AR Sponsor
Posted: 3/28/2003 8:07:58 AM EDT
|
Does anyone have a good reloading receipe for .223? And an approximate cost? Mark |
|
OK, here's the deal (in reference to your other post questioning the cost/benefit) My blasting load uses LC brass ($55/1000 fully prepped and sized from RVOW), Winchester 55gr. FMJBT bullets ($40.50/1000 plus freight from Midway), 26.5 grains of WCC-844 surplus powder from Wideners ($87/8 lbs), and CCI-450 primers (at $19.99/1000 plus tax purchased locally.) That works out to about 15.6ยข per cartridge if I don't re-use the brass, not including my time. (And don't just use that load in your rifle - work up from 25.3 grains of WCC-844. 26.5 grains might be too hot for your particular gun.) If I do reuse the brass it saves 5.5ยข per round, but increases the required labor time to polish, resize, and trim if necessary. This load yields about 2MOA out of my custom rifle. You can [i]buy[/i] Winchester 55 grain loaded ammo on sale at 16ยข to 17ยข per round plus freight. Normally it's 20-25ยข per round. Still a good deal. However, my [i]target[/i] load uses a Nosler 55 grain Ballistic Tip ($30.03/box of 250 plus freight from Midway) and H335 powder ($19.99/lb purchased locally) and in my rifle it will group at .75" or so. The cost per round is about 26.5ยข - but it works in my rifle better than commercial reload stuff that I would have to pay about the same for, or new commercial stuff that I'd have to pay 45-50ยข per round for. The .223 Remington is a special case, being a modern military round produced in massive quantities by multiple manufacturers and to some extent the same holds true for the .308 as well. If you like to reload and have the stuff already, then reloading allows you to be (slightly) more economical, and lets you tailor your ammunition specifically for your gun. But if all you're really interested in is shooting, buy milsurp or Black Hills or such. If you have other guns (handguns, or rifles chambered in other calibers) then reloading makes sense from a strictly economic standpoint. For instance, I also load for 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser. Those cost about 27ยข per round. Commercial softpoint ammo goes for $0.55 to over $1 per round. Match target hollowpoint stuff is well over $1 per round, if you can find it. |
|
Thanks, I priced out reloads using higher end components and compared them to the bulk stuff at Cabelas, I guess I need to compare apples to apples a little more. I have a shotshell progressive and a Dillon SDB for my hand guns, neither of course will do 223. I can buy a Dillon 550 for 330 setup for 223. I'm guessing I'll do that. I am buying a Bushy varmiter w/24", any known good 300meter loads? Thanks Mark |
| I'm still working on accuracy loads, so I'm not going to be a font of knowledge here. Plus, my rifle is a 16" bull-barrel model, so it's not going to be a 1:1 correspondence with your 24" varminter. The twist on the Varminter is 1:9 or 1:8 (IIRC) so were I you, I'd be looking at the premium 69 grain match bullets - the ones you can load to magazine length and still get very good velocity out of. In that case, you're going to want a powder a bit slower than H335 or WCC-844. A lot of the guys like Vitavhuouri powder. Go ask over in the General/Reloading forum. |
|
L.C. cases. 24.2gr H-335 55gr Sierra Blitzking CCI BR-4 primer Murder on crows and Woodchucks. Cost? Can't help ya. It ain't the point when it works better than any commercial load. For volume loads in the M4 for practice and general blasting,I also use the surplus WC-844 from Pat's Reloading at 25gr,surplus 55gr Win. soft points in LC. brass. Primers are whatever is on sale in bulk. Though it is cheaper to use bulk surplus FMJ bullets,shooting steel requires the use of SP's,or the occaisional tweezer ops happens. Good luck to ya! S-28 |
AR Sponsor