In my .243, shooting hunting ammo I was happy with 1-3" groups at 100m. With reloading, on a calm day, it's more like .5-1.5" at 100m, with occasional 5 shot groups smaller (fliers have to go somewhere right?). My first 200m group was 1.62" with hand loaded ammo.
Handloading is the single best thing I've done with shooting. If you're not sure how much to you want to spend, try a Lee Hand Press or Lee Classic Loader. Basic and simple, but cheap.
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Pretty slow, but you could probably do 20 rounds in less then an hour? I reload .243 for roughly .50 cents per shot. It gets to be as fun as the shooting, as you try to tweak loads and lets you work on your hobby on rainy/snowy days.