Is loading .223 worth it?

[KansasSasquatch]

That "stupid argument" comes from many people simply shooting twice as many reloads as they would if they were buying factory ammo. I shoot more now than I did before I started reloading but I don't spend more money, I spend about the same. If you keep shooting the same amount, sure you save money. But many/most reloaders don't seem to do that.

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

the enjoyment i get from rolling my own is definitely worth it. I have a partially finished room over my garage where i reload. i go up there and forget about work and everything else. it's very therapeutic for me, just like going to the range.

saving a little money (well, actually just shooting more) is another benefit. higher quality ammo (more accurate, tailored to my firearms) for the same or less money is a huge benefit. there's also the satisfaction of taking game with a round you assembled after developing a pet load.

now i'm starting to get into casting, which takes the DIY satisfaction to another level, not to mention significantly greater cost savings.

 

[frankmako]

to me it is worth the cost and time. i can reload cheaper than i can buy. but i have been setup to reload for years and i got more brass than i can count. i can also cast the bullets and make the gas checks with a freechec system.

 

[AABEN]

I enjoy reloading period! It's a great way to enjoy a part of my hobby while at home. As for reloading .223/.556, I have about .19-.20 per round in my current reloads. These trying times with powder being hard to come by has given me a chance to work up loads with other powders that I had never tried in the past. I have found some nice loads with AA2200, AA2230, and Benchmark.

I bough 4 8 lb kegs of AA2200 in 1999 or 2001 for 50.00 a keg. It is a good 223 powder I have 2 kegs left. I will load a lot this year.

 

[HighExpert]

I load on the 550b and found it works just as well for .223 as it does for pistol. You won't need a swage if you stay away from the 5.56, at least I haven't run into any crimped .223 yet. The possum hollow trimmer works great and a $20 deburr tool from Wilson works fine to clean them up. I do recommend the carbide dies if you are loading lots because it makes it easier to load 1000 rounds in one sitting and not have your arm talk to you the next day. You still need to lube even with carbide! My cost runs about $.32 per round and I can't buy match grade ammo for that price and, for a while, I couldn't buy any. My gun would have been a fair club during that period without my reloads. I like to shoot so that was unacceptable. I currently have 15 complete reloading setups and, no, I don't load that many calibers but I have 3 for .357/.38. One set for .357, one for .38 and one for .38 flush seated WC. I have two in .44, one magnum and one special. I have equipped all with their own powder measure and caliber change kit. I know, excessive, but I don't like to mess around with my die settings if I don't have to. Makes switching REAL quick. I load .223, .243, 270 and .308 rifle and all work fine on the 550b. Good shooting.

 

[cfullgraf]

I am saving money, I don't get the stupid argument that one won't. I wouldn't reload if I didn't save money over buying factory ammo.

Right, you will always save money on a cost/round basis, reloading versus factory.

What you do with the savings is up to you.

Some send it down the barrel, some treat the wife to a nice evening out.

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

if my reloads cost the same as factory ammo, i'd still reload

i'd have to find factory ammo that was the same price as reloads and just as accurate as reloads before i sold my press

 

[medalguy]

I reload .223 for around .18 per round using pre-panic components and USGI brass that I acquired for free.

The biggest plus I can think of is that I have all the ammo I need for now and the future, I don't have to drive all over town looking for ammo in stock, and I get better accuracy than with whitebox ammo. Hmmm, that's three plusses. All the better.

 

[M1GarandDeerHunter]

Its definently worth it to make 5.56 / .223 ammo, specially for match use, lots cheaper. In my area ammo is very high priced or unavailable. So reloading makes sense. I collected buckets of brass, mostly military stuff that was range salvaged that I didnt have time to reload, just cleaned and put away. I loaded up on components too for that rainy (Years?) day that I wouldnt be able to find ammo, or would have more time to load. Make sure you buy a RCBS headspace gage for cases and counter sink and square your primer pocket (sinclare) and use a snap gage (Dillon) to check the final product. Dont skimp on quality control. Ive seen a fair number of rifles destroyed by poor quality reloads in auto loaders. Visit your local range often to collect brass if they let you. Widners reloading sells components like once fired brass often, and they have great bulk deals most of the time. They also sell surplus powders and bullets oft times at decent prices. Buy tools and gauges for making ammo, they are indespensable for quality. Best brass other than lapua? LC. its the most durable stuff ive seen. 5 reloads for new brass for top accuracy. 5 more for practice. Then save the scrap for salvage. Hope this helps.

 

[PJSprog]

Only you can decide for yourself if it's "worth it" to you. My non-scientific personal polling over the years has found overwhelming evidence that people think it is indeed worth it. I have yet to meet a reloader who thought otherwise, for whatever reason.

 

[silicosys4]

"worth it" is something you have to decide for yourself. I personally don't feel it is worth my time to reload .223 in most circumstances. I don't use the cartridge for its full accuracy potential, so handloading for .223 carries little incentive for me other than increasing it's availability and decreasing it's cost.

I have 2k+ brass, 2k+ fmj bullets, a hornady prep center and LnL progressive, plenty of powder and primers, and after trimming, chamfering, deburring, decrimping, etc...it takes me about 2 hours to load 100 .223 from scratch. I pay $294 per 1k to reload plinker .223 loads, and it would take me the better part of 2 days of full time reloading to go from the components I have now to 1k loaded rounds. With today's component costs and premium bullets, you are easily looking at $400+/1k and longer than 2 days to load for accuracy, as I would use only a single stage. The only way it makes sense to me is if you are loading your own recipe that is optimized for your personal firearm, for accuracy.
Some people cherish those 2+ days for the reloading experience. I think they are a waste of time. .223 isn't fun for me in any quantity, and myself, I'd rather reload another caliber...considering I can go to wal-mart right this very instant and pay $447 for 1k of the same .223 rounds as I can reload for $294. I'm basically working for 16-18 hours to save $150? I can think of much better uses for my time right now during the summer months. 1 year ago I could buy brass cased .223 for $330/1k. At the cheapest I could reload .223 for, I would have been saving $40-$60 for the 16 hours minimum time spent reloading 1k .223 shells.

I cast and reload for many calibers, and .223 is a caliber I don't have much incentive to reload for, I would rather use my time to get much more enjoyment out of reloading for other calibers, and save much more for time spent. So for now, until I absolutely need .223 and can't find it for sale, or until I have access to a longer range than 100 yards and extreme accuracy becomes my goal, I will save my components and purchase .223 ammo, and continue to save the brass.

for every 1k .223 I purchase, I'm saving $75 or so in purchasing brass to reload, and gaining 1k reloadable brass, so that brings my costs on purchased ammo even lower....

Honestly, when I have the energy and gumption, I make $25/hour with my home business aside from my job...when I have the energy to devote, so my time does factor into the equation. 16-20 hours worth of tedious, hand cramping prep and loading that I don't enjoy, to save $150, does not compute. I'd rather just work 4-6 hours to pay the difference, buy .223, and spend my reloading time on other calibers

 

[GBExpat]

Is loading .223 worth it?

Something that you have to answer for yourself.

I remember a time, long ago, when I stopped my reloading endeavors indefinitely because the two "hard" costs had gotten so close. At that point I determined that my limited free time was better used for other things.

One thing that I certainly missed during that period was the relaxation that I have always found while reloading.

BTW, I have always resisted the urge to upgrade to a big, high volume, progressive machine, preferring, instead, to stick with the old green RCBS JR3 that I acquired in the mid-'70s.

 

[ny32182]

I don't shoot a whole lot of .223, but I ordered everything I needed to load it on my 650 last summer. Now I'm pretty much out of factory .223, am totally balking at the current prices of $.50 a round... so I am finally making use of the parts and components I bought last summer to run some bulk .223 plinking ammo for $.20 a round. Once I get the process perfected on the Dillon, brass prep will be pretty much non existant, and I do that sitting in front of the TV anyway.

I've loaded small quantity .223 for "accuracy" on a turret for years, but that is tedious enough to where anything more than about 100 rounds, forget it.

I loaded about 495 rounds as an initial "test run" on my 650 last night. The savings there, is about $125, and it is the first time I've ever loaded .223 on a progressive. I did have some manual brass prep this time (trimming) but I will add the Dillon trimmer on the next run and that should eliminate everything off-press except for the swaging with the Super Swager, which is very easy.

.223 is super common and I'd never pay for the brass if I could possibly help it. If/when factory brass cased plinking stuff gets back to .30 a round or less, I will probably start buying it again, and holding on to the brass for times like this.

For now I only shoot about 2k rounds of .223 a year, so, I will probably load about that many in my next run and call it a day until sometime about a year from now.

 

[moxie]

Agree. Now if only the price of components would start coming down too.

 

[gahunter12]

I bough 4 8 lb kegs of AA2200 in 1999 or 2001 for 50.00 a keg. It is a good 223 powder I have 2 kegs left. I will load a lot this year.

WOW! I wish I could find powder that cheap now. I have been happy with AA2200 so far. It sure meters well in my Dillon Measure.

 

[X-Rap]

I use what it cost me in todays prices since everything I have needs to be replaced but even at that I am reloading for 1/2 of what new marginal factory bulk loads are running and about 1/4 of what soft or hollow point 20 rd boxes are selling for. That isn't figuring in the free brass I get but even if I paid the .30 per round from Midway for new brass or the .50 for bulk FMJ the cost would only rise by a couple cents given the number of times I would reload the case.

 

[Speedster00]

I have range brass so I don't buy it. My only cost is the 55 gr FMJ which is $100 per 1K, $40 per 1K for primers, and at high retail for 4198, 3Lbs of powder for $90. So Im around $290 per 1000 223. .29 is cheaper than buying it. But my loads are more accurate and cleaner as well.