Posted: 4/7/2007 11:10:17 AM EDT
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I got into AR-15s a little late, when ammo was already getting a little costly. I had other rifles that I had stocked up ammo for, but when I traded off my MBR with all it's ammo, I realized that I am now lacking in the ammo department. When I traded, I got 450 rounds included - 150 Olympic M193, and 1 S/A battle pack (300rds) -, so not a lot. I used up the Olympic sighting in and practicing with the rifle. Now I am reloading most of my practice ammo, and ammo for my "stash". Right now, the 2 types of bullets I have on hand are 55gr Hornady V-Max and Hornady 55gr SP, and I am waiting for 500 M193 bullets as well. Of those, what should I use for practice, and what should I keep on hand and reload for my stash? I know the M193 is pretty standard for that, but it's often hard to get, where the 55gr SP are easy to get, but a little more pricey, and the VMax are more expensive (I have about 350+ left, I got them for free), but I don't know about their terminal effects. Thanks in advance. |
I buy pulled bullets and powder from Here. Good service. I think the general consensus around here is to reload your practice ammunition and store some factory milsurp for any unfortunate events that might pop up. I'm fond of battlepacks for long term storage myself. Military ammunition has sealer on them that makes them a bit more weather resistant, and are likely to be more reliable than what you might reload (at least what I might reload  ). I would reload your practice ammo with the same bullet weight and powder type as your factory stash ammo. The same ballistics would be beneficial. I'm sure the gang here will correct me if I misspeak.Rob |
man theres nothing to it, besides a lot of money , but hell if you got components on hand, then you've always got ammo, and properly loaded, it'll be 99% as weather resistant as factory sealed ammo, when I cleaned out my shed last spring I found 50cal ammo can full of 38spl I loaded back in the mid 80's that had been subjected to 20 years of Oklahoma weather changes,cold, moisture, high heat and humidity that shot just fine, of course it wasn't soaked in water either, thats where the sealed primers and bullets part comes in; look in the reloading forum, plenty of threads in there that'll outline cost, I'm still loading 223 with components I bought last year and its running me $84/k to load for near M193 performance ammo, if I had to buy components at today prices, it would bump my cost up to about $130/k, a real plus besides cost of ammo, is that you can load up some of the heavier bullet combos that are hard to find and expensive in factory guise for approx a third to half the cost. |
Well, I already reload, so you don't need to talk me into that. Question is more along the lines of what bullet is the best choice specificallly for reloading for the stash. As in what bullets has the best performance (terminal/accuracy) with the lowest cost and greatest availability? Should I use the VMax bullets for practice, or should they be part of the stash? What about the SP rounds? Stash or use for practice? M193, Same question. |
Yeah, I used it to get a basic understanding of sight adjustment, and to be close to on. Plus as a function check. I didn't want to waste the S/A on that. I have since sighted in with 2 of my handloads -55gr Vmax and 55gr SP-. I.G.B. |
well man, I use the pulled m193 bullets for my general shooting/shtf stash because they're cheap and I like to shoot a lot, I was paying $93/3k last year and they shot just as good as the winchester 55FMJ in my rifles, but I'm kinda partial to the hornaday 68gr match bullet and the sierra 69gr also, I've found the sierra is a bit more accurate, but not by much, and the hornaday is about $2/box cheaper, I use the v-max for varmint shooting, they tend to come all apart when they hit. |
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I hope that this is not a hijack. Given the state of ammo practice, I would be willing to guess that it would cut down on the amount of shooting that we all do as a whole. With that in mind, where are the best place and prices to get components from? especially 55 gr .223 |
I would not use the VMax for stash. practice would be my choice or for future barter. I use the hornady sp's for my go to want to hit where the crosshairs rest load. I believe you should practice with what you depend on when you need it. having shot high power for several years it is far eazier to have one load tuned for that rifle you depend on "across the course" I find my reload's when I maintain proper QC are just as reliable and more accurate in my rifle than any factory loads I can afford.. Crap when I got in to the 44 mag I bought all new components and xtp's and made new ammo for half the cost of factory stuff. I just don't want 3 moa fmj crap when I want to take out the eye of the crow @ 100 yds. but that's just me. as for lowest cost, if it cost me .05 cents more for the round that might save my life I'm not going to sweat the extra $50 per K. so the bottom line is burn up the other crap and bulk buy the 55 gr sp's tune out a 1/2 moa load for YOUR rifle and sleep eazy at night. |
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IGB, A significant portion of Vic and I's stash is reloads that we have done. Of course we have a chunk of factory stuff also to go along with. Reloading gives us the ability to spend a lot more trigger time than buying factory. As to what we stock and stash it's basically to replicate our factory loads. 62 grain for SS109, 147 FMJ to replicate our stash of South African, 123 FMJ to feed our comblock stuff, 115 fmj and 230 fmj for our handguns. Shop around at places like Hi-Tech Ammo, Pats Reloading, Weidners, or Natchez to name a few. Surplus pull down powders can be found. They will come in cheaper than commercial. Unfortunately the supply seems to be drying up. Semper Fi |
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Probably 70% or more of my .223 are reloads. Mixture of M193 and M855 equivalent reloads, as well as a some expensive BTHPs. You might be disappointed witht he accuracy of much of the bulk packed FMJ stuff out there. With prices the way they are for components nowadays, I personally have no intention to reload any more FMJ stuff. With all the time and effort it takes to load the stuff, I think my time would be better spent loading up top of the line "match" ammo. They are demonstrably more accurate in my AR. While "quantity has a quality all its own", I still think that the quality stuff is a better investment in both time and money. JMHO; worth what you paid for it. |
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I love questions like these. Reloading will do one thing for you...provide you with the best possible ammo for your particular rifle. I bought my set up to reload 30.06 for my M1 Garand. Granted this would NOT be the same set that a 5.56 shooter would probably go with, as mine is a single stage uniot and you'd probably be better off with a Dilon set up. What I found at the time I set up my bench...by the way there is A LOT of other things that you'll need beside a press and dies to set up your bench...anyway I found that I could reload using mil surp powder, primers and generic M2 ball that I could reload for about the same cost as buying mil-surp ammo. My reloaded ammo is much more accurate. This was last year. Fast forward to this year. My component costs are much higher than by purchasing mil-surp ammo. Would I recommend setting up a reloading bench...absolutely. If mil-surp dries up...and you know it can, given any political fallout...you'd be out of luck just relying on mil-surp. Although mil-surp for me is cheaper now, I am still laying aside components even at a higher price. |
| Scrounging around in the basement found me looking at a five gallon bucket completely full of once fired .223 Rem-UMC brass. Deciding it was a good time to get back into reloading I figured I would place an order with Mid-South Shooters supply and then pick it up on my way home from work in order to save on shipping and haz-mat fees . According to their website they're either low stocked or out of bulk small rifle primers, bulk .224 55gr fmj's, and 8lb cans of powder. Even components are getting harder to come by. |
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For handguns I mostly shoot 45 ACP. For that I have about 1000rds of cases that I load with quality 230gr FMJ Ball ammo. I'll soon be getting a 5-Gallon bucket of once-fired 45 ACP brass for almost free, and I'll be using that to load with 230gr Lead Round Nose Bullets for dirt-cheap! I'll hopefully be ordering another few bulk packages of Lead 230 grain rounds soon enough. As for rifle ammo. I'll use Russian steel-cased ammo for practice, and a combination of reloads and factory 223 for my AR-15 for my SHTF/Zombie ammo. |
Hey Dave!! Didn't know you hung out over here too! Say hi to Vic for me! Thanks everyone for the feedback. Right now, I have worked up a couple of loads so far, one for my VMAXs and 2 for my 55gr SP. Zero is pretty much the same, just about 1" difference in elevation @ 50 yards. I think I will burn off the Vmaxs during practice, and keep the 55gr SP and 55gr FMJs for the stash. |