Dogtown Brass

[Stan from Pa.]

Hello gentleman,
anyone here with first hand experience with the Dogtown brass in the 204 Ruger brass?
thanks,
Stan

[JIMinTN]

I bought a box of it some time last year and have 1 firing on it. It's "ok" IMO, but feels light/thinner than the Nosler I usually use/fire. I have not weighed any or compared any. Reportedly made by Nosler but not sure. It's cheap enough to use or try to see if it works for your setup.

[Stan from Pa.]

Would have anyone have experience with Remington versus Dogtown 204 Brass?
Remington would be less costly than Dogtown, I've generally stayed away from Remington brass in the past but how is their quality?
Thanks,
Stan

[Daryl]

I don't know about .204 Rem brass, but Rem. .220 Swift brass was much better, more concentric in wall thickness than Winchester Swift brass.
I made all my .220 Swift shorty brass from RP and it's wonderful in wall thickness - .0015" out at the most, when shortened to 1.580".

[Wyoming Drifter]

A couple years ago Midway ran a special on the 22 Nosler Dogtown, $49.50 for a box of 250. I had a project in mind so I bought a box. (free shipping too lol) Anyway, I was impressed and bought several boxes. Lucked out, the shipping department made sure they we the same lot number, per my request. I necked them down to 20 caliber, had a reamer made. Happy as can be with the new cartridge I named "20 Dogtown"

[JIMinTN]

I bought 2 100 count bags of RP 204R brass when I got my 204. I waited a bit to process the brass, lost/misplaced the receipt. When I opened the bags, roughly half had poorly formed shoulders so I don't use RP brass in 204R. My fault for losing the receipt but QC was definitely on vacation then.

[Bill K]

Why did you not just fire form them, as we all have to on various cartridges, those shoulders should have ironed right out and you would have more brass too use ?

[moorepower]

"IF" you don't loose much/any brass while shooting, I would just get the Norma. Watch the sales at Mid South. Sign up for email notifications. Their brass is by far the best .204 brass and on sale is very little more than any others. The flash holes are perfect, and very little prep, if any is needed. I just size with an L.E. Wilson sizer and lightly clean up the mouth with a VLD tool. I have used some of the Hornady, and it works well, although it takes a full prep. I think I am the outlier, but I honestly don't buy in the belief that just because it is not pretty it won't shoot, unless your shooting long range comp or BR. I played around a bit with my L46 varmint in .222 , and a couple of .223's with mixed headstamp, brass and Norma/ Lapua brass, and I honestly could not tell you that the good brass shot any better than the brass that had a few off center holes and some with the flash hole deburred and some not. I have a bunch of the Fiocchi brass from bulk Vmax .223, and it is some of the nastiest looking stuff out there, but the factory loaded ammo still shoots 5.8-3/4" groups in an AR and one bolt gun I have. I prefer the Lapua and Norma, because they take almost no prep, and I my hands hurt from doing case prep, and working 55-60 hrs a week, my time is also valuable to me. In my opinion the new production Remington and WW is the only brass I would not buy for the .204.

[JIMinTN]

Originally Posted by Bill K

Why did you not just fire form them, as we all have to on various cartridges, those shoulders should have ironed right out and you would have more brass too use ?

Cases would not chamber w/o a lot of bolt resistance, FL sizing did not do much if anything to improve the situation so I scrapped 'em. Saw no reason to take any chances when I was just getting into reloading.

[Stan from Pa.]

Thanks for the advice and suggestions guys,
much appreciated,
Stan