Thinking about reloading .223

[joelogic]

Just divide equipment cost by savings amount.

.223 reload cost $.14
.223 retail $.30
Equipment $1000
6250 rounds before you save money. Do the math for match ammo and return is much quicker. In 18 months my dillon has paid off. YMMV.

[bohoki]

i just did a rough calculation

at $20 a pound for powder $80 for 1k bullets and $23 for 1k primers

7 cents primer 8 cent bullet 2.3 cent primer

17.3 cents a shot

russian steel case be it wolf/barnaul whatever at about $3.50-$5.00 for 20 = 17.5cent-25cent

so if i can find russian for around $4 a box i generally buy a few

cause scrounging brass is kind of a pain too

[Quinc]

Just divide equipment cost by savings amount.

.223 reload cost $.14
.223 retail $.30
Equipment $1000
6250 rounds before you save money. Do the math for match ammo and return is much quicker. In 18 months my dillon has paid off. YMMV.

Thanks!

[Beelzy]

I've been reloading for a good many years, and I usually buy my .223 ammo.

Time for me really is money.

[zfields]

the common military calibers you wont usually save money on, unless your rifle doesnt like steel cased ammo.

[WILDMAN442]

I got my 223 down to 18 cents for now.

Cheaper the next go round as I bought a bunch of bulk stuff.

If your not willing to take the risk, how will you know if it works for you or not?

Justin

[Cowboy T]

The biggest advantage to reloading for me isn't just the cost savings, which for what I shoot (mostly revolver rounds) is substantial. The other equally important advantage is, when the next ammo crunch hits (and it will), I have no worries! If ammo becomes unavailable at nearly any price, I've got my own. Think this isn't important? Let's see what folks think come February.

So yes, it's worth it to reload even 9mm, just for that reason alone.

Go ahead and reload your .223. Since you're going for plinking ammo, you don't have to load max charges. Just make your loads enough to reliably cycle your action. This will help make your brass last longer.

[badreligion]

Reloading will save you money over a period of time. How long that period of time is depends on how much you reload. I reload for 5.56, .308, 7.61x51, 30-06, 45acp and 40 S&W. My equipment has paid for itself much faster due to the multiple calibers.

[Bongos]

the nice thing about reloading, is now you are not limited to NATO calibers because it was cheap to shoot, reloading opens up a whole new world of calibers. You will discover calibers which exceeds the 556 and 308 in both efficiency and distance....

[mpcoop]

Well lets see: $5000 garage remodel $1000 workbench, hornady lock n load AP with case feeder, all dies and conversion for 5 calibers, hornady case prep center, gurard trimmer, two giant Lyman tumblers, giant Dillon media seperator, all calipers and associated tools and books, 30lbs of powder 15k primers, hundred of dollars in bullets and brass, and I've loaded about 150 completed rounds. You do the math. Sometimes its not about saving money.

[Switchbarrel]

I hand load with a single stage press, prep all the brass one at a time with a RCBS trim mate and i can go from range floor dirty to primed and ready, 500 rounds in like 5 hours. Thats with TV, eating, drinking beer, phone call, ect. Im not really going for speed but one day u can easy crank out 5, 6,7 800 rounds in a day. Do it with a progressive, u can get 1,2,3000 in a day.


I load for accuracy, checking every round at every single little step. I tumble my brass all day and my tolerances are +/-.004. I also use hornady auto charger instead of a powder dumper. U get the point. Im paying .275 per round making match quality ammo.


I really need to stop staying up late and putting waaaaay to much thought into, well everything.

Help me understand what you're sayin' here. It only takes you 5 hours to get the brass ready to load (500 sizing, trimming, chamfering, cleaning primer pockets, deburring flash holes - all "match grade" operations)...? That is faster than one round per minute and with interruptions, that sounds pretty optimistic. If so, I'm doing something wrong cause it takes me several hours for 50 pieces of match prepped brass. Thank you.

Then you're still lookin' at another 5 hours to meter/weigh out each charge and seat the bullets.

-Rick