With the affordable price of bulk .223, is anyone reloading it?

rubberdown

rubberdown

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I ran the #'s and after buying my first crate of Norinco .223 ammo, I will have lots of brass for reloading, but then I figure its really not priced that badwhen waiting for a sale and getting it by the crate, so is it really worth the trouble of getting another designated press, and going through the hassle of ordering all the components when 1 phone call or email can get me another crate for "almost" the same money.

I guess what I'm saying is I'm torn on weather I should or shouldnt bother to reload for .223.
 
Reloading is not just about saving money... It's the ability to tailor a cartridge to your specific gun. Plus, you can make AWESOME PRIMO ammo, with the components of your choice, cheaper than you can buy it...

For me, the cheapest ammo you can buy, like the 1600 round cases of Norinco, are blasting ammo. If you're serious about accuracy, you need to either buy TOP notch ammo or reload.

Cheers
Jay
 
If your just blasting away with a semi-auto I would say its not worth your time to reload. It would take a long time for a reloading set up to pay for it self.

Mostly the people that reload .223 are people looking for custom match ammo for precision shooting.

I reload for my target gun, but if i had an ar-15 I would buy a crate of norinco and blast away.
 
I'm going to do what's cheapest. Right now I can't reload for much less than buying crate ammo. Good thing is I'll have plenty of brass, and I'm set up to reload. Bad thing is that if ammo increases in price, I'd imagine so would reloading components.
 
If you are like the people at our local range whose most important criteria seems to be how quickly they can empty their semi auto magazine at a huge target at 50 yards, it probably isn't worth your while to reload, because you won't notice the difference that quality ammunition makes. If you actually want to hit smaller targets, at longer distances, with the first shot, you will benefit from a load developed to be accurate in your rifle.
 
Okay, I'll be honest, I like to shoot fast on occasion LOL (not machine gun style though), and with a Norinco with a 10.5" barrel, I'm not expecting to be shooting on par with Olympic shooters, so until I get my next AR (custom built made for accuracy) in the second half of the year, I will just store my brass until its time to shoot for accuracy.
 
I reload hunting ammo for 223. Costs me 34 cents a round. Cheap factory hunting ammo with vmax bullets costs $21+tax for 20 rounds. I would say the savings is huge. My reloads are alot more accurate as well plus I have some ammo loaded that you cant buy factory made
 
I don't shoot factory ammo for the most part. I shoot only handloads through my AR. I use Hornady 55 gr fmjbt and the lake city ones as well. I use the WC735, which is 120 for 7 pounds. And I have tons of primers. It is winter, I can't shoot a whole lot anyway, so I load :bigHug::bigHug::bigHug::bigHug:loads of ammo. I have a tried and true load for my Norinco AR, so I have no need to buy factory ammo. 2000 rounds costs me 120 for powder, 260 for bullets, and 70 for primers. plus my time. So give or take, about 450-500 bucks.
 
rubberdown said:
I ran the #'s and after buying my first crate of Norinco .223 ammo, I will have lots of brass for reloading, but then I figure its really not priced that badwhen waiting for a sale and getting it by the crate, so is it really worth the trouble of getting another designated press, and going through the hassle of ordering all the components when 1 phone call or email can get me another crate for "almost" the same money.

I guess what I'm saying is I'm torn on weather I should or shouldnt bother to reload for .223.
Click to expand...

Buy a bunch of WC735 from Higginson and a bunch of LC bullets from Budget Shooters Supply and you can load your brass for $230/1000.
 
I figure 3 pounds of powder should do 1000 rounds, and I think I get powder for around $18/pound for the 231 I'm using on pistols rounds. primers are around $30/35 for 1000 if I remember correctly from my local guy, but that was pistol primers, will already have the brass, so its just a matter of getting another progressive press and buying the bullets and other stuff..... We'll see how much I shoot it before I start outfitting myself to reload for it, hell I still dont even have the gun or the 1600 rounds I ordered LOL. Just getting ahead of my self, can you tell I'm anxious :D
 
You don't need to reload on a progressive. Sure, its quicker, but when doing large quantities of ammo I do it in stages. It allows me to inspect everycase multiple times. Winter is a great time to mass produce plinking ammo.
 
I shoot a lot of sub sonic loads, for the current load I'm getting 16 cents a round... Could be less but that's what I'm figuring. Have not tried in a semi yet but I'm sure you could develop one to cycle the action
 
I reload and it saves me money because I am determined to hereafter only shoot what I reload, and I reload slowly, otherwise I'd run out and buy ten cans or something because I am impulsive like that. I bought one ammo can of 223 and one pack of bulk 9mm from P&D and I'm going to do my best effort to not buy or shoot any other factory ammo or I will never be able to afford to retire.
 
Buy the case of Norinco .223 and then save the brass for reloading. I wouldn't count on it being around at current prices forever.
 
Haven't found a 223 load that shooters under 1 MOA in my heavy barrel H&R single shot. My handloads approach 1/2 MOA and I'm far from the best shot so chances are the rifle is doing better and I'm opening up the groups.

Of course it's the near perfect candidate for handloading. If I had a semi 223 chances are I would just buy bulk for it (especially since I hate picking up brass that is thrown all over the place when ejected.)
 
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