Reloading 223 for 3-gun? Worth the time?

[RiggerJJ]

1 hour ago, pjb45 said:

ok, my error

 

however, i believe there was a 50 cal one year and a 338 another at or around 1300 yards

 

 

Guess I needed to qualify that, only with those long range pickup guns have we exceeded 600 yards... With your own rifle has always been under 600... ?

[pjb45]

I should have been more specific also. 

 

Although, I remember when we shot the 338, I believe I was told at 1500, you "buried" a plate in the trees at what seemed like 800 yards.  In fact your ability to stash targets in trees is the reason I went with SWARO, great glass in the early and late hours plus excellent clarity in shadows.  The Schott glass in the IOR was excellent but FOV and eye relief not so great.

 

 

[Dan Sierpina]

3 hours ago, pjb45 said:

ok, my error

 

however, i believe there was a 50 cal one year and a 338 another at or around 1300 yards

 

 

I think the .50 was 800, the .338 was on the side of the mountain at 1400, if memory serves me fairly correctly. Both were bonus targets shot off the clock.

 

[ecn515]

I have two different loads that I use for 3 Gun. I have a 55gr load that uses H335 and Hornady 55gr FMJ-BT's. That load costs me about 10 cents a round to load when I buy everything in bulk. I will use that for targets out to about 100yds. It is capable of much more and shoots great, it just doesn't have much effect on reactive targets and obviously can be more effected by wind. 

 

For any sort of distance work I load Sierra 77gr TMK's over Varget. That load is a bit more expensive, but had to estimate really since I've gotten all the bullets for free to date. I push it to about max and it shoots great. It has a much more profound effect on targets so calling hit's is much easier for RO's and impacts are much more audible and visual. It's also a great load for rifle spinners. It would be crazy expensive to shoot this load exclusively and it also has must more recoil. 

I carry the same philosophy over into my heavy metal shooting as well. I could easily replace my 55gr loading with something cheap from the 'net and have debated doing it a few times, but I would reload my long range ammo still. Truthfully I don't mid doing to loading much and it is less expensive for me to do so but YMMV. 

[bluegrasspicker]

ecn515,

 

Your frugal 223 load is more frugal than my 223 load!  Do you mind sharing the cost breakdown?  

 

I'm in the same boat as many here in that I reload for match quality ammo but am 50/50 on spray ammo.

 

 

[ecn515]

Most of how I get cost down so low is buying in very large quantities as part of even larger group orders through different clubs and groups. My Hornady projectiles end up being about 5 cents each, winchester primes about 2 cents, and powder about 4 cents. Brass is all range pick up for that loading. 

[Banacek]

On 3/19/2018 at 4:39 PM, ecn515 said:

I have two different loads that I use for 3 Gun. I have a 55gr load that uses H335 and Hornady 55gr FMJ-BT's. That load costs me about 10 cents a round to load when I buy everything in bulk. I will use that for targets out to about 100yds. It is capable of much more and shoots great, it just doesn't have much effect on reactive targets and obviously can be more effected by wind. 

 

For any sort of distance work I load Sierra 77gr TMK's over Varget. That load is a bit more expensive, but had to estimate really since I've gotten all the bullets for free to date. I push it to about max and it shoots great. It has a much more profound effect on targets so calling hit's is much easier for RO's and impacts are much more audible and visual. It's also a great load for rifle spinners. It would be crazy expensive to shoot this load exclusively and it also has must more recoil. 

I carry the same philosophy over into my heavy metal shooting as well. I could easily replace my 55gr loading with something cheap from the 'net and have debated doing it a few times, but I would reload my long range ammo still. Truthfully I don't mid doing to loading much and it is less expensive for me to do so but YMMV. 

I like the idea, I was always trying to make the "all around" bullet but why not pack mags for with bullets for different jobs.  Curious about your Sierra 77gr TMK load data and OAL.

[ecn515]

1 hour ago, Banacek said:

I like the idea, I was always trying to make the "all around" bullet but why not pack mags for with bullets for different jobs.  Curious about your Sierra 77gr TMK load data and OAL.

 

 

https://www.sierrabullets.com/documents/xrings/vol6no3.pdf

 

I zero my rifles with my 77gr load and just shoot my 55gr being mindfull of the impact difference. My 55gr load only hits about 1/2'' off the 77's. For example I shot the Missouri 3 Gun Championship this past weekend and only used about 70 of my 77gr rounds across 10 stages. 

[1981Shooter]

20 hours ago, ecn515 said:

For example I shot the Missouri 3 Gun Championship this past weekend and only used about 70 of my 77gr rounds across 10 stages. 

Yeah, I missed a lot on all those long range targets at MO3GC too 

[Miggz55]

 
 
https://www.sierrabullets.com/documents/xrings/vol6no3.pdf
 
I zero my rifles with my 77gr load and just shoot my 55gr being mindfull of the impact difference. My 55gr load only hits about 1/2'' off the 77's. For example I shot the Missouri 3 Gun Championship this past weekend and only used about 70 of my 77gr rounds across 10 stages. 

Great info! Thanks... I think my 9mm loads are about $0.10-$0.12ea, so i have some work to do to get my 223 load cost down. Thankfully I have a good amount of supplies at the moment...


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