Reloading for the .223

[MagnumDweeb]

I've been going over whether or not I should get an AR in .223. I got an opportunity to get a Winchester 94E and AR kit assembled on a Next Generation Arms receiver for $875, with 60 rounds of 30-30 included but no .223 ammo. I've shot the AR a number of times as I know its owner personally and I've shot out to a hundred yards on a 10"x8" target and got most of the rounds inside the eight ring sitting at the bench so I know it's a good gun. But I don't reload yet, I'm ordering the press this week from Lee as my an uncle of mine in another state has one and have used before and he has used it to load a few thousand rounds over the years without a problem.

I was hoping folks who reload for .223 could help me out with the math on savings and where to go for supplies. I'm planning on ordering Priv Paritzan ammo at less than 40 cents a round for twelve hundred rounds, I'll also occassionally buy .223 at Wally World as folks don't seem to buy a lot of it around here and it usually is Winchester brand.

So my brass is covered. I figure the Priv Partizan and Winchester brands will take two or three reloads in the mild loads. I just need projectiles(bullets), primers and powders and was hoping folks could give me the best places to go for buying enough to load a thousand rounds, figure there would be good savings at that amount.

So I figure if I buy thousand projectiles at fifteen cents a projectile, it couldn't be more than another fifteen cents per the powder and primer if I buy allotments of a thousand. Please share your wisdom.

 

[matrem]

I was hoping folks who reload for .223 could help me out with the math on savings and where to go for supplies

Regardless which componets you load or where you buy them,your time will need to be considered "free"( I prefer enjoyable) to load for bulk shooting.

 

[NorCalRanches]

I was just doing some math this weekend, man costs have gone up a bunch. I load only for ground squirrels, rock chucks and coyotes. I use the same load and same bullet for all of them, Nosler Ballistic Tips or if I'm out Hornady V max. Hodgdon Benchmark for powder. Those are all somewhat pricey components compared to blasting ammo for an AR. But I still watch it as I shoot quite a bit in the spring and it adds up, so I buy in bigger lots.

I'm running right about $0.24/round not counting the brass which gets donated to me. Powder and primers are about $0.10 of that.

That brass should last one hell of a lot longer than 2-3 loads if they are mild. My loads are about in the middle and I have a 1000 rd lot of the 'cheap' (some say it is garbage) Federal (not LC) brass that is on loading #5. I will probably just shoot it and load it up with some cheap FMJ and stick it in the war room just to be safe, but good Win brass should last even longer. I don't know anything about Privi Brass in .223 but the .308 brass I have is great stuff.

As far as where to buy??? Good luck. Everyone is out of everything. I have bullets, powder and primers all backordered.

 

[lgbloader]

I do my .223 rounds in large batches and this is one of the jobs in Hand Loading that I really do not enjoy very much - LOL...

So many steps for such little cases and when you process 1K - 2K pieces of brass, it turns into a real job. But... it has to be done.
I get the brass ready to the point of needing to be primed then I run them through the old 550B to prime, then powder charge, and seat the bullet.

I have purchased an X-die for 223 REM to try to cut out some of the steps but I still have not used it yet. I am skeptical about it still but I guess what I will do is use a small lot of brass to use as a guinea pig (about 100 pcs or so) and see if this thing really works or not. If it works, I probably get one in a couple of other calibers such as 30-30 WIN, 308 WIN and 30-06 SPRG.

LGB

 

[BADUNAME27]

Don't take this as sounding "snooty" as its certainly not meant that way.

If your wanting to just save money, then reloading probably isn't for you. It's an extension of the hobby/past time/obsession. It's a means to manufacture better quality ammunition that is tailor made for your rifles/pistols.

Those are the real reasons to get into reloading. Because once you start it'll just keep going. Better tooling, better instrumentation, etc. Your really not saving money at this point. We won't even factor in your time. If your married stand bye to get fussed at because this is a time intensive operation. (I have the luxury of a girlfriend with a 10 year old daughter so I get to employ slave labor practices. . .)

Not trying to discourage you by any means, but rather inform you of what your getting into. The one exception I guess would be a Dillon progressive press set up to run almost fully automatic, but man you 'd have to pull that handle a bunch of times to recoup your investment. I hope you have garage space and lots of 5 gallon paint buckets cause that's how much ammo its going to take before you "get ahead."

Good luck.

Chad

 

[NuJudge]

If all you are going to do is plink at ranges of 100 yards or less, buy 55gr bulk FMJ bullets.

Some links on the economics of handloading:
http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18821&perpage=25&pagenumber=1
http://10xshooters.com/calculators/Rifle_Reloading_Cost_Calculator.htm

 

[IndianaBoy]

Hogdgon BL(C)-2 powder performs well in my 223 loads for my AR.


Hornady 55 gr FMJ bullets for training.

Mostly Radway Green and Lake City brass, Prvi brass is good, I have a few of them mixed in as well.

 

[ForneyRider]

AA2230 is pretty cheap for powder for .223. Plenty of load data.

Wolf primers are cheapest.

 

[Woodstock45678]

If you can find it for the right price H335 is a good powder, or A2230 for making cheap rounds. For putting lead down the barrel you prob. just want 55gr FMJ, which you can get for around .085/bullet right now. Primers - whatever you can scrounge - they're hard to find in some places. I prefer CCI but have never heard of problems with any brand (although Federals tend to be a little soft, is my understanding)

I do agree with the above post - doing it to save $ in .223 isn't really worth it, even at the absurd prices right now. If you're wanting to load thousands of varmint rounds that's a different story - my VMAX rounds can be made for around .40, compared to 1.25 for factory. But for plinking ammo I barely break even (assuming cost/hour). If you're the kind of guy who does your own car maintenance or builds your own furniture because you know you can do a higher quality job, then you're probably taking up a good hobby.