223/556 loading..how much $

[target1911]

How much does it cost you to load 223?

...not counting the cost of equipment...

I'm thinking about loading for Carbine/3gun matches, but not sure it will be cost effective.

[Red_SC]

Winchester 55gr FMJ's are $100/K from Midway

24.5gr H335 is $49.28/1000

Wolf 5.56 primers $15.50/1000

Range brass is free, so that comes to $164.78/K. You can frequently buy bullets on sale in bulk for cheaper, most of mine were bought at $6-$8/100. You'll have to add in shipping if you can't get the components locally, that adds some but doesn't make a significant difference if you buy in bulk.

Edited November 11, 2011 by Red_SC

[frankge]

you can fin igman 55g pulls for ~63/1000

[Chuckdee]

I also like Montana Gold 55g .223 bullets. It ends up around $77/1000 I believe. Plus they are much more accurate then the Winchester's.

[CocoBolo]

8#'s of powder will load about 1734 rounds or .09 per round and .10 for the bullet and .03 for the primer so if you pick up all that great brass at the carbine match .$210 per thousand for 55gr.

For 55gr I use 27.1gr of BLC(2) with 55gr Hornady FMJ BT set so you can barley see the Cannalure. .2 or .3 gr one way or the other turn it into a shot gun pattern a .5gr either way can move poi 6" at 100 yards. So you really have to work a rifle load by loading 10 at each powder level and shoot test groups. This load shoot @ the same POI as PMC Brownze.

You save 30% over purchasing this http://www.natchezss...3BK&src=tpSlrHm and the cost of shipping.

Is it worth it, for 55gr I mostly buy them, now, when it comes to SMK 69gr (bullets are .40 each) I load them. For these I use TAC, and they are nice for those 500 yard targets at 3-Gun matches, when there is a lof of wind.

Some times I buy the Brass as prepping the brass is a lot of work: http://www.natchezss...UPB&src=tpSlrHm

Hornady FMHBT http://www.natchezss...BAG&src=tpSlrHm

Those wolf rounds are cheap but they have a steel jacket under an ultra thin washing with copper and YMMV but I shot 5000 thru a Bushmaster and destroyed the accuracy of the rifle. At 25 yards it didn't make a whole lot of difference. It really showed up bad at 100 yards.

Edited November 12, 2011 by CocoBolo

[technetium-99m]

Remember if you buy brass cased ammo you can recuperate $50-60 per thousand rounds by picking the cases up and selling them.

My reloads run around $170 per thousand when you take into account number of loads on cases and range pickups.

Hornady and MG 55gr FMJ's can be had for less than $100/K, you just have to buy in bulk.

Edited November 13, 2011 by technetium-99m

[Chills1994]

when you can go to a gun show and get imported brass cased stuff in the 23 to 25 cent per round range, me? personally? I don't think it is worth it to reload for .223 . even moreso if you're starting from scratching and having to buy the equipment.

but, for me, at this point I am already too heavily invested in brass, bullets, primers, powder, toolheads (yes toolheads), dies, and trimmers to NOT reload....I think that's called "sunk cost".

maybe if you need something with a 69 grain or 77 grain Sierra Match King (SMK) bullet, then you might come out money ahead in the long, long term.

if all you need is 55 grain'er plinking or hose'ing ammo, I'd suggest the gun show bulk imported ammo route.

[goat68]

I would say it depends on how much carbine you intend to shoot. If you are going to shoot a couple of matches a year and practice ever other month youi may be better off buying loaded rounds in bulk. If you are going to shoot a 3-gun or multigun match, the bulk loaded may or may not work for you. Most matches have steel reactive targets over 100yds and prohibit non-lead core bullets as they have a tendency of poking holes in the plates. That means the ss109 and steel core bullets of the world will get you sent home. The magnet test or the sparks down range will give you away.

IMO If you have the equipment, reloading offers a cost savings in the long run and better quality control. Although the quality control is totally up to you. Some folks fret over all the little details to gain the tighter groups and some say handloading on the progressive once it's set up is close enough for 3-gun. I'm somewhere in the middle. I reload with no cares for 55 gr "hoser" amo for use under 100yds and spend a little more time on the loads for long range with 69 gr bullets.

[Religious Shooter]

My current spreadsheet says $150 to load 1K of 55's using picked up brass.

[sargenv]

I ran the numbers on my home swaged bullets, inexpensively bought primers, and the surplus WC844 I recently picked up and the price is about $85/1000 loaded.. best price I can do otherwise with manufactured bullets is about double that..

[target1911]

Thanks for the replies. It seems as though the cost and savings is all over the board.

I already load pistol on a 550.

I'm guessing I have near 2000pc of free range brass.....about 1/3 is crimped primers.

The brass is the only component I have at this time.

Currently I shoot about 1000rds a year but hope to get more into 3 gun if my schedule will ever allow.

So now I must ask myself...... Sell the brass to offset the cost of factory or dump the $$ in more "needed" equipment?

[target1911]

Oh yeah.... I'm also wanting to build a small stash to have ammo in hand.

[trickpony]

Yeah, I've been in your shoes before... If I were shooting local matches that didn't require shots out past 200 - 300 yards I would buy the cheap 55 grain ammo from USA Ammo and run with it. I've shot their 55 grain ammo out of several barrels and compared to other 55 grain ammo this stuff was as good or better at an affordable price. If you're lucky enough to be able to shoot at distances out past 300 a lot than you better start reloading... Good luck on your decision

[raz-0]

Shooting 55gr JSP varmint nightmare bullets from midsouth over TAC, I come out to about $206.40 per K assuming I have brass that is good to go. That price includes shipping of the bullets, and the higher price I pay for primers and powder that I pick up locally by the 1k/1lb respectively.

Wolf 55gr costs about $210 shipped, $190 without shipping. I have found it to be consistent in terms of velocity, not too slow, and reasonably priced.

Doing a bulk purchase, My price per 1K would be $151.40. Shippig is kind of hard to estimate without actually doing an optimal bulk order, but roughly $8.50 per K more, so $159.85 without brass. However, given the bulk size order I came up with, I can estimate brass cost, which would bring the price without shipping to effectively $171.40 and with to $174.20

There's the costs and benefits outside of price as well.

Time - Loading the rounds is time consuming, case prep is the bulk of it, but the powder drop limits how fast you can go when loading.

Reliability - My ammo is more reliable than wolf. Mostly due to the brass case being slicker. Some lots of the 62gr wolf can bind up on some of my pmags when stripping off a round. The 55gr is more reliable, but still asks your BCG to do more work to strip it off than brass cased ammo. If I want to buy that same reliability, It usually means PMC bronze or federal XM193 bulk packs on sale. Price for that has been $289-329 + s/h over the last year plus.

Accuracy - Wolf when they had copper jackets was actually pretty decent, their 62gr stuff was slightly over MOA for me, and the 55 was about 1.5 moa. With the copper washed steel, it's somewhere between 2-4moa depending on the lot despite velocity coming in pretty close to the same form lot to lot (<75 fps difference on a 10 string randomly chosen average). XM193 is pretty consistently 1.5moa for me. PMC bronze looks similar to xm193 for accuracy, but I haven't shot much of it for other than chrono numbers because...

Gamey things - PMC bronze is SLOW. Like doesn't make minor out of a 16 inch barrel slow, and t also doesn't operate my comp very effectively at all (I'm using a nordic tactical comp, so not the most efficient thing, YMMV). Wolf has been surprisingly consistent velocity wise and makes minor for me (worst average was 2843, fastest was 2860). It also makes my comp actually do something. My stuff is pretty consistent, about the same speed as wolf, and operates the comp better without being as blasty as xm193 is.

All of the above experimenting is on the 100 yard range I have easiest access to on a 16" chrome lined 5.56 chambered rifle with a nordic tactical comp.

[goat68]

If you don't have a trimmer (preferably a power trimmer), primer pocket swager, and a 650 style progressive just save your brass for the future (you wont get much $ for the brass) and buy bulk ammo. I've done the single stage thing, the hand trimming thing, primer pocket frustration, the manual advancing reloader, and found that it all sucks and takes a long time. I think I could hand trim somthing like 10 to 20 in an hour and my fingers ended up sore.

What may make sense is to load a small amount of high quality ammo for long range and use bulk for the rest.

[djeffers]

I am at about $145/k loading 55 grain bullets. You could probably drop that figurenif you use surplus powder....which I haven't tried yet.

[KentG]

I had the same dilemma. I finally decided that I reload 69 gr SMK for anything over 100 yards and use surplus/IMI bulk 55 gr stuff for less than 100 yards. It is cheaper than buying Black Hills and I almost ended up just buying 69SMK by the case from Georgia Arms. I have not done the math to figure out where the payback is for the new 650 tool head, dies etc. And the price of components using Scharch brass and Tac powder. I like the fact that I have control over the final product if I cant afford to buy Black Hills by the case.

Its just another example of doing what feels right to ME and I dint fret over it. Lets me focus more on the shooting side.

[richsteinke]

Does anyone have any experience with this bullet. 1000 Rounds - 223/.224 55 Grain FMJBT W/C Made By Armscor $83.00 shipped. Will be using just for plinking out to about 150 yards. Thanks any insight would be awesome.

[sparks1]

Does anyone have any experience with this bullet. 1000 Rounds - 223/.224 55 Grain FMJBT W/C Made By Armscor $83.00 shipped. Will be using just for plinking out to about 150 yards. Thanks any insight would be awesome.

I reload the Armscorp 62gr.FMJBT for my AR. Good results, getting consistant hits from 50 to 250yds with 25m zero. (iron sights)

I use AA2520, but H-335 and other ball powders work as good.

Where do you get 1k of these for $83.00? You are just talking bullets, correct? Not loaded cartridges?

Thanks

[richsteinke]

Yes I am just talking the bullet. The site is brassmanbrass.com That is where I found the bullet at that price. I apologize if I am not suppose to list other sites. I am in no way affiliated with them, I was going to order 3000 r of that bullet and wanted some opinions before hand. If listing the site is a issue let me know and I will edit post. Thanks any other feedback is appreciated.