cost to reload .223 Remington?

[RM]

What is an average cost to reload .223 Remington with 55 grain bullets, assuming you purchase used brass? Thank you.

 

[Tim the student]

Without more info, figure somewhere between 25-35 cents each.

 

[Balrog]

Military once-fired Lake City brass: 7 cents
Hornday 55 grain FMJ: 9 cents
W748, 26 grains: 7 cents
CCI #41 primer: 3 cents

Total cost: 26 cents per rounds, not including equipment.


As a comparison, you can buy Federal XM193AF 55g FMJ ammo for 37 cents per round.

So you save about 11 cents per round.

A very basic reloading set up with Lee equipment and dies is going to cost about $200-250, depending on how you accessorize, so that means your break even point may be around 2500 rounds. I am using Dillon equipment, so I figure arounnd 10,000 rounds as break even if I only loaded 223 on it.

You will find you will save money faster if you are reloading cartridges that are not as common as 223.

 

[arizona98tj]

I enjoy reloading and I have a room for doing just that.....however, my last purchase of Hornady 55 FMJ training ammo was 29 cents per round. At a savings of 3 cents when I reload it myself, I decided to skip the reloading for now. I also shoot Tula .223 for range practice. My last purchase of that was 18 cents per round.

That being said, I still reload all my handgun rounds. It's just that right now, shooting factory rifle rounds is cheaper or nearly the same cost as reloading my own.

 

[Wildbillz]

Depending on how you buy your supplys?

Once fired brass LC USGI $192.00 for 3000 pc, $.07 ea


USGI PUll down 55grn bullets. $.05ea

Surplus WC846 (using the same loads as Win 748 or BLC(2). This is pull down from Isralie ammo. $94.00 for 8Lbs. This will give you 2153 reloads at 26grns ea. So thats close to $.05 ea round.

Primers CCI #41 our still going to have to pay about $.03 ea for them.

So lets see thats Brass $.07 Primer $.03 Powder $.05 and bullet $.05 for a total of $.20 per round or $4.00 a box of 20. Or $20.00 per 100 and $200. per 1000.

All the figures came off of Hi-Tech Ammos websight. They don't included Hazmat or shipping. The cost of equipment has not been inclued in this or time.


Best of luck
Wild Bill

 

[Guncollector1982]

Mines comes out bout the same as Wild Bills figures cept been using pulled 62 grain bullets found a good buy on them once and 55s were scarce in bulk at the time.

 

[TonyAngel]

If you're going to be loading plinking ammo, it don't think it's worth it when you can get Silver Bear for under $5 a box and other brands for even less. At $5 a box, that's a quarter a round. My homebrew 14.5" AR gets 2 MOA or better with the Silver Bear 62gr hollow point rounds.

I do reload .223, but that's for my precision rig. Really good match ammo goes for something around a buck a pop and I can reload it for about 40% of that, so it's really worth it to me.

 

[A and O]

To me Brass is not a factor to be factored. At least not at full price per round unless you are selling it. It would seem to me that if you are paying .07 ea pc and if you get 7 uses for each pc on avg. then your brass cost would be .01 per round. My actual cost is .165 using LC Brass, Accurate 2230 powder CCI 400 primer and a 55gr Hornady fmj bullet

 

[RM]

Thank you for your replies. I found some .223 Wolf for under .25 cents a round delivered. Since my reloading time is limited right now, that may have to suffice.

 

[Wildbillz]

"A and O To me Brass is not a factor to be factored. At least not at full price per round unless you are selling it. It would seem to me that if you are paying .07 ea pc and if you get 7 uses for each pc on avg. then your brass cost would be .01 per round. My actual cost is .165 using LC Brass, Accurate 2230 powder CCI 400 primer and a 55gr Hornady fmj bullet "

Good point. I have better then 10K of once fired that I bought years ago. So its not on the up and up to figure it at todays cost.

To me reloading is not so much a cost savings but a skill that will let me have ammo allways. I have not had to buy any thing (other then one box of 380acp) in the last couple of years. If I wanted it I went out to the reloading bench and made a box or two. But then I had a fair stock of supplys on hand.

WB

 

[TonyAngel]

Be sure to check out the Silver Bear at cheaperthandirt.com

I shoot the 62 gr HP. It's a bit hotter than wolf and is actually not bad in the accuracy department.

 

[Tim the student]

Wildbillz,

Who is selling once fired LC USGI for $192.00/3000?

 

[Wildbillz]

Hi Tim
Hi-Tech ammo has it listed under once fired range pickup LC brass. Its about three quarteres of the way down the page.

http://www.hi-techammo.com/

WB

 

[Tim the student]

Thanks, I appreciate it.

 

[RhinoDefense]

Fired brass $92 (TJ Conevera)
Bullets $70 (Armscor)
Primers $25
Powder $50 (Ramshot TAC)

Get about 10 firings per case, so it's actually $92 for 10,000 shots or a penny a shot ($.0092), so why count it?

You're looking at about $145 for 1,000 rounds.

I would buy a keg (8lb) of powder and a case (5,000) primers at a time since they will go on one HM fee or buy those locally.

The major savings is in the recycling of the brass. Buying other components in bulk saves money too.

 

[lilquiz]

Bout 25 cents first go round. 18 cents when you have the brass.

 

[Clark]

I got ~ 7,000 rounds of mixed used dirty .223 brass for $60.
Some had primer crimps.
I processed it while watching TV.
I did not notice that some had been stretched in a machine gun.

The costs can be higher if someone gets hurt.

 

[Balrog]

Can you explain the photo? Posting a photo like that without posting an explanation makes it difficult to see your point.

 

[RhinoDefense]

It's a blown case. Pretty self explanatory by the huge hole in the case head that's not supposed to be there.

 

[Clark]

That case was fired with a 39,000 psi load in a newish Rem700.
The pressure sign is consistent with the thousands of other times I have fired that load.
The guy that fired that case had to stop shooting rodents and go to the doctor.
He now only used new Win brass that he bought himself in a sealed bag.
He now wears safety glasses when shooting rodents, but not when shooting deer or antelope.


What does it all mean?
The books say "inspect the brass", and I should have done a better job of that.
The books all say "wear safety glasses" and the shooter should have done that.

That changed my act, I now inspect better AND wear safety glasses when shooting at rodents.

 

[Balrog]

It's a blown case. Pretty self explanatory by the huge hole in the case head that's not supposed to be there.

Yea its a blown case, no kidding? I wanted to know how he did that, and whether or not it was one of his loads, or an example of a case he found at the range.

 

[Sport45]

If you're going to be loading plinking ammo, it don't think it's worth it when you can get Silver Bear for under $5 a box and other brands for even less.

I agree. For plinking, and fodder for kids to shoot it's not worth reloading. For 68gr and heavier target ammo (my slowest twist is 1-8) everything comes off of my press.