Top speed, and what about N140

[Outlaws]

So I am finally almost ready to start reloading for 204 after a year of procrastination and buying over priced factory ammo...of which I have a nice collection of Hornady brass. I have basically everything I need now, including powder. I got some BLC2 to go with 40gr V-Max.

But its been a while since I have been on the forum. Has Hornady ever released what powder they use to get the 4200 ft/s number in the 32 gr. loading? The Hornady book I took a peek at shows VV N140 at 4200 ft/s. Does it work good? Is that what is in factory Hornady?

[Vartarg]

I"d be pretty confident that they have their own concoction in there rather than any kind of "commercial" powder. Overall, everyone seems to have good success with at least one of: RL10X, H4895, Benchmark, N133 or BLC2. I"ve tried N140 and wasn't all that impressed. Within certain limits, I wouldn't be too concerned with meeting some artificial velocity mark: accuracy, safety, long barrel life are also important.

At this point, I go with RL10X or Benchmark, but just picked up 5 lbs of N133 to check out. Lot's of good powders out there....Good Luck! George

[glenn asher]

Factories don't use regular canister powders like we use, they custom blend the powders they have to generate the velocities they want, at pressures they can live with. In other words, you cannot get what they are using, period. VarTarg is dead right about that. Everything else he wrote is spot on, too, try 10X, H4895, or perhaps Varget for accuracy. Speed isn't everything it's cracked up to be, anyway. You can't kill 'em if it won't shoot straight Go far accuracy first, then see how fast it's running, you might be pleasantly surprised! (my H4895 load is clocking 3880fps, and shoots well enough).

[Outlaws]

Any of those ball? Dillons don't like stick.

[jo191145]

BLC-2 is a fine metering ball powder. In my limited expierience with it I noticed that trying to wring a little extra speed out of it can get dangerous fast. In other words published max charges are exactly that.
I agree with everyone else. Accuracy first.

Just recently tried a few rds of N-140. Sierras data is more accurate than Hornadys by a long shot.
Sierra 27.5 N-140 + 39bk = 3700fps
Hornady 27.3 N-140 + 40 V-max = 3800fps
I wonder if you could stuff enough in the case to get a 32 to 4200fps.

I used 27.5 with the 40 Berg and got 3591fps.
In my opinion that charge should be bumped higher but I have not yet tried it. Its a very slow powder for the 204 and seemed to burn quite dirty at these slow speeds. In my 308 it burns super clean in the top node.

Just tried some Benchmark with 40 Bergs in my new tube today. If I can reproduce the results I got with the charge of 25.6 I'll be very very happy.
For foulers I tried 26.6 gns with the 35 Berg which is a recipe thats been floating around this forum for awhile.
Very Nice. Thanks Hawkeye or Skipper or whoever started it. Might have to tweak that a bit.
I've never seen this tube shoot the 35's so well. The 40's did even better
Even though I got excellent results with BM in my last tube I never tried it in my new one. I wonder why
I did try H-4895 with some good results but not good enough.
I may end up buying some 6mm barrels for the 133 and 135 I stockpiled

[skipper]

Outlaws

If speed is what you're looking for, I would load develop with RE-10X. Benchmark and some of the other powders mentioned seem to run slower. RE-10X isn't a ball powder and my thrower seems to like to crunch on it a little. When I feel it crunch I just dump that charge back in the hopper and throw another.

With my Panda, I can get the 35 Bergers flying at over 4100 fps with no pressure problems. I actually think I could go a little higher but there isn't a need if the accuracy isn't there. I think you could duplicate the 4200 fps mark with the 32 gr bullets but you would be right on the edge of a disaster. I would also bet that the factory bullets wouldn't actually clock at 4200 fps on your chrony. Like Glenn said:

Go for accuracy first, then see how fast it's running, you might be pleasantly surprised!.

[Outlaws]

I don't need it to hit 4200. I just think anything in the 4k range would be nice though. I mean, that is a large part of the appeal of the 204.

[jo191145]

You've peaked my curiosity I'll load up some N-140 and 32's and see what the chrono says Tuesday night.

If it still works. My buddy bounced a bullet off my sky screens today. He switched from two hundred to one hundred. Different elevations

I know N135 will break 4k easy enough. I've gone 4200 with a 35 Berg but would not reccomend it. That is close to disaster

[jo191145]

I had a few minutes this evening so I loaded four rds of 29.2gns N-140 with a 32bk on top. WSR primers, Rem brass.
Average 3934fps with an ES of 45.5. Hornady claims 4200fps with different components.
It was getting a little dark and I noticed quite a bit of muzzle flash. A slow powder for sure but possibly will work.

FWIW those four grouped .5moa at 200yds. Some of that could be my fault. I had removed the bushing from my neck die to use it as a decapper while annealing some brass. In my haste to get them loaded I put the bushing back in upside down. Whether they're tapered as some suggested in another post or its just worn I do not know. But it shaved the necks of the first two pieces of brass before I corrected it. With a standard caliper they miced the same but the 204 does not take kindly to messin up the necks. I was only interested in the ballpark velocity and scrapped those two after firing.
That and my chrono sensors are still working Lucky shot I quess.