CCI BR4 Primers and Sierra 39 Grain Bullet

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merbeau
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Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Dec 17, 2017 11:26 am
.204 Ruger Guns: Ruger 77 Mark II

CCI BR4 Primers and Sierra 39 Grain Bullet

Post by merbeau »

I was at my local supply shop and came across a Ruger 77 Mark II in 204 Ruger caliber. The outside of the rifle looked just about brand new and the internals looked lightly used. Bore was shinny and clean. The dealer indicated the rifle had been professionally glass bedded and the trigger had been reworked to a crisp 2.5 lbs pull. The only part that was somewhat disappointing was the barrel was a regular contour rather than the heavier barrels seen on many of these rifles. After checking the trigger pull and the bedding, the owner said there were some goodies including 200 pieces of Hornady brass, 30 factory rounds of 40 grain Hornady Amax ammo, 100 pieces Norma brass and a set of RCBS X FL and seating dies. After having such good luck with both 375 and 416 Ruger Hawkeye acquisitions, I decided to purchase the Ruger 77 Mark II rifle.

There are reports in the literature that magnum primers should be used with the 204 because having a thicker cup than standard. The thinner standard primer cups may show pressure signs much earlier. There are other reports magnum primers have more brisance and may be better for ignition of ball powders. I could not find any small rifle magnum primers in several local supply stores and did not want to pay haz mat shipping charges for an Internet purchase. After calling several other supply stores found one that carried CCI BR4 primers and those were purchased for testing. The BR4 has the same thickness as the CCI 450 magnum primer and according to what I could find a lesser brisance.
So this test is about the Ruger 77 rifle, BR4 primers and brass.

I am not a fan of Hornady brass but could not look a gift horse in the mouth. I sorted the brass by weight and it was all over the place with a low of 90 and a high of 118 grains. From a developed XL spread sheet after doing a frequency graph, the distribution was bimodal with one centered at 96.0 and another at 102 grains, respectively. Initially I sorted at +/- 0.3 grains and could not obtain 50 pieces of brass (number held by my MTM ammo box) for either distribution. At 0.6 only 39 pieces could be sorted at 96; however, for the 102 distribution 52 pieces of brass were sorted. This brass was trimmed to 1.845 inches and case necks were chamfered inside and outside. Primer pockets looked centered and round requiring only cleaning powder residue. The Norma brass was much more consistent with only one piece discarded. Powders on hand were Hodgdon CFE 223, Hodgdon BLC2, IMR 4895, Ramshot TAC, AA 2520 and Alliant RL 15 which were identified in my Berger, Lyman, and Hornady manuals and from both Nosler and Ramshot web sites. Of the five, two are extruded (RL 15 and IMR 4895) and the other four are ball powders.
I had an older 1996 Nikon 6.5-20 x 40 scope that I mounted on the rifle using the Ruger mounts that came with the rifle (Fig 1). I started out with Sierra 39 grain Blitzking and found 2.420 was the COAL touching the lands. I backed off to 2.375 as a starting point which is 0.003 more than one caliber seating depth. I tend to seat bullets out because it helps keep pressures lower. Although several reports indicate the 204 likes the bullet to be jumped.

At the range

A Bald Eagle F class front rest and leaf rear bag were used in testing. The temperature was chilly 35 degrees with wind less than 5 mph, elevation of 810 feet, 27% humidity and pressure of 30.19 with the sky clear and sunny. After sighting in, I tested the reloads that were developed for the above mentioned powders. Hodgdon CFE 223 and IMR 4895 provided the best results with CFE centered around 0.7 inches and IMR 4895 centered around 0.6 inches with a charge of 25.5 grains IMR 4895 providing the best group. The groups exhibited two close and one out which may be an indication of seating depth or possibly not quite correct load.

Both CFE 223 and IMR 4895 seemed worthwhile to further test. Three tests, one with additional charges by varying the initial +/- 0.5 with the same initial COAL; a second with the original and varied charges at a COAL of 2.3600; and a third with a COAL of 2.3450 which is 0.015 and 0.03 deeper than the original seating depth.

At a charge of 28.5 grains and seating depth of 2.3600 the CFE 223 provided a 0.375 inch group. The IMR 4895 produced an equivalent group at 25.5 grains (Fig 2). Both were chronographed with a resulting mean of 3,655 fps for CFE 223 and 3518 for IMR 4895. Another test was conducted using 3 new Norma cases were loaded with final recipe of 25.5 gains IMR 4895, 2.360 COAL and BR4 primers. One final test was conducted by taking the remaining discarded Hornady brass and randomly selecting 7 cases and only cleaning the brass with no other preparation and loading with final IMR 4895 recipe

There was a small difference of new Norma compared to once fired brass (Fig 3). The results for the random cases were more dramatic (Fig 4) with a 2 inch group produced. There were no problems observed with the BR4 primers. With testing done at 35 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit, if there were any problems they would more than likely have shown up.

Conclusions

This rifle performed well with one ball powder and one extruded powder; however, the ball powder provided 137 fps more velocity. There were no problems observed with the CCI BR4 primers. The Sierra bullet does like to be seated deeper than near the lands. There was a small difference in virgin compared to once fired brass. Overall pleased with this addition to my collection.
Attachments
Seven random Hornady cases
Seven random Hornady cases
Fig 4 Random cases.jpg (1.53 MiB) Viewed 1305 times
New Norma Brass
New Norma Brass
Fig 3 brass.jpg (1.54 MiB) Viewed 1305 times
Best group 25.5 grains
Best group 25.5 grains
Fig 2 4895 25.5 gr .JPG (1.07 MiB) Viewed 1305 times
Purchased Rifle
Purchased Rifle
Fig 1 Ruger 77.jpg (124.85 KiB) Viewed 1305 times
skipper
Moderator
Posts: 1616
Joined: Thu Feb 09, 2006 3:32 am
.204 Ruger Guns: Remington XR 100, Custom build Lilja/Panda/Shehane/Jewell
Location: Cypress, TX

Re: CCI BR4 Primers and Sierra 39 Grain Bullet

Post by skipper »

Nice report! I hope you stick around 'cause you are an excellent wordsmith. I look forward to reading more of your posts. AND WELCOME TO THE 204UM!
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merbeau
New Member
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Dec 17, 2017 11:26 am
.204 Ruger Guns: Ruger 77 Mark II

Re: CCI BR4 Primers and Sierra 39 Grain Bullet

Post by merbeau »

Thank you. Sorry about the huge pictures. I selected document small from Office Picture Manager - should have selected web small. There was a lot of discussion about primers for this cartridge and decided it would be nice to test the BR4 and publish the results.
skipper
Moderator
Posts: 1616
Joined: Thu Feb 09, 2006 3:32 am
.204 Ruger Guns: Remington XR 100, Custom build Lilja/Panda/Shehane/Jewell
Location: Cypress, TX

Re: CCI BR4 Primers and Sierra 39 Grain Bullet

Post by skipper »

I've been using the BR 4 primers for quite a while. My favorite load is fully prepped (neck turned for a tight neck chamber) WW or Nosler brass, CCI BR4 primers, *26.4 gr. Benchmark, and 35 gr. Bergers. I use a K&M arbor press with Wilson seating dies. The flat based bullets seem to group better for me at 100 yards. You might want to try Benchmark with those primers. Works for me.

*Please, work up slowly in .2 gr. increments from the minimum load data.
Image Hold 'em & Squeeze 'em
merbeau
New Member
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Dec 17, 2017 11:26 am
.204 Ruger Guns: Ruger 77 Mark II

Re: CCI BR4 Primers and Sierra 39 Grain Bullet

Post by merbeau »

At this point in time I do not have Benchmark in my powder cabinet. From what I can read it looks much less temperature sensitive than either CFE 223 or IMR 4895 and probably would be worthwhile to see how it performs.
204Luver
New Member
Posts: 40
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2018 10:25 pm
.204 Ruger Guns: 527 Varmint; Rem. 700 VLS

Re: CCI BR4 Primers and Sierra 39 Grain Bullet

Post by 204Luver »

BR-4's are expensive but worth it, if I want the tightest groups possible.
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