223 ammo prices

[deye243]

why would cost come in to loading ? AFAIC there is only 2 reasons to load .

with what it cost to set up properly for loading you can buy a s**t load of cheap ammo

[bladeracer]

why would cost come in to loading ? AFAIC there is only 2 reasons to load .

with what it cost to set up properly for loading you can buy a s**t load of cheap ammo

Any number of reasons.
Some people can't afford to be buying large amounts of centrefire ammo but still want to enjoy shooting, others are shooting as a business and want to monitor and control costs. For me it's just a matter of wanting to save money so I can buy more rifles

The cost of setting up to reload is only as expensive as you choose to make it.
A Lee Loader you can be set up for under $100.
You can certainly set up a press system for under $500 including dies and basic accessories.

Since 1990, when I bought a single box of 9mm, I've bought a grand total of twenty rounds of centrefire ammo, and I don't expect to ever buy any more. I prefer to start with fresh brass.

[deye243]

why would cost come in to loading ? AFAIC there is only 2 reasons to load .

with what it cost to set up properly for loading you can buy a s**t load of cheap ammo

Any number of reasons.
Some people can't afford to be buying large amounts of centrefire ammo but still want to enjoy shooting, others are shooting as a business and want to monitor and control costs. For me it's just a matter of wanting to save money so I can buy more rifles

The cost of setting up to reload is only as expensive as you choose to make it.
A Lee Loader you can be set up for under $100.
You can certainly set up a press system for under $500 including dies and basic accessories.

Since 1990, when I bought a single box of 9mm, I've bought a grand total of twenty rounds of centrefire ammo, and I don't expect to ever buy any more. I prefer to start with fresh brass.

that's about the same here

[bigfellascott]

To me reloading was a natural progression, the cost side of things wasn't a factor in starting to reload, I wanted the rifle too shoot better and I knew reloading was the only real option back in the day so that's how I came to start reloading, it wasn't until later that I realised it was cheaper to make my own ammo (not taking into account the initial set up costs). Whilst I don't do a lot of reloading these days (I only hunt now) which is fine by me as I find it a bit boring in some ways these days.

I like the fact I have plenty of components for the diff cals so I've effectively locked in the cost to around the 1990's so shooting is quite cheap for me and if I need new reloading equipment I generally look at the 2nd hand market first as I can save money there too and pick up some good bargains and if need be I can buy new if I have too.

I don't make any fancy ammo, I just stuff em and shoot em type thing which also keeps the costs and time down which suits what I want to achieve.

[bladeracer]

To me reloading was a natural progression, the cost side of things wasn't a factor in starting to reload, I wanted the rifle too shoot better and I knew reloading was the only real option back in the day so that's how I came to start reloading, it wasn't until later that I realised it was cheaper to make my own ammo (not taking into account the initial set up costs). Whilst I don't do a lot of reloading these days (I only hunt now) which is fine by me as I find it a bit boring in some ways these days.

I like the fact I have plenty of components for the diff cals so I've effectively locked in the cost to around the 1990's so shooting is quite cheap for me and if I need new reloading equipment I generally look at the 2nd hand market first as I can save money there too and pick up some good bargains and if need be I can buy new if I have too.

I don't make any fancy ammo, I just stuff em and shoot em type thing which also keeps the costs and time down which suits what I want to achieve.

Cost wasn't a factor when I started either. I went into town every month to stock up on rimfire and shotgun ammo at Elders anyway and they kept Winchester .222 on the shelf for the fox shooters.
I've always been an experimenter and simply didn't see any reason to buy ammo made by somebody else rather than making my own to suit what I wanted to use it for. And I started with a Lee Loader so start up cost was negligible. Back then it was pretty easy to tune a load to a rifle and get more accuracy than factory ammo provided, nowadays I think it's much harder to improve on the factory offerings. Now if you bought a modern bolt rifle and some factory ammo and couldn't get sub-MoA off the bench straight away you'd have to wonder if there's a problem somewhere.

I love experimenting with different bullets and velocities, so my reloading will be in small batches for testing. But eventually I'll settle on some loads I particularly like. From that point I'll make larger batches of those loads and just keep replenishing what I shoot.

[duncan61]

We have settled on one 80g load for our .243s it makes things simple as there are 3 of us

[bladeracer]

We have settled on one 80g load for our .243s it makes things simple as there are 3 of us

That's ideal if the same load shoots equally well in all the rifles.

[Oldbloke]

Lol. Just watching the news. I want to go to Mosul and pick up all of the used brass. Lol.

[Gamerancher]

Visited the Oklahoma City Gunclub last year the day after they had hosted a service rifle shoot. You would have needed a bobcat to pick up all the brass left behind.

[Lokvo]

I'm saving all the brass casings from my spent factory ammo now (though not setup for reloading yet) just for down the road when I possibly might. Some people mentioning the lee hand press/loader here, did any of you that have this regret the buy after a while and realize you perhaps should've bought the standard press instead? I'm at a cross roads lol.

[Gamerancher]

Lokvo, I'd recommend saving a few extra sheckles and buy the Lee Challenger kit. Western firearms are selling them at the moment for $239. Setting up for reloading don't get much cheaper than that. A set of dies for @ $50 and you are good to go.

[Lokvo]

Thanks gamerancher, I'll definitely check out the lee challenger kit. That's an awesome price!

[Gamerancher]

No worries mate. Can highly recommend them, their mail order service is excellent.