cost to reload .223

TheCoachZed

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
40   0   0
I'm wanting to get a rifle in .223, since our stupid game laws in NB won't let me pack an SKS year round in the bush.

I want to get some rough ideas of reloading costs for .223. I'd want to load premium bullets and try some rounds for deer and bear (over bait), but I'd mostly just want to load coyote/target rounds.

What sort of costs am I looking at getting into for components?

I really want to shoot a black rifle, so I would expect a semi-auto to be hard on brass. I'm more likely to end up with a Stevens 200 or H&R Superlight Compact, though, which (I assume) would be much easier on brass.
 
Shooting 69 grain SMKs, varget and CCI SRPs and not including brass (which is free), it costs less than 45 cents per round of 223.

Hope this helps.
 
X2....the 69 gr SMKs are super accurate in my rifle, but I use IMR3031 with good results. For deer, the caliber is marginal but depends greatly on bullet placement. For bear, Safer is Wiser and use a bigger caliber.
 
55gr bullets cost me 10 cents, 20 grains of H4198 cost 10 cents, primer costs about 4 cents. Brass is free after the first time. So, about 24 cents per round for reloaded ( to Your specs ) as opposed to about 50 cents per round for factory ammo.

69 gr Lapua HPBT bullets cost me 39 cents per round, so for match ammo call it 55 cents. Not too bad.
 
OT - I know .223 is small for bear. However, I'm not planning on chasing bears around on foot through the woods with a .223 - I plan on shooting one from a stand over bait with it. I have no doubt I could kill a bear with one shot from a stand with a .22 lr if I had to, let alone a .223. Spring bears have little fat, and the range is 30 yards or less. If I have to follow up something to finish it off, I'd take my shotgun, which I used last year.

I would only want a .223 for shooting deer between 40-100 yards. I hunt inside city limits, so that's my shooting range anyway.

Here in NB, the .22 centrefires are becoming very popular thanks to our lame hunting regulations. I bet every third or fourth new centerfire rifle sold is a .22-250.
 
if you want to hunt large game with 223, look at the barnes tsx 62 grainers, the 69gr smk is a great target bullet, not sure how it will perform on large game, if you are like me you'll have a load using the 36gr varmint grenade all the way up to a 75gr amax, thats why i love the 223, so much versatility
 
If you are going to use a Stevens 200 in .223, which is the same gun I use. The loads I find very economical are Hornady 55gr V-Max or Hornady 55gr SPSX bullets. Very devastating on anything. I push them with 13.5 gr of Blue Dot Powder. You can't double charge the case and it's very accurate for me between 100 & 150 yards.
Google Blue Dot .223 There's lots of info on it.
Remember start Low & work your load up. 14.0gr is the maximum
Regards, Henry
 
I'd want to load premium bullets and try some rounds for deer and bear (over bait

OT - I know .223 is small for bear. However, I'm not planning on chasing bears around on foot through the woods with a .223 - I plan on shooting one from a stand over bait with it. I have no doubt I could kill a bear with one shot from a stand with a .22 lr if I had to, let alone a .223. Spring bears have little fat, and the range is 30 yards or less. If I have to follow up something to finish it off, I'd take my shotgun, which I used last year.

I would only want a .223 for shooting deer between 40-100 yards. I hunt inside city limits, so that's my shooting range anyway.

Did you say you have no doubt you could kill a bear from 30 yards with a .22 Lr :bsFlag: and dear at a 100 with a .223 :eek:
I guess you have never heard of ethical hunting and first shot kills.
 
Did you say you have no doubt you could kill a bear from 30 yards with a .22 Lr :bsFlag: and dear at a 100 with a .223 :eek:
I guess you have never heard of ethical hunting and first shot kills.

Didn't say it would be ethical to shoot a bear like that or that I would want to, said that I could if I had to. And I'm pretty sure I could, because I know guys who have dropped deer with one shot from .22s. I also know that my .22 shoots very well. I shot my bear with 12 gauge slugs last year and snapped his spine on the first shot, then put another in his neck. Getting a .22 bullet in his lungs at 30 yards should certainly be possible! One of the biggest grizzlies on record was shot with a .22 short, and the biggest bear that I personally know of shot here was a 7 foot blackie shot by an ex-forest ranger with a .22 . . . so wave your BS flag all you want. Others have done it if they had to.

And no, I am not planning to try it, nor do I wish to - it's doable, but illegal and an extremely unpleasant and long death for a bear with a tiny bullet in his lungs . End of story. I'm not a yahoo looking to mangle game.

I don't see why deer at 100 yards with a .223 is so shocking. Read around online, lots of guys have done it. Lots of guys locally here are shooting them with .22-250 at farther than that, and yes, I realize the .22-250 has more jam, but I'm also not saying I want to take 150-yard shots. I've got the discipline to limit my shots.

Lots of deer have been taken with muzzleloaders, bows, or lesser cartridges like blackpowder .44-40. A premium bullet in a .223 should do just as well.

Anyways, thanks for the information on component pricing guys. If someone wants to argue about .22lr and bears or deer with a .223, let's do it somewhere else.
 
I really want to shoot a black rifle, so I would expect a semi-auto to be hard on brass. I'm more likely to end up with a Stevens 200 or H&R Superlight Compact, though, which (I assume) would be much easier on brass.
I am on my 7th loading of my brass. Fired once, then loaded 7 times. These are mostly out of my R15, but they are kind of tramp brass, and have also been through other ARs.
 
You've gotten some pretty decent answers to the question of reloaded .223 ammo cost.

(Dunno if I should let you in on the real secret though - when you reload, you don't save money. You spend 2-3X as many dollars on reloaded ammo as you would on factory ammo, because you end up shooting 5X as many rounds....!)

I have to wonder why you'd be shooting deer or bear with a .223, since during deer and bear season the "max .22 centrefire" rule doesn't apply. You could take your SKS, or even better, use it as an excuse to buy another rifle ;-)

Can't take a black rifle (AR-15 etc) hunting because they are restricted, though they are lots of fun to shoot on the range.

The various premium varmint bullets (e.g I use Nosler 55 grain Ballistic Tips) shoot very well. So do the 68-75 grain target bullets (if you have a 1-9" twist or quicker barrel such as the Stevens 200)
 
AR-180b isn't restricted (too bad they are impossible to find). Neither is the Mini-14, which can be made pretty black. . . although, allegedly not so accurate.

I do have a .30-30 I can take for deer or bear, but it isn't reliable. I sold my SKS for a few reasons, but partly because I couldn't carry it all year.

I would rather have a specific gun for deer and bear, but my wife is growing increasingly skeptical of my reasons for buying new rifles! :)
 
No comment on the ethics of using a .223 to hunt anything other than varmints and small game, but this reminds me of a gun counter lizzard who was expounding about trying his .17 Rem on bear ("going to slip one between the ribs and blow up his lungs" or something like that). Shoot a bear with a marginal round and you have a problem on your hands.
Re post #7. You are right. Match bullets are'nt designed to open up on game. They are great for doing what they are designed to do-punching little groups on paper.
Re post #8. Varmint bullets are extremely frangible and will come apart on contact. I've shot a pee-pot full of Hornady SXSP bullets out of my .223 gopher guns and they are what they say they are-super explosive. In fact there is a label in the box which cautions about them coming apart in the air if shot at a MV of more than 3600fps.
 
If you buy a stevens 200 in 223 they have a twist rate of 1 in 9 which will allow you to load up some really accurate 69 gr Sierra Match Kings for target shooting. If you look up Ellwood Epps I just purchased some winchester 64 Gr power points for 12.99 to 14.99 per bag of 100 they say they are qualified for deer and I seen what they will do on a doe at 50 yards and lets put it this way we threw the front shoulder away. My great load is 25 Grs of Reloader 15 with CCI primers and 69 Gr Sierra Match Kings = 0.550 5 shot group at 100 yards. :)
 
Back
Top Bottom