gr. load; 3,882 fps for the 23.0 gr. load and 3,896 fps for the 23.2 gr. load. The 22.7 gr. load gave me a .546" group at 100 yards, the 23.0 gr. load was .463", and the 23.2 gr. load group measured .841 in vertical direction. Horizontally they were .225" across.

The next spring, on April 7, 2006, I started testing those same bullets with H4198 again. Over the course of the next month and a half I experimented with 22.7, 22.8 and 22.9 gr. Unfortunately, the most accurate load was the 22.9 gr. load which gave me velocities that averaged a little over 3,900 fps. I say, UNFORTUNATELY, because out of my rifle, the 32 gr. BlitzKings lost their stability at velocities much over 3,850 fps. I had lots of them go through the paper sideways at 100 yards and when shooting them on prairie dog hunts I had many of them hit the ground long before they got to the intended prairie dog. I was pretty disgusted because if they didn't tumble, they shot pretty nice small groups with 22.9 gr. of H4198, but groups at slower speeds did not meet with my expectations.



I had laid in about 2,000 of these bullets in hopes that they would be as accurate as their 39 grain big brother. They certainly were capable of shooting small groups, but the flyers and tumblers just made them unacceptable to shoot. I did shoot a bunch of them, but wound up selling the remainder off.

[FireBallGuy]

Interesting, thank you for the information. I thought the heavier bulles were the ones that had stability problems? Have shot 32's and 40's in my remy with no problems. I have about 250 reload ready to test using varget and benchmark will see how that works out.

[Gube]

Thanks for the info on H-4198 Silverfox. I plan to do some testing with this powder with the new 26 gr varmint grenades. I didn't know where I was going to start at, but I have a pretty good idea now.

[Silverfox]

The 32 gr. Sierra BlitzKings are the ONLY bullets I have had big stability problems with out of my Savage 12VLP. Even the 40 gr. V-Max bullets never tumbled on me, but weren't the best when it came to accuracy. The 32 gr. V-Max, 35 gr. FBHP Bergers, 39 gr. Sierras, 40 gr. Bergers, and 40 gr. Nosler BTs all shoot great in my rifle. I still don't know exactly why the 32 gr. Sierras were tumbling. I shot them out of squeaky clean barrels so I know the barrel wasn't coppered up and I always clean out the carbon too--Just Plain Puzzling

Gube--Just my opinion, but I'd have to guess H-4198 should work pretty doggone good with those light-weight 26 gr. Varmint Grenades.

[FireBallGuy]

Thanks for the h4198 info silverfox. I thought it might be too fast a burn rate but apparently not. After I have burned up all the stuff I have allready made I will give it a go. Have about half a pound of the stuff left so now it wont go to waste. Can not get very much variety in 20 cal bullets up here, 32 and 40 grainers from sierra, nosler and hornady, GOD, I wish I lived in the states!!!

[FireBallGuy]

Any signs of pressure at these charge levels?

[Silverfox]

FireBallGuy--If you are asking me about pressure signs for my H4198 loads using the 32 gr. Sierra BK, the answer is NO, there were no signs of excessive pressure in my rifle with the brass and powder charge weights I used. As usual, make sure you start well below my listed loads and work your way up slowly, like no more than .2 of a grain at a time.

[Captqc]

Gube,
Let us know how those 26 grainers work out. I've been real curious about them but haven't heard how they fly.
Gary

[FireBallGuy]

Thanks silverfox, will do.

[Gube]

Can not get very much variety in 20 cal bullets up here, 32 and 40 grainers from sierra, nosler and hornady, GOD, I wish I lived in the states!!!

Try S.I.R out of Winnipeg. I buy most of my 20 cal bullets from there. Call first to check for stock. Their web site does not show all of the stuff that they carry. Just got a shipment of 39 gr Sierra BK's and 26 gr Varmint grenades. Nice thing about SIR is that they only charge you for shipping once. If something is back ordered and has to be shipped later, there is no extra shipping cost.
http://www.sirmailorder.ca/

[Gube]

The 32 gr. Sierra BlitzKings are the ONLY bullets I have had big stability problems with out of my Savage 12VLP. Even the 40 gr. V-Max bullets never tumbled on me, but weren't the best when it came to accuracy. The 32 gr. V-Max, 35 gr. FBHP Bergers, 39 gr. Sierras, 40 gr. Bergers, and 40 gr. Nosler BTs all shoot great in my rifle. I still don't know exactly why the 32 gr. Sierras were tumbling. I shot them out of squeaky clean barrels so I know the barrel wasn't coppered up and I always clean out the carbon too--Just Plain Puzzling

Gube--Just my opinion, but I'd have to guess H-4198 should work pretty doggone good with those light-weight 26 gr. Varmint Grenades.

The Sierra 32 gr BK's tumbled very badly in my Savage 12 VLP, to the point it looked more like a shotgun pattern. Tumbling dissapeared when load charges were closer to minimum. I have not tried them out in my Savage 12 BTVSS yet. I still have about 30 loaded up with the 32 bk's for testing with the BTVSS. Everything else in the VLP is accurate with the next least being the 40 gr V-max. I get about .8 to just over an inch at 100. I tried some 40 V-max's in my BTVSS and accuracy was .5 or better, which I'm happy about.