What are you paying to load .223?

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Cullen

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My cousin (who's an AK guy) smiled and told me not twenty minutes after my grandfather gifted me a DPMS lower that "Your going to freak when you see how much ammo costs". I brushed it off at the time, but now I am kind of scared.

He showed me a bunch of sites to order .223 from, and he's right. I don't really know if I can afford to shoot this on $8.00 an hour. Not when ammo is .30 cents a bullet! :eek:

Loading your own ammo is supposed to save money in the long run. So does anyone here have an recommendations on how to get started loading .223? Any cheap but effective tools? Websites to order them from?
 
If you want to go as inexpensive as possible:
.04 - Surplus powder
.05 - Pulled surplus bullet
.03 - Primer

So if you already have brass and you want to reload just some plinking stuff that does not need to drive small tacks, only big ones, then you can do it for about .12 per round.

This is based upon buying in bulk and I did not factor in shipping since it is something of a wash compared to tax that you will pay on already assembled ammunition, also it does not factor in the cost of the press and assorted equipment, but I considered that a seperate investment.
 
I have about $150 worth of reloading equipment, some people get started with even less, just save your money and buy the equipment little by little. I reload .223 for .14 per round, which is $2.80 per 20 rds, you can't even buy wolf ammo for that price.
 
I reload for all my rifles recently I start reloading for .223, I got myself cheap Lee reloading dies, and mandrel for Forster neck turner, plus I bought new Lake City brass, I thought to get Lapua first but settle for LC, powder I use same stuff I reload 308 with, RE-15, RE-17, IMR 4064, H-Varget, H-335, bullets I buy Hornady V-Max 35 dollars for 250 or Nosler Ballistic Tips 250 of them for the same price. so 14 cents per bullet, primers like 34 bucks for 1000 3.40 for 100 and powder is like 24 bucks for 1 LB, so most expensive are bullets but I like this way when I shoot 0.25 - 0.3 MOA
 
Trust me, you won't SAVE any money but you WILL shoot a heck of a lot more for the same money. For some reason, it always works out that way.

By the way, who has surplus powder for 223 any longer? I was looking recently and couldn't find any from the usual suspects.
 
At current component prices without buying surplus the usual cost without buying brass is ~.12/round. Buying bulk surplus powder and bullets can cut the cost down to right around .07/round.
 
Unfortunately the .gov has decided they will no longer be selling surplus ammo components. Seems they decided the peasants are not trustworthy anymore. The surplus stuff you DO see right now is stuff that has never been owned by the us.gov, for example, foreign contract stuff, unaccepted due to defect, etc.

The net result is there is no such thing as "cheap" surplus anymore.

That said- $.16 per:
Range Brass :free
25gr of H335 : $.06
Primer : $.03
55gr FMJ-BT : $.07
 
Pats Reloading and Hi-Tech Ammo both have pull down powder that is suited to .223. I just placed an order for three containers of WC844 and one of WC846 from Hi-Tech to save the hazmat cost since if you order 4 then they pay it.
 
I can't help you save any money beyond what has already been offered you, but I have a comment.

Many people start reloading to save money and find later, the ability to make better, more accurate ammo - better ammo becomes the motivation behind reloading. The problem with reloading .223 and .308 is you can buy pretty cheap ammo for those two calibers already, somewhere around $7 per box of 20. Most other centerfire rifle ammo starts at $15 per box and goes up very quickly. The amount of money you can save with .223 or .308 is drasically lower than other rifle calibers. Your break even point for the calibers mentioned will be much higher. If you search online you can find break-even calculators for reloading. If money is your only concern, you might run the numbers and re-think your decision.

The other factor in your favor is you're unlikely to go through as many rounds in a session as you would with 22LR. It's not uncommon for two guys to go through an econo box of 500 22LR rounds in a day of plinking. With centerfire rifles, it's best to let barrels cool, and if you follow that practice, which will extend barrel life, you will go through far less ammo.
 
I don't know where you guys are finding bullets so cheap. I bought from midsouth 1k for $90 gives me 9 cents for a bullet, 2-4 cents for a primer and 6-7 cents for powder. (22 grn load out of a 7000 grn pound of powder gives me 315 cases, pound of powder costs $22+)

now I know you can buy in large volume but still,

I'm getting 9+3+7+rangebrass= 19 cents a round.

factor in reloading equipment and time and I just don't know if you save any money over buying steel cased ammo. cabelas had tula ammo on sale $4/20 the other day. 20 cents a round. now my stuff is better, but a tin can can't tell.

ArtP nailed it on really saving money on more oddball calibers, and I will add that you don't really save money until you start shooting home cast lead bullets. 6 cent a round 45, 357 or 44 mag sounds better than 40 cent/per factory.

also reloading is fun.
 
You need to buy in bulk to get the cheap prices on components, you also have to have promotions codes for midwayusa.....I bought 4K of Remington 55fmj for .06 per bullet for my plinking load, sometimes you can get it cheaper.
 
There are no quality bullets when you buy bulk, what you will get is extreme weight spread and different ogive length, I bought 1000 of Nosler Custom competition sorting them just by ogive length I end with 6 different batches, so now I spend more time sorting bullets then shooting them or reloading. But for plinking you should be fine without any sort, it doesn't matter if you get fliers or you bullets won't group tight...
 
Greyling, Hi-Tech has pulled 55gr bullets for $147/3000 so just under .05 per bullet. Pull down powder is $94 for an 8lb keg. Loading 25.5gr yields just over .04 per charge and primers can be had lots of places for .03 per primer hence .12 per round.

You ask if you save money, well, that may be a subjective thing. Can't say too much about the accuracy of the pulled bullets since I personally do not use them, but I have used the powder, and it is as accurate as canister powder if you start low and work your way up. My experience with factory ammo is that unless you spend a lot on quality factory match ammunition, then hand loads are always better. In fact I would say that if you buy quality components, then hand loading is better than any mass produced ammunition, even the match grade, but we have to do our part at the reload bench.

Also, as you said, I like to reload, it is relaxing to me, and I love going to the range and knowing it is something that I put together.
 
Check out Handloads.com and look at their handloading cost calculator. I find this very helpful when looking to buy components.
 
Back to the equipment, you'll need a lot more than you think. There's a lot more than just press and dies. Calipers $12, case trimmer $25, chamfer & deburr $12. Powder measure or auto disk, etc.

The other reason to load, calibers like 380 where you can't find ammo at all or 357 mag is $25 for JHP.

Point is that it isn't so much about saving money for .223, cause it will take a long time to pay for the investment. You have to like doing it! Measuring, trimming, chamfer and deburr cases is not much fun :(. The rest of reloading is! :)
 
So far I tried few match factory ammo and my reloads are always better, for instance none of the factory can produce 0.3 - 0.25 MOA but I can load and shoot them any time, but it requires quality components and precise measure
 
ssyoumans, you are so right. When I first saw a Giraud, I thought, 'There is no way I will spend $300+ on a damn trimmer.' Well, after a few thousand cases, I am thinking real hard about it. I do not mind trimming so much as chamfering and deburring, that is the absolute pits!
 
If you try to figure the cost of the equipment and your time into it your allways going to be better off just going down to Walmart and getting a box or two of your favorit caliber.

On the other hand? The ability to load ammo (for me) means that I will never be at the mercy of madness like we have been throuh in the last year or so. If I need or want a box I go and load what I want. This dose mean I have to be mindful of what I stock and how much I have on hand.
Years ago I worked with a guy that was a refuge from Romania. He spent a year in a refuge camp in Italy. He was able to buy a brand new Beretta 92 on the black market for a reasonable price (concidering the controls they have on them there) as I recall it was like $100. But to get ammo for it he had to pay $1.00 per round for old WWII steel case German ammo. and at that he was only able to buy five rounds of it.

After thinking about that for a while I made the decision that I would never be denied the avaliblity of ammo if I could avoid it. If I get a new gun in a caliber that I don't have the reloading equipment for? That is the first accesory that I get. When I go to the range I pickup any brass that I can find that is reloadable. I sort it out and keep it in an old ammo can. It makes great trade items or can be sold.


Just my .02 on it.
Wild Bill:cool:
 
You can save a lot of money on reloading by scrounging. Visit Craigslist regularly, looking for reloading equipment and some supplies. Scrounge brass from ranges, police officers and military.
 
My .223 loads are running me about 22 cents/round. Hornady 55 grain SP = $100/1000. IMR 4895 at $22/lb, 250 rounds/pound = 8.8 cents/round. Wolf SRM primers at $30/1000, 3 cents/round. That's 21.8 cents/round.

I'm ok with that cost, as this ammo is quality and most quality factory rounds are still 40 cents +/round.
 
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