.223 Cheaper to reload?
- Thread starter CyaN1de
- Start date
Price of investment is as much or as little as you want to make it. You can probably get up and running for a few hundred bucks, or you can spend easily over a grand and have a mini ammo factory.
Accuracy and speed of manufacture are what you generally get with the more expensive gear, but I'm talking about fractionally better. Even with el cheapo Lee gear (or whatever), you can still produce decent custom rounds that should rival factory ammo. Sometimes the cheaper stuff is no worse than the more expensive, you just pay for the name or the warranty.
Accuracy and speed of manufacture are what you generally get with the more expensive gear, but I'm talking about fractionally better. Even with el cheapo Lee gear (or whatever), you can still produce decent custom rounds that should rival factory ammo. Sometimes the cheaper stuff is no worse than the more expensive, you just pay for the name or the warranty.
$65/200 factory rounds you say? That's $32.50 per hundred.
Let's assume you get the brass for free, and the powder for $30. at 25 grains, that's 11c per charge, plus 3c for a primer and 20c for a premium vmax bullet. 34c each or $34 per 100.
Hornady 'varmint express' premium varmint ammo runs $17.99 per 20 or $89.95 per hundred.
Compare apples to apples.
Load surplus powder, and we're down to ~8c per charge, and surplus pulled FMJ's for 10c each, and you're at 21c a round, or $21/hundred.
So, the cost savings are higher with premium loads than FMJ's. That's to be expected, but the performance of premiums on varmints is an order of magnitude better.
Or, put another way, you can load premium ammo for the price of surplus.
Anyway you cut it, your cost savings will depend on how much you shoot. For a few hundred rounds of FMJ, it's hard to justify the expense of equipment. For thousands, or for premium - it gets a whole lot easier.
What this all adds up to - you'll probably continue to spend your existing budget on ammo - you'll spend the same amount. But you'll find that you end up with more ammo for your buck than before. Spend a hundred bucks for a hundred rounds, vs spend a hundred bucks for three hundred rounds.
Let's assume you get the brass for free, and the powder for $30. at 25 grains, that's 11c per charge, plus 3c for a primer and 20c for a premium vmax bullet. 34c each or $34 per 100.
Hornady 'varmint express' premium varmint ammo runs $17.99 per 20 or $89.95 per hundred.
Compare apples to apples.
Load surplus powder, and we're down to ~8c per charge, and surplus pulled FMJ's for 10c each, and you're at 21c a round, or $21/hundred.
So, the cost savings are higher with premium loads than FMJ's. That's to be expected, but the performance of premiums on varmints is an order of magnitude better.
Or, put another way, you can load premium ammo for the price of surplus.
Anyway you cut it, your cost savings will depend on how much you shoot. For a few hundred rounds of FMJ, it's hard to justify the expense of equipment. For thousands, or for premium - it gets a whole lot easier.
What this all adds up to - you'll probably continue to spend your existing budget on ammo - you'll spend the same amount. But you'll find that you end up with more ammo for your buck than before. Spend a hundred bucks for a hundred rounds, vs spend a hundred bucks for three hundred rounds.
Re-loading is about more than just saving costs
.... Over all, reloading saves approx. 1/3 the cost (this is just a ball park figure, and there are lots of variables! ) but the advantages, are that you can "customize" your loads to the rifle, always having available ammunition, and the big plus, re-loading is FUN ! Particularly over the Winter Months, when the 'Range may not be the best place to be. ..... then there's the "Green Perspective" in that reloading recycles the MT Brass ! ..... David K. ....
.... Over all, reloading saves approx. 1/3 the cost (this is just a ball park figure, and there are lots of variables! ) but the advantages, are that you can "customize" your loads to the rifle, always having available ammunition, and the big plus, re-loading is FUN ! Particularly over the Winter Months, when the 'Range may not be the best place to be. ..... then there's the "Green Perspective" in that reloading recycles the MT Brass ! ..... David K. ....
If you find firesales (aka gun shows and such), you can get 55gr tips for $0.07ea, @$28 a lbs, 24gr of powder is just a tad shy of $0.10 a round, $0.03 a primer, plus "free" brass, puts .223 at around $20/100 rounds or $4 a box of 20. Again as someone said, you want hi quality tips and you are looking at $20/100 in tips, which then goes to $33-34/100 which is $6.75 a box for "Good" rounds. All depends on the volumes you shoot.
If you shoot 100 rounds of .223 a year, then there is little point in reloading from a cost savings perspective.
100 rounds of 300 Win Mag? It gets worth it when you save $0.50+ a round.
Higher volume stuff? 1000? 2000? 5000? Hell yes
Now, add in all your calibres, say 9mm, .223, .308 and you suddenly can save far more and the $ can make sense over 2-5 years.
(give you a hint of the reloading foolios here)
If you shoot 100 rounds of .223 a year, then there is little point in reloading from a cost savings perspective.
100 rounds of 300 Win Mag? It gets worth it when you save $0.50+ a round.
Higher volume stuff? 1000? 2000? 5000? Hell yes
Now, add in all your calibres, say 9mm, .223, .308 and you suddenly can save far more and the $ can make sense over 2-5 years.
(give you a hint of the reloading foolios here)
