I was wondering what you guys would recommend for good .223 ammo for me to get good groupings on my entry into the world of target shooting.

I have been told the three main factors, in order, for getting the tightest groups are:

1. Shooter's skill
2. The rifle, particularly the barrel
3. The ammo

I would like to try some different flavors and see which I like best, but don't want to waste any more money than I have to. Would that I had started before the price skyrocketed!

I'm looking for brands that I can get pretty easy so I don't have to deal with the hassle of mail ordering. Matter of fact I really don't do much shopping online period. I will if I have to but I live in a decent sized city so I'm sure there is good stuff locally

It is expensive though. From what I have seen there are three levels

1. Big boxes of surplus with about 500 for about $.33 a bullet
2.  Somewhat surplus looking or generic looking boxes with 150-200 for $.50 each
3. Good quality boxes of 20 for $1 - $1.25 a bullet.

How much difference is there between the three?  I don't want to get discouraged right off the bat from bad ammo, but $1 each makes for some expensive shooting trips!  I shouldn't be so worried about the cost of the rifle when a day of shooting, say 1-200 rounds would be hundreds of dollars a day!  Wow. I haven't decided but what do you guys do, suck it up, or shoot the cheaper stuff for most of the day and take a mag or two with the good stuff and take your time at the end of the day on a few targets that you date and keep?

Thanks.

If I'm blasting steel or just shooting stuff for funsies, then yeah I use all the cheap bargain bin stuff (Wolf, Wolf Gold, Barnaul, etc). Does just fine pinging steel, exploding fruit, and killing 2 liter sodas from the dollar store.

At the beginning or the end of the day I get two or three boxes of the really nice stuff (IMI Razor Core), get comfortable, and take my time stretching out at distance or to make a nice paper group.

Hornady Steel Match is interesting since it's about 40 or 50 cents a shot while using the same high-end bullet and powder as the 80 cent stuff. Accuracy suffers a tiny bit from the cheap ex-Soviet primer but it's still a great value for the money if it works in your rifle.

Fairly accurate inexpensive bulk would be Wolf Gold. AE223 is ok for fairly accurate plinking.

PPU match either 68gr or 75gr can be found for <$11 per box of 20. Reliable, clean and more accurate than bulk, but it isn't consistently MOA, close, but not truly match ammo from my guns.

Fiocchi match loads are good to go.

Hornady has several good match loads. The aforementioned Hornady steel match is very good stuff, in both 55gr and 75gr. The brown box hornady match in 68gr is one i like.

Are you shooting bench rest? if not dont bother with premium ammo, it wont make a difference unless you are shooting targets at 100+ yards with a scoped and supported rifle.
If you are shooting benchrest you can afford to buy the premium ammo as you maybe only shoot a few dozen rounds in a range trip, if youre doing tactical shooting you can go through several hundred rounds. When i bring my machinegun to the range i literally bring 1,000+ rounds of ammo with me.

I know you dont want to mail order but it really is worth the hassle as its WAY cheaper than buying 1-2 boxes at a time locally.

This the site i usually use as they offer free shipping. You can get decent .22/5.56 for around $0.30 shipped to your door step.
www.targetsportsusa.com

In this order of accuracy only, ( Not SD considerations ) from my rifles, inexpensive ammo.

1. http://www.sgammo.com/product/223-556mm/20-round-box-223-federal-american-50-grain-grey-tip-varmint-ammo-ae223gtv

2.  http://www.jgsales.com/223-geco-ammo,-55gr-fmj-on-stripper-clips,-50rd-box-p-61956.html

3.  http://www.aimsurplus.com/product.aspx?groupid=2135&name=WOLF+GOLD+.223+55grn+FMJ

4.  Both PMC XTAC rounds.

I will add that this is 100 & 200 yard accuracy.... try some of all of these and see if your rifle likes them.....buy some XM193  as a comparision ammo, so you can see how much better your groups are.

You really just have to try various loads to find out what shoots best from your rifle.

Identical models from the same manufacturer may each prefer different loads.

My 16" Stag with a 1/9" loves Fiocchi 40 and 50 gr V-Max. Does well with Prvi M193 and 69 gr match.

My PSA 20" with a 1/7" doesn't like those Fiocchi loads. Shoots the Prvi loads and LC XM193 decently. But the most accurate are Black Hills 77 gr SMK. That's expensive though.

Buy a box or two of various ammo that you can afford and give them a try. Your rifle will show you what it likes.

Even bulk XM193 will show you what you can do at 100 yards.

What rifle do you plan to use? Is it capable of shooting groups, or is it a rack grade carbine?

If you have a fair bbl and XM193 bulk ammo, you should be able to do okay at reduced ranges and work your way up while you learn.

A Service Rifle upper, and a lower with a good trigger will get you into the game, but unless you are shooting on reduced courses you should expect to spend about 0.70 per round for the discount stuff and more for Black Hills or match ammo. This covers short ranges (200 - 300) but you will need to load single for 600 yards which is an opportunity to load longer low drag rounds. These are typically hand loads that help buck wind.

All of this is for standard Service Rifle shooting, where the issue is the indian and not really the arrow.

Unless you can do your part in target shooting, it is a little difficult to define the ammo requirements. Shoot what you have using standardized ammo like XM193 or equivalent until you can hold well enough offhand to keep them in or near the black, or till you can hold them in or near the black from the sling. Start there and while you get better you will see where your taste in games takes you.

Good advice. Thanks.

You dont mention your skill level at all. Unless you're already really good... get the cheap ammo, you're probably not good enough for the expensive stuff yet. Lots of ways to improve even shooting cheap steel or M193 or whatever... and you can do what the mil did.. shoot reduced size targets at close range.. reduces the effect of the cheap ammo and still lets you get good. Well at least to a point...

Then if you make that leap and are serious, then I'd say this... reloading. The idea that you can beat Wolf or LC at making cheap 55gn ammo is just a myth. You cant make cheap regular ammo. But when you start looking at $30 a box match ammo... well a lil time, sweat and love can turn some Nosler 77gr pills into some very serious match ammo at a price much less than you can buy it for, though by no means cheap. If that sounds like something you're interested in, head on over to the reloading forum under the Armory tab...

Current 62 grain LC M855 (Federal) seems to be much more accurate than in the past.  Headstamp LC 12 and LC 13 are grouping about 1.2 MOA out of my 16" carbine barrel.  Bulk purchase prices are pretty reasonable.

I mentioned my skill level. It's in the thread title!

I will have to investigate reloading.  I don't know anything about it. I know people save their casings, but the casings that come out of my pistol look chewed up, they don't look like something you would reuse. They often have small notches or dents around the rim. Maybe when you are reloading you smooth out the brass somehow.

How is the accuracy of "varmint" ammo compared to match. Like say Hornady superformance or varmint express?  They have a weird tip to help spread on impact and I'm not sure how soft it is but I would wonder if it couldn't get damaged hurting the aerodynamics.

I started reloading in mid 2013 and haven't looked back. I now load all my match .223, match .308, some .223 hunting loads and some 9mm. I save all my brass and pick up good brass. I started with a RCBS rock chucker supreme kit. It is affordable and you can recover costs quickly with match ammo. Ex: .308 match is >$1 per shot of factory vs $0.50-$.60 per round hand loaded. The first 600 match .308 loaded will pay for the reloading press kit. I save even more per shot will .223 match.

The lighter match and varmint ammo can be very accurate, especially within a 200 yards. I like the AE.223 50gr gray tipped. However, I like the heavier bullets, 75-77 OTMs, past 200 yards especially against the wind. Varmint is accurate and good against small game, but varmint bullets are not a good idea for self defense. Varmint bullets expand so quickly they might not get to the vitals of a bad guy to stop him. Self defense ammo is made to penetrate well into the internals, 12" or so, to get to vitals and expand properly to disrupt the vitals. Google Dr. Gary Roberts. He has written many times about this topic.

If you're a beginner, just get inexpensive bulk 55 grain FMJ ammo.  Then practice for a year.  When you can consistently ring a 12 inch gong at 200 yards from prone, sitting, kneeling, and standing, then it will be time to look for match grade ammo.  I shoot 200 yard Service Rifle matches with guys who just use Lake City XM193, and shoot very well with it.

I agree with a lot of what was posted above.  Try some Wolf Gold in your rifle and see if it is "accurate enough" and if your barrel likes it.  Then learn to shoot by practicing multiple disciplines.

If you are like most shooters, and primarily going to play from a bench at 100yds, then there ARE some diamonds in the rough, there you can find sub-MOA capable ammunition for a LOT less than "match grade" stuff.

Some examples in the past:

Walmart - Winchester white box 45gr HP varmint ammo, crazy accurate.  Very hard to find these days and overpriced when you do find it.
Remington 50gr HP UMC.  I have shot many 1000's of these and they can be quite good. You can still find this, along with American Eagle flavor of the same stuff.
Black Hills 52gr blue box in the past was a great deal, but it is like unicorns these days.
Hornady 55gr and 75gr HP steel match.  That stuff was 33-40 cents a round and AWESOME before the hysteria.  Hornady got way behind, hoping they catch up and keep making this good practice ammo for a great price.

In 55gr FMJ bulk, Wolf Gold has been showing promise to be very accurate in some barrels, but they could make one simple change and this could go away or vary batch to batch.  Never know.

All of this stuff above was less than 50 cents a round.

Right now there is a CRAZY good deal on the 77SMK stuff from CBC very close to 50 cents a round:  http://palmettostatearmory.com/index.php/ammunition/rifle-ammunition/223-5-56/cbc-5-56mm-nato-77gr-otm-hpbt-ammunition-50rds-cbc556c.html

Considering that a 77gr SMK costs 24 cents a bullet on a good day, that ammo is a steal, but I don't have any first had experience how accurate it is.

Hornady pratice ammo and or steel match.

I have seen PMC Bronze pretty reasonable lately.

Keep your bulk purchases for online shopping, locally I don't have the low price, but YMMV.

I like Silver Bear and MFS stuff for basic plinkin.  PMC and XM193 as well.  Just don't shoot steel with bimetal rounds like the Bear offerings.

Depends on twist rate of your rifling as to how heavy of a bullet you can stabilize. The heavier the better for increased Ballistic Coefficient. Find the highest BC bullet you can find. Eliminate equipment error and then focus on user error. Each individual rifle will "Like" a specific load the best....find that load and practice with it. Remember, 1 MOA at 100 yds is roughly a 1 sq inch area...1MOA at 200 yds is roughly a 2 sq inch area, 1 MOA at 300 yds = 3 sq inches, etc. Most AR's can achieve sub MOA precision using the right loads for that specific rifle..The single most important upgrade you can do to get the most accuracy from your shooting is improve your factory trigger. Get the trigger pull down around 2.5 - 3 # and you will be in business.

Heavy bullets and high BC are good for longer distances.  However, for "target shooting" for groups at 100yds, this does not necessarily apply.  Op did not say anything about long distances, and DID say concern about costs.  Heavy bullets are generally more expensive.  He'd be much better off starting with 50-55gr vmax and 52-53gr match bullets from sierra or Hornady, those are easier to get good groups at 200yds and less in my experience and cost a lot less.

Area57, what part of Oregon ? Are you a member at Tri-County ?