Need input on 204

[throwinlead]

Howdy everyone

I'm looking to buy a .204 open for suggestions PROS. CONS, I have an ar-15 does anyone have a 204 upper out there and if so what do you think of it..
Thanks Ross

[throwinlead]

Oh and by the way If there is a good ( 204 ) bolt action out there running around looking for a new home, I HAVE A ROOM ALL READY FOR YOU.

[sochr000]

I had a .204, in a single-shot H&R (trapper model I think) and it's a nice round, but I personally had no use for it that wasn't adequately covered by another of my rifles. It was a fun rifle to shoot though, I just wouldn't recommend going rabbit hunting with it. The rabbit I got didn't have much left, so, if you have the chance to get a head-shot, then it would be a nice rabbit rifle, but if you need to make a quick body-shot it will waste meat.

I ended up selling it because, to me, it wasn't much better than a .22lr, and the ammo cost was higher.

[macphisto]

Barrel burner!

[forcefed]

+1 on the barrel burner.

I was looking at getting a .204 when I was bolt gun shopping. I wanted something for shooting praire dogs and other varmints. I went with a .223 bolt gun instead. Yeah it doesn't shoot as fast blah blah blah, but it is WAY cheaper to shoot.

.204 brass is expensive, .223 isn't. It all depends what you want it for too. Are you going to load up 1k rounds and make a 3 day run out to SoDak to shoot prairie dogs? If you are going to use it to punch paper every once and awhile, then yeah get a .204

If you are set on a 20 cal rifle, I would suggest doing a 20Prac. It uses .223 brass and a 20cal bullet and will do pretty much everything the .204 will do. Dies are cheap too. Or if you want to get a little more crazy, you could do a 20Tac. This case is necked down to 20cal then improved. You will get an extra 150-200fps with this over the 20Prac.

It really depends what you want to do with it

[MnGunrunner]

A friend of mine has a heavy barrel .204 upper on his AR. He uses it for coyotes in the winter. From what he has said, he has mixed feelings. He shot quite a few 'yotes this past winter with it, some dropped like a sack of lead, others not so much...even from a well placed shot. But that could happen with anything. He also reloads for it. His setup is fast and accurate, but he just isn't sold on it yet.