223 worth reloading?

I reload for all my center-fire cartridges, and a couple for my son, as well. I enjoy the process (although trimming and deburring cases is my least favorite step), and I just get a lot of satisfaction seeing my final product and the resulting performance whether it be on paper, steel or critter. Even though I have an excellent stash of sub-moa factory .223 ammo, I prefer to shoot my handloads due to the improved performance and satisfaction derived from having assembled the loads myself. I have never fired a factory load at a deer, either. I get email alerts for special deals on components, so I grab the best bargains whenever they appear. (Recently grabbed 1000 Speer 50 gr TNT Hollow Points for $69.95 from Midway on clearance, and 5000 S&B small rifle primers for $18.95 per thousand, even with haz mat, they came in under $25 per thousand delivered.)
Using a Frankford Arsenal liquid tumbler with stainless steel pins, even grungy range pickup brass comes out looking brand new, hard to believe that some of my handloads feature brass that may have been reloaded 5 times or more. Once I retire from my job in hopefully a few months, I look forward to spending a lot more time experimenting with even more aspects of the hobby.
 
I say: Yes!

In addition to being fun, that's why we do this right?, it's very economical.

5.56 brass is second only to 9mm in commonality. You can pick it up by the hundreds off the floor at your local range and buy it in used bulk for a reasonable price.

Powders are many and widely available.

I use Winchester Small Rifle Primers.

Bullet choice is Legion. From cheap bulk Hornady 55's in the 6000 round cases to even the 100 round boxes at Cabelas you can get better bullets for less than factory.

I used to shoot xm193 by Federal/American Eagle. I would say it averages about $40 per hundred round box or .40c per round.

$30 per thousand primers
$85 for 4 pounds of powder
$180 for 1000 premium bullets
$80 for used LC brass
------------
$375 per thousand

It gets a lot better if you go with bulk bullets and range brass can cut the price in half. So you can get half price range ammo, and same price premium ammo.

You just gotta decide if it's worth it to YOU.
 
It is for me for several reasons:

1. Ammunition that I load is tailored to my AR, tweaked as it were for better accuracy than factory loads, and is every bit as reliable.
2. Unless you're getting a fantastic discount, reloading once the cost of the basic equipment is amorticized, is cheaper due to the reduced cost of the components. The following are match grade components and will do MOA groups from my AR out to 300 yards. With 77 gr Sierra MK's you can stretch that to 600 yds. For blasting fodder, you might beat the costs, depending on your source.

Powder bought over the past ten years = $0. 065
Primers = $0.035
Cases = free from range pickup etc.
Bullets = $0.15 for Sierra 52/53 gr MK when I bought them.
Total $0.25 per shot​
 
Every time I'd fire my gun I'd say there goes $.32 down the drain . Now that I reload , after each shot I say . I just saved $.10 .
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Yep...that's my logic too...but my wife has questioned it for over 45 years now and she's a former high school math teacher...gotta wonder how her students made out with her disjointed reasoning.

Rod
 
I dont run anything under 75gr bullets in my 5.56 rifles so I actually save quite a bit reloading for them. I think my match loads cost me the same as the cheapest factory loads.
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I actually went the other way. My 1-9 AR shots 65gr and 70gr bullets real well and 55gr bullets are so so. Good for plinking and thats about it.

So I built a new AR with a 20 inch rifle barrel 1-12 twist, put two stage match trigger in it and a target scope.
Can put those cheap 55gr pills in the near same hole at 200 yards.
In essence I made the gun to shoot the cheap stuff well.

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Used a Green Mountain 1-12 20 inch barrel.

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Also shoots my cast loads well. even cheaper than the Bulk 55gr bullets and hoarder proof supply.

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I reload for .223/5.56, but yesterday I bought some brass case American Eagle in .223 at Wally World for $6.47 for a 20 rd.box. That's cheap.
 
COZ, that's what I've been saying for years...
*IF* you are going to shoot off the shelf 55 grain bullets, or reload with same, then what's the point in getting a 1:7" barrel?

OP,
Reloading ONLY makes sense in a few very specific cases...
1. You shoot 'Premium' ammo that runs 3 to 5 times what 'White Box' ammo does.
Premium reloaded ammo is still going to run 30 to 45 cents a round, while 'Premium' ammo can run $2 each.

2. You shoot a caliber that factory ammo is scarce & expensive.

3. You want something that isn't available on the common market.

You will NEVER compete with 'Import' blasting ammo.
You don't have a government subsidizing your production, you can't hire workers for 20 cents an hour to do the work.
 
$6.47 per 20 is still $.32 each . I still like the idea I spend $.20 each and it shoots right around 1moa in all rifles I shoot them in . As stated above , that AE rounds does not even come close to that . You'll can fight it all you want , from my perspective it's worth loading 223/5.56 . I forget where but I just saw H-335 for $20 a lb . That would be almost half the cost of the 32cents a round factory stuff . How is saving that much or being able to shoot twice as much not worth it ?

Save your money , wait for the deals and hope Hillary does not win the recounts :eek: and it's worth it :D
 
COZ, that's what I've been saying for years...
*IF* you are going to shoot off the shelf 55 grain bullets, or reload with same, then what's the point in getting a 1:7" barrel?
Click to expand...

None that I can see. In the long run it cost more to feed your gun than it costs for the gun.
Just the savings on ammo cost have more than paid for my build.
So my cost was actually zero and I still have the value of the gun.( NOTE: if your looking for a way to talk your self into it. This is it.)

best to save money on your ammo as much as possible. Once you pull the trigger that money is gone for good never to be seen again.
Same can be used with reloading tools. Sure they cost money. but after you have shot the ammo you made. You still have the tools and they are still worth money.
Actually if you take your time and buy correctly. Your tools will never be worth less than you paid.
Used RCBS tools are the best investment ever. Life time no questions asked warranty and buy at right price = win win win.
I had a RCBS rock chucker I got on Auction for $65. Used it for 5 years hammering out rifle sizing. Traded it for $150 worth of brass I was going to buy any way. That equals a net plus for me.
 
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COZ, that's what I've been saying for years...
*IF* you are going to shoot off the shelf 55 grain bullets, or reload with same, then what's the point in getting a 1:7" barrel?
Click to expand...

There is no point to it. :(

Now if you have a 1:7 Barrel and you like shooting premium match bullets weighing 69 to 80 grains then there is a point to it. Personally I never saw the merit to loading the cheapest bullets I could find in the cheapest brass I could find. Even the light bullets I load are run through a 1:12 barreled bolt gun and those never exceed 55 grains. :)

Ron
 
How it becomes 'Not Worth It' is when you consider your time or the cost of progressive press and/or auto drive to reduce that time, but increase cost.
AND,
When you crank out ammo with the cheapest components on the market you get cheap ammo you wound a BUNCH of time up in...

At around $75 an hour for shop time, missed production,
It's most certainly not worth giving away $75, then spending time producing crap blasting ammo...

I see the guys that can't thumb rounds out of a mag, or mags, they just click them off from the hip. Probably better they buy/build crap ammo since they don't hit anything anyway throwing 55 grain rounds through a 1:7" barrel, having to move a human torso target in to 25 yards to hit anything...

If you AIM every shot, the ammo consumption goes down a BUNCH,
And if you carefully aim every shot you won't burn through a thousand rounds a a day...

Don't know what kind of shooting everyone does, but I don't do the 'Hollywood' crap, sticking to fundamentals and keeping my skills for shot placement rather than target saturation...
I built my own home range because of the 'Spray & Pray' shooting that has taken over the public ranges...
12"x12" wood cants hold up the overhead cover on the public range,, the first set or two rotted off in about 20 years, then the spray & pray crap started and they get shot to pieces every couple years...

I haven't had to change range marker or target posts in 13 years, and I don't have the posts or roof shot off my shelter house either, a constant problem at the public ranges.

It's up to you, but I can't buy Hornady A-max or V-max bullets for $25/1,000
And I won't use cheap bullets when I'm taking MY TIME to load accurate, premium rounds.
 
Well thats the best part about reloading.
You can choose how you want to go.
If your only going to shoot a few hundred rounds a year.
You can buy the best components available.

I have a few guns like that. Only the best and only a few.
Depends what your after.

My 308 bolt gun gets different food than my 308 AR10.
Does not take long to go through 200 rounds and not even trying hard.
let alone blasting.
Even buying cheap Win white box will set you back $75 per trip.
I can do that same session for $20 and get better results.

And that does not even take into account my Son and his buddies ( with written OK from parents) Going through a couple coffee cans of 45 acp in the carbine.
Go price a coffee can full of 45 acp once. About 1000 rounds.
Even the cheap stuff is $20 a box. About $400 in ammo.
I can make em for about $100. Maybe less because I catch and recast my lead bullets. So I only pay for those once and shoot em for life.

It really does come down to how much you shoot. The more you shoot the more you save. The more you save the more you shoot. It always cost the same.
 
I reloaded 500 today.

I got a deal on the bullets, 55g VMAX for around $.04 each.

By my reloading calc on my phone, I spent $74. I have 500 more to load next weekend
 
Jeep hammer do you pay someone to grocery shop for you , take your kids to school or read you the paper . If you were to pay someone $25hr to do those things you would be saving 50hr right . Sounds like a great way to save some money haha . If you're going to claim you "must" consider your time in the cost . You "must" apply that same logic to EVERYTHING you do . IMHO It's a dishonest argument to only apply the cost of your time in only some ways . Either every second of your time is worth a price and you validate every second OR you in fact do have some FREE time that can be used for what ever you choose and it does not cost you anything . Like reading the paper or watching the ball game . Hw about instead of watching that tv show you reload for an hour ? I don't see how anyone can say that cost you any money or time for that matter . The time was already relegated to something that most anyone would never put a cost to .
 
COZ, you ARE a grunt! Not afraid of working!
I didn't plant bullets, so I ain't diggin bullets! ;)

It took me several years (had them to spare back then)...
But I can match or exceed any of the factory 'Premium' ammo out there, provided the primer or powder makers don't screw me.

My 'Range' ammo is my culled components from premium ammo.
Bullets over/under weight or over/under diameter, cases that have seen better days, but are perfectly serviceable, etc.
Might only be neck dents or scratches that get cases culled...

I load for 'Perfection' (aim high!), range ammo is what didn't make the highest mark.

I don't load a lot of FMJ or any 'Generic' rounds, mine are for long range varmint control, so it's usually hollow points, or increasingly ballistic tips.
I shoot 50 to 100 rounds at varmints a week, we are currently overrun with coys, ferral cats, and other vermin, and I live smack in the middle of 46 acres with sight lines in all directions, my closest neighbor is 9/10 mile away.
Since I live in a bend of a river, bordering 2,600 acres of state game preserve, everything moving along the river crosses my land...
I try to see the varmits don't make it.

The gun rack by the shop door isn't for looks.
Deer, bobcats, foxes that aren't mangy get a pass,
House cats, coys, pack running ferral dogs pass at there own peril.

When I target shoot, it's not at 25 yard, 2 foot targets,
I have 600 yards marked off, and I reach out as far as I can with any particular rifle...
When you try to put 100 rounds through an 8" bullseye target, you can't tell if you are hitting anything or not,
So it's often 10 round groups, then walk 400 or 600 yards to change the target.
Puts excersize in your rifle practice, gets that heart rate up a little so you keep in practice of controlling your heart rate & breathing.
You know, the basics that keep you hitting your intended target...
At my age/physical condition, a 1,200 yard round trip is like running 2 miles when I was younger! (Then shooting).

I'll admit to being OCD,
I will spend time cutting, polishing chambers to the Nth Degree, spending time working up loads for almost every rifle I own, having die sets for nearly every rifle I own dedicated to that one rifle...
With the exception of ARs in .223, those all get SAAMI chambers and SAAMI ammo. The whole interchangeability thing going on there...

One thing I think keeps me sharp is using different rifles,
.218 Bee today, .223 tomorrow, .308 the next day.
Helps me keep my head in the game remembering the ballistics for each one.
 
I shot 108 cats in one day when we first moved out here!
Not a rabbit or squirrel within a mile of me.
13 years later, rabbits, game birds, squirrels, our chickens don't disappear...
In the first couple years, I had to use a backhoe to bury the carcasses they piled up so fast I couldn't burn them fast enough.

Now they are gone or learned to keep a VERY wide berth...
My 'Average' shot has gone from 50 yards to about 300 yards.

I don't need 'blasting' ammo, I need something that will hit a ferral house cat at 300 yards.
 
Sounds to me like you could have used a Chinese restaurant or two around your town when you first moved there. The feral cats would have been taken out either way...but you had fun doing it. Are the song birds back as well? Those feral cats are notorious bird killers.
 
COZ, you ARE a grunt! Not afraid of working!
I didn't plant bullets, so I ain't diggin bullets!
Click to expand...

Oh no, dont need to work hard if you plan in advance.

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Just shoot it until the target board is shot out.

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When you change the target board. Just shovel out a bunch through the hole.
Replace the board.
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Shovel it back into the trap though a screen.

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Melt, cast, lube and shoot em again.

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That last post veered t words being off topic. So to drag it back.
Here is how it factors to reloading 223.

I can reload and recapture projectiles to reload 223 at just a fraction of even buying steel ammo and get better results.

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I see a bunch of 'About a MOA' written...
First off, it's either under MOA or it's Over MOA CONSISTATLY.
There isn't an 'About' to it...

I have not seen ANY blasting ammo that will shoot under a MOA in any rifle. Period.
And I have been doing this a very long time.

*IF* you shoot 1 MOA to 1-1/2 MOA, it's a 1-1/2 MOA rifle.
ONE good group once in a while isn't your average.

*IF* you don't keep track & average groups, how in the world do you know when you are making progress? (The answer is, you can't)

And after about 30 years of the big claims, then getting to the range and seeing poor groups... Same thing every time, excuses!

And to the guy asking if I grocery shopped,
I grow most of my own food, home can, get clean livestock from the neighbors.
I know what's in 'Food' (using the term loosely) at the store and I avoid it.
My health is worth my time, making ammo that shoots all around a target isn't, so I don't make crap ammo...
 
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