The economics of loading .223

[Kiwi cop]

Over the last few days I have loaded up some .223 ammo. For the first time since I can remember I had primers separating in the case. On about 1 in 3 cases the primer anvil pushed clear leaving the sides of the primer still in the case. And these were once fired commercial cases I bought new and fired myself, not crimped in primer military loads.

Not only did I end up tossing over 30 damaged cases, but when dropping the powder, a charge and powder designed to come to the bottom of the case shoulder, on three more cases the case overflowed! On checking these cases I found that with powder full to the top of the neck the charge was .3 gn below the charge being dropped, hence the overflow!

Now cases to me are not really an issue. My employer is about 1/4 of the way through cycling all response staff in my district through my club range for qualification shoots. They leave the brass on the range for the club to pick up and either sell for scrap (.223) or give to new members starting out reloading (9mm). If I really need new cases I can stop by the range any day after the firearms instructors finish and pick it up (American Eagle FMJ ammo, so again once fired commercial brass).

But... here's the kicker. The box of Sierra .223 projectiles I was loading still had the price sticker on it, $49.99 (These prices are in NZ dollars, currently about .63c US) and the primers are currently $9.99/100 (both were bought about a year ago and as the NZ dollar has dropped in the last month when I buy replacement stock the cost will be even higher). That is NZ .60c a round before powder (another .27 c/round), cases and my time is taken into account.

I usually shoot around 150 - 200 .223 rounds a year, mostly on the range and on occasional mobs of wild goats. I can buy decent .223 ammo locally for under $1.00 per round. And the kicker is that when I am in the US shortly I can buy 500 rounds of JHP .223 at under NZ .45 c/round. That is less than the cost of projectiles alone!

So I am beginning to think the economics of loading for .223 are against it.

 

[muddocktor]

Wow, prices down there are expensive. I can buy primers for around 3.5 cents/round or less, including hazmat charges online. Bulk Hornady 55 grain spire point bullets run around 7-7.5 cents a round last time I bought them and Hornady has upgraded them to a boattail design. Powder will run me roughly around 7.5 cents per round including hazmat. So I can load up some good shooting 223 ammo for less than 20 cents a round. BTW, I just load to 223 specs and not to 5.56x45 pressures as I don't see the need to run any hotter for plinking ammo.

I guess when you make your trip to the US, your baggage will weigh around 500 lbs when you go home after stocking up on goodies here.

As to the economics, since you already have the dies, you still do save a tiny bit over buying factory ammo as long as you don't figure your time spent reloading as a cost. But 200 rounds/year won't break the bank either by buying factory ammo.

EDIT: Heck, I missed adding your primer cost in with the bullet and powder costs. It's cheaper for you to buy your ammo for 223; that really is bad economics. Can you find bulk bullets such as the Hornady bullets I mentioned above?

 

[rwsmith]

I got some brass, boxer primed......

....ammo to shoot up in 7.62 x 39mm. I know that I can't reload those economically, but I'd like to do it some just to play around. I shot 40 rounds at the indoor range a couple of days ago. We were alone, and the floor had been swept of brass.When I went to collect my brass some had shot over the partition into the next booth. I looked around and told my range buddies, "I don't see 40 rounds of brass around here."

When I cleaned up my brass last night I had 19 cases of the AR brass. This makes the reloading thing a little futile.

 

[Wise_A]

Wise_A Sr and I had a little fun shooting some rifles that had been laying around a few weeks ago, so I've decided to get into that.

I haven't figured out whether reloading .223 is economical. I suspect it probably is, since NY did away with internet ammo sales because that's how all the bad guys get their ammo or something. But to tell you the truth, I couldn't give less of a damn. If I shoot it, I'm going to reload it.

What I basically figured out is that the projectile cost doesn't look too bad, and the powder isn't a heartbreaker. Oh, and light bullets is cheap, so a 1:12 twist rate ain't the worst thing to have.

Speaking of, if anybody's looking to offload a Remington 700 Synthetic Varmint...

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Free is hard to get mad at the quality!

I bought my first of 5 Mini-14's, new in 1980. I enjoyed shooting it a lot and was already a reloader so I bought RCBS Small Base FL dies, and played around finding a good economical load. Factory 55gr FMJ, ran about $8.99/100 back then on sale. The US Army went to the 62 grain steel core ammo in the new M-16 with a 1:9 twist rifling. Winchester was a major supplier of 5.56 NATO ammo and had Billions of 55 grain FMJ/BT projectiles the sold as surplus/overruns. A plane cardboard box of 1000 was $9.00 or 9/10ths of a cent each. In a few months I had 21 boxes of them and the deal was gone!

I used an old Lyman loading manual (#45) for my data. The Primer I chose was the CCI small rifle magnum, the powder was WW748, and the brass was mixed, used, and mostly with crimped primers. Many primers were corroded as well as crimped in place, so I opted for depriming with the Lee 22 caliber deprimer and a 24 ounce framing hammer. I counter bored a 1/2" deep hole in a cross member of the loading bench with a 5/16" hole for the primers to fall all the way into a drawer. The cases were tumbled overnight and until after work the next day and the next batch was started (Batch size was about 400 cases.) The without trimming to consistent length, the were loaded with my then brand new Dillon R450 progressive press. If you try this with a regular roll crimp die, you will end up with 20 to 25 percent of your ammo wont chamber, due to bulged shoulders. The CORRECT solution is to trim the case length first. The FASTEST solution is to use a different crimp die! I used a Tapper Crimp to hold the bullets in place. When properly adjusted, I had no set back and a very strong hold! (today I would use a Lee Factory Crimp Die- but they were not invented yet!)

I ended up using 6 or 7 weeks of 3 or 4 evenings and most of Saturday and Sunday after church to load up 20,000 rounds! This ammo shot about 3" groups from a stainless Mini-14 @ 100 yards, which matched the factory ammo, so I was happy with my performance, but not the accuracy! At the club range one day a friend was shooting a brand new Cooper 21 in 223, and I was blasting with a Mini-14 or 2 or 3! He asked to try my ammo, and selected 5 sounds that appeared to be the same length (they varies by about 1/32" or .8mm), then shot them into a single hole about 26 caliber across! I got rid of all my Mini's and bought a AR-15 by the old Bushmaster Company on sale for $899.00 plus tax. It still shoots that same ammo into a hole about 30 caliber, and I bought my own Cooper 21 in 223, with the same tight results as my fellow club member!

MY cost was somewhere 7.5 cents a round (US) and I could buy imported junk for 9 cents. Economically really not worth it, but the accuracy was well worth it!

A few years ago I gave about half of the remaining 6500 rounds to my second Son, and was trying them out 34 years after they were loade they still shoot good.

 

[jwk]

For my bolt guns that I use to shoot prairie dogs I handload for accuracy. Cost is less than factory ammo appropriate for hunting but more than mil spec 5.56. Can't use FMJ shooting on a prairie dog town where livestock might be nearby. You need really tangible bullets for safety as well as clean kills. I can also tailor my loads to a particular rifle. For offhand practice w a 223 sporter or plinking and fun shooting w an AR I shoot inexpensive mil spec. I cant shoot offhand more accurately than bulk ammo shoots so I'm the limiting factor not the ammo. In the past I've shot 5.56 like most people shoot 22LR. Shooting at an 8 inch plate at 50 to 200 yards from field positions is good practice for deer hunting w a larger caliber rifle. Shoot a couple hundred rounds of 30-06 in an afternoon and see how you feel when youre done. Also 200 yards w a 22 LR is difficult. I've never really looked to see how much cheaper I might be able to load that type ammo bc time constraints. If I had nothing but free time I could probably save money loading my own blasting ammo but I don't have the time even though I enjoy handloading.

 

[fredj338]

Do you wet clean your cases? Leaving primers in place during wet cleaning can cause the primers to corrode & stick.
With todays cheap ammo, at least here, its hard to argue for cost effectiveness in reloading 223. If you get free brass, bulk fmj, 8# of powder, you can get them made for about 18c each.
Now if you really want to shoot cheap, make your own bullets.

 

[BlackTalonJHP]

It's not as economically advantageous to load .223 as some other rounds, i.e. pistol rounds, due to the amount of powder. But when I put my costs into my reloading calculator I get $0.21 per round.

Bullets from .223BulkBullets.com
$80/M
H335 powder
$25/lb
SR primers
$30/M
Case
$10/M (I only used once fired brass that I don't pay anything for but I include a cost for case cleaning)

At a charge weight of 25 grains this comes out to $0.21/round. This doesn't include equipment costs or case lube, but those are sunk costs.

 

[gwpercle]

At this point in time reloading for 223 or 9mm may not be economical, what you want to do is be prepared for the day the political climate shifts, not only will ammo be hard to find , primers , powder and bullets will be non existent.
I well remember when a certain president was elected I could find few components , limits were placed on how much you could buy , reloading tools and bullet moulds were even in short supply.
You may want to get all your "stuff" now and be ready.....things are looking dire for our elected president.
Gary

 

[Skeet 028]

Not too long ago I bought a bunch of reloading stuff really cheap. Mainly bullets and powder. Powder was 10 dollars a pound..bullets were about 6 cents. Many Noslers. Primers were a Cabelas sale price(under 20 a thousand delivered) So till I run out of bullets and the powder I am loading for 12-13 cents a round. I do not include the cases(10M once fired -free). Oh those are for soft point bullets. FMJs cost about the same in bulk. I even have some of those ultra cheap Winchester bullets from closeout many years ago. The future may change drastically so buy lots of components now. Cheap ammo too. Of all the calibers I shoot the only reloadable round I do not do is the 9mm. For all the work invloved to save 2 or maybe even 3 cents a round it is not worth loading...for me. YMMV

 

[fredj338]

At this point in time reloading for 223 or 9mm may not be economical, what you want to do is be prepared for the day the political climate shifts, not only will ammo be hard to find , primers , powder and bullets will be non existent.
I well remember when a certain president was elected I could find few components , limits were placed on how much you could buy , reloading tools and bullet moulds were even in short supply.
You may want to get all your "stuff" now and be ready.....things are looking dire for our elected president.
Gary

Yep, 2012 wasn't that long ago. Even if Trump were to stay in office, local regs & laws may put a squash on your ammo availability & cost. Kalif enacted a ban on internet purchasing, so ammo costs have gone up locally quite a bit & will eventually get taxed & prices will go even higher. With some free time, I can make good shooting 223 ammo for cost of primers & powder, which so far, not being stopped at the border.

 

[Fishinfool]

For play at the range, and general plinking, I just buy American Eagle by the case. The small savings in loading my own isn't worth the time and trouble.

For precision use in my bolt actions and target AR, I do handload, as the accuracy is usually much better than the bulk stuff, and there is a clear cost savings compared to buying the 20 round boxes of the premium factory stuff.

Larry

 

[Borderboss]

I agree with the person who said that reloading .223/5.56 and 9mm isn't economical at this point. It's amazing that a few years ago you couldn't touch 5.56 ammo. Now it's practically being given away.

The answer to protecting against a shifting political climate is to buy a boatload now. There's no reason you can't have 50K rounds of each laying around. They aren't going to go bad over 20-30 years. I'm shooting 5.56 I bought in the early 1990s right now and it's fine.

 

[Wise_A]

Well, for one, I can't really afford to squirrel away 50,000 rounds of ammunition.

For another...well, I happen to think the ammunition I make is pretty damn good, no matter what superlative I'm looking for. My low-recoil stuff is really low-recoil, my accurate stuff is really accurate.

So even if the cheapest of cheap ammo somehow got down to what it costs me to load, say, 9mm, they wouldn't be the same. Buying cheap ammo would get me a cheap product. What I make at home is a premium product.

 

[iouri]

I've just made 2k couple weeks ago - bulk 55gr FMJ (about $0.07 per round), RamTAC 8lbs (also about $0.07.5 per round) (no bridging in Dillon powder measure and measures like water) plus S&B primer ($0.025); I figure it cost me about $170-180 /1000 - even cheaper than imported steel cased ammo. So it still makes sense for me.

 

[SMSgt]

I reload because I want to reload. Any savings are merely a side benefit.

 

[WR Moore]

Given the prices you quote, you do seem to be in a unique situation where loaded ammo is cheaper than do-it-yourself.

Now, about component pricing. I do use some Sierra bullets [as they say locally, Sierra is right proud of their stuff], but generally find Hornaday beats their prices and generally are as effective. FMJBT military duplicate Hornadays run ~$10 (US)/100 on sale in the US, cheaper in bulk. You can also find the 75 gr HPBT in bulk (250/box) at better prices. There are also some less well established makers-like Berry's or Zero-of rifle bullets, I haven't tried them, but a couple of buddies swear by them. Honestly, the only Sierra bullets I use are their MatchKings for long range target shooting in .308 and the 60 gr .224 JHP for varmints.

Many of the powders used in the US for .223 seem to be produced in either Oz or Sweden. I'd think some locally made powders would be relatively cheap.....unless there's some draconian pricing in place to discourage shooters.

On powder overflowing the case......cleaning media in the case? Powder bridging in the measure?

Dunno about primers. Surely the US isn't the only source of component primers?

 

[CH4]

As others have opted, I load .223 for my bolt guns for accuracy purposes, but it's not worth it for the volume I put through my ARs. I roll my own one at a time using a Rockchucker.

 

[gwpercle]

I reload because I want to reload. Any savings are merely a side benefit.

Same here , reloading and casting bullets , I enjoy the hobby.
I don't play golf or tennis,
Do Golfers save money playing golf....nope , it's their hobby.

Recycling wheel weights , printers type and scrap roof flashing since 1967....I was recycling before it became fashionable !
Gary

 

[lrrifleman]

Except for maybe 8 boxes of self defense ammo purchased in the past 2 years, I would have to say that I have purchased no more than a dozen boxes of centerfire ammo in the past 40 years, all of my ammo has been my reloads. Prior to becoming disabled, I use to shoot 2-3000 rounds of match quality 223 and 30 a year. Now I am returning to casting my handgun bullets.

It has gotten to the point where I do not take into consideration how much I save by reloading. I am diligent in keeping an adequate supply of components on hand. Therefore, by reloading, I am using consistent ammo on a regular basis, and I have ammo during shortages. I am even dabbling with casting my own hollow point bullets and powder coating them. I would have to say that after reloading for about 42 years (maybe 85,000 rounds) I have just encountered my first dud round which would not fire.

While economics drove me to reloading, I reload now because of the ability to have consistently accurate ammo and a consistent supply of ammo. The hard part is being able to find a decently priced gas check forming tool.