"Cheapest" 223 and 308 range ammo powder

Usually a pull down surplus is best. I ordered a bunch of 846 a while ago. Was relatively inexpensive. Not sure what’s out there these days.

The cheapest powder is generally going to be the fastest because you use the least amount of volume. But that is not necessarily the way to get the most accurate loads.

Outside of surplus, BLC2

A powder which can be loaded in both would be IMR 4895 just as an example. Most of the powders you will be looking for will likely be in the $25 to $30 a pound range depending on where you buy. IMR 4895 typically runs about $190 for an 8 lb jug. Right now good luck finding much of anything. When a retailer does get anything in it goes real fast.

Ron

Reloadron said:

A powder which can be loaded in both would be IMR 4895 just as an example. Most of the powders you will be looking for will likely be in the $25 to $30 a pound range depending on where you buy. IMR 4895 typically runs about $190 for an 8 lb jug. Right now good luck finding much of anything. When a retailer does get anything in it goes real fast.

Ron

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Both cartridges 223 and 308 use powders and the same burn rate so any powder he chooses should work like tac or are comp or 4895 or blc2

Buy in 8# jugs, 2/case to spread out the hazmat/shipping fees

Although I haven't used it (I've been looking for some, but have not found it...) I would have to put TAC on that list. It's relatively inexpensive, and with a bit slower burn rate than something like H335, would work well in both 5.56mm and 7.62mm, which is why I'm interested in it.

You could also add Varget - but good luck finding it; it was hard to find before this silliness.....

AJC1 said:

Both cartridges 223 and 308 use powders and the same burn rate so any powder he chooses should work like tac or are comp or 4895 or blc2

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Yes, I just tossed it out as a single example. That's why I worded it the way I did. "A powder which can be loaded in both would be IMR 4895 just as an example". Again, good luck right now finding any suitable powder.

Ron

I did some math in that regard earlier this year. And I found TAC to fit the bill. But it’s only a few bucks cheaper for the 8 lbs hug than other popular choices. This also depends on which retailer. My vote for TAC is mainly based on the accuracy I could achieve from moderate loads.

Realistically the cost per round to load isn't going to be huge. But TAC is usually easier to find and it tends to be cheaper. I don't load for 223 so my comments are specific to 308. IMR 4064 is usually available and not that expensive. I find the popular powders like Varget and RL15 to be the most expensive and the ones that sell out faster.

Another new powder that isn't well known is IMR 4166, I bought a pound just to experiment with and to preserve the Varget I have. Load data isn't exactly the same, but accuracy and velocity with my best loads is every bit as good as what I've gotten with Varget. I liked it enough to buy 2 more containers. It is also priced cheaper than Varget locally. And on shelves, Varget is not.

WC844 or WC846 can be bought, on sale, for $14.34 per pound shipped, and with blem bullets the cost can be $0.15 a round (not counting brass). But that was pre-covid.

The accurate arms powders run a few dollars a pound cheaper usually.ive had good luck with aa2015 in 223 and 308.

Meters well and gives good velocity especially in 223

I have used a lot of X-terminator and TAC for the two. They also both meter well out of lots of measures.

+1 on Ramshot Exterminator and Ramshot TAC

Ramshot TAC is my go powder to for cheap plinking loads. Works great in 223 (40gr-69gr) and 308 (147gr - 168gr). It meters like water and is only $158 for 8# Jug.

I used to cheat with .308. When the helicopters fly over the target range and they burped the miniguns they used to sling out a few live rounds before the mechanism quit spinning. They also would break off belts and toss them if there was a jam. I acquired a bunch of belted .308 from guys I knew who would venture over onto the firing range and pick up scraps. I then tore them down, replaced the fmj bullet with something decent and reused the powder and just seated and crimped the new bullet in. I feel like that might be frowned upon now.

If you wait until around December then a lot of places will put pyrodex on clearance. I wouldn’t use it in .308 but for somebody silly enough to worry about the cost of powder then I might suggest it just to see if they enjoy the fruits of their cheapskatedness.

H-335 , I use it in both AR-15 & 10 rifles . 55gr bullet and 25 or 25.5gr H-335 / 147 or 150gr bullets 42gr H-335 . I was shooting both of those loads today . It meters almost perfectly in my Hornady powder measure which is nice . This is my cheap plinking loads and I recommend different powders for match accuracy.

I’ve bought 16lbs of it in the last three months from powder valley . Last time I looked about a week ago they still had some .

Metal God said:

H-335 , I use it in both AR-15 & 10 rifles . 55gr bullet and 25 or 25.5gr H-335 / 147 or 150gr bullets 42gr H-335 .

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I would have suggested H335... I've used it for 5.56mm since forever... but I never could get a straight answer about using it in .308 in the M1a platform. Yes, there is data for it in standard loads (think hunting, etc...) but even Hodgdon's Service Rifle data excludes it, for whatever reason. There is data for BL-C(2), so why not H335?

Just this past weekend, I decided to give it a go... I loaded up 5 trial rounds with... oddly enough... 42grn H335 under a Prvi 145grn bullet. I don't know that H335 is a super economical powder, but as you mentioned, it's available at the moment. I was at the LGS last week, actually to try to find a can of TAC, which I didn't, but they had... H335.

Also, as Cardinal mentions above, if you are really looking for the cheapest cost per round, you are going to have to buy in serious bulk... powder, but bullets as well... and don't forget those pesky, and unfortunately often expensive, primers. Further, to streamline the reloading process, you are going to need some automation... mostly on the brass prep side. Things like swaging crimped primer pockets, sizing and trimming... think about the scale of that with 10K cases. I know... I have. That's why I rarely load 5.56mm blasting ammo, I buy it by the case. In my circumstance, the time I save processing and then loading something like 1000 or 5000 rounds is worth the trade-off in cost. Just my particular .02 worth.

I found IMR-4198 to be an economical canister powder. Loads of 20.3 grains* yield velocities of about 2800 fps using a 60 grain bullet from a 16 inch barrel.

* Please note this load was developed in the late 1970s and is consistent with the Hornady Handbook published at the time. Hornady has since revised their handbook and now show a maximum load lower than 20.3 grains.

Grafs sells Shooters World powders at very attractive prices with excellent prices on shipping and hazmat.
SW-AR or SW-Tactical Rifle will meet your needs. Tactical Rifle is very close to H335, Match Rifle is close to BLC2 or Acc2520. Precision Rifle is a clone of Varget and said to be even better. In 8lb quantities prices run about $20/lb. Better yet is they are made of “availablilium“ instead of “unobtanium”. (Ie: in stock)

I’ve used Shooters World Match Rifle in both .223 and .308 AR platform rifles with good results. An 8 lb jug is $150 at MidSouth. Hard to do much better than that.

I bought a bunch of WC846 last summer, glad I did, it's nowhere to be found now. Try some BLC-2 if you can find it.

Not that you'll find any of it today......I load a lot of .223 for "max cheapness" and is still pretty good range ammo....

LC brass (get for free from LE range) 0¢
Fiocchi SRM 2.3¢
WC844 ~25gr 5.6¢
Wolf 55gr FMJ 6¢

Call it 14¢ a round. Cheapest I can load it. That also assumes my time is worth $0, my dies, press, scale, etc were free, but for raw cost of components, that's best I can do.

Surprisingly, the Wolf 55gr FMJ that are (were anyway......) $60/1k are pretty decent bullets. Gone thru 5k of them and no issues, performance as good as any other bulk FMJ pill.

I don't load any "blasting" 308 - that's all accuracy or hunting loads so no help there.