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Just purchased a new AR last week and took it to the range yesterday. Between my dad, cousin and I, we shot one mag each and burned through about $35 in ammo in around 3 minutes. I've seen people posting comments about savings on 9 mm, .40 and .45, but what's a realistic savings for .223? Just trying to figure my BEP after purchasing necessary equipment. Also, what's a good starting point for the equipment? Right now, I shoot mainly 9 mm and now .223. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Here's a relative example per 1,000:

1. $62/1,000 Powder - Winchester 748 (purchased in 8 lb. quantity) (Powder Valley)
2. $20/1,000 Primers (Cotton's stash)
3. $77/1,000 Bullets - 55 gr. FMJ (Montana Gold)
Total $159/1,000

Note, I don't include brass cost because I have more than the U.S. Army shot in Vietnam. (An exaggeration, but not by much. )

I'm absolutely sold on Dillon equipment. I have two 650's with one set up for large primers and one for small. I also have the Dillon case trimmer that really speeds up reloading rifle cartridges. (Loading rifles calibers is MUCH slower than pistol calibers.) I also have an RCBS Case Master that's motorized with the case chamfering, deburring tools and primer pocket brushes turning constantly.

Chas.

for plinking you can get russian Silver Bear or Tula 223 for 18-20cents/rd. If you are looking for Match grade rds, reloading could save a lot. And, since youw ould be reloading small quantities a low cost single stage press could be just the ticket.
I am paying 51 cents/rd for 75 gr Match Grade rd from Prvi (useful for 1:7 rifles).

If you really want to go cheap...and don't mind the effort...try the Lee Hand press. I use it for my M1 garand and mini 14. Massively labor intensive but by far the cheapest you can get the job done. I count it as my workout when I resize for my autoloaders. For bolts you only need to neck size and I've cheaped out with the Lee Classic kits. Again, massively labor intensive, but by far the cheapest way to go.

Idle hands are the devils playground so I'm trying to intentionally (and financially) go with the cheapest most labor intensive route. No...I'm not normal. I also like to coil cases of touring #4/0 3 phase feeder.

The only thing that weirds me out, and I've got over it, is pounding on a charged round with a hammer while seating the bullet. Again... you get used to it...

Charles has the prices down where I am, except I use an even less expensive powder. WC844 surplus is what the military uses and this is salvaged from ammo that was demilled. This is a little trickier than 748 because it's bulk grade not cannister so you have to work up your own load data but it's essentially the same as H335. It's $85 for 8 pounds from Pat's Reloading. If you're going to reload a lot of 5.56 this is the powder to get. Of course I bought it several years ago when it was about half the current price so I can reload for very cheep!

Charles L. Cotton wrote:I'm absolutely sold on Dillon equipment. I have two 650's with one set up for large primers and one for small. I also have the Dillon case trimmer that really speeds up reloading rifle cartridges.

I've got a good friend who swears that a lot of folks try the Dillion set up and end up buying the Giraud Case Trimmer.

He says the the Giraud is so easy he doesn't separate his once fired trimmed brass from new range pick ups. Everything gets thrown in a bucket, resized, trimmed, primer pocket swaged and then loaded. Repeat cycle as needed.

He's trimmed over 12,000 .223 cases since Dec. 2010 and swears a Giraud trimmer is the way to go.

~$.016/round is about as cheap as you're going to get given today's prices and free brass. I pick my brass up at carbine matches and the local redneck range.
That Giraud trimmer is expensiiiveee!
look into RCBS X-Die. brass will last longer w/ no retrimming

Charles L. Cotton wrote:
I'm absolutely sold on Dillon equipment. I have two 650's with one set up for large primers and one for small. I also have the Dillon case trimmer that really speeds up reloading rifle cartridges. (Loading rifles calibers is MUCH slower than pistol calibers.) I also have an RCBS Case Master that's motorized with the case chamfering, deburring tools and primer pocket brushes turning constantly.

Chas.

Chas,

How long does it take for you to complete the example run of 1000? I know you are not supposed to rush reloading and I would probably be a lot slower than you. I am just wondering how many round one could reasonably expect to reload given a solid 2 or 3 hour stretch of time at night.

Thanks