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Reloading costs for my AR

3K views 47 replies 11 participants last post by  soundguy 
#1 ·
I've reloaded many handgun calibers over the years n now I really enjoy shooting my M4 but the price of 223 ammo is nuts. I'd like some help in figuring out what the overall cost would be to reload first 1000 rounds of 223... Powder, primer bullets n buying the brass are the categories I'm looking at to try n understand how much I can actually save. If it ends up to be close to the 40+ cents per factory round then I'll just have to shoot less.... N not reload.
I remember years ago when I could really save big on reloading 44 mag but those days fogged my memories
And now even 22lr is ridiculously priced.
 
#3 ·
ok, how much is your brass going to cost? you should get multiple reloads out of each piece

so lets say you buy Remington brass for $33/100 from Midway
if you figure getting 10 reloads, you can say your brass cost .033 cents each

Primers can be bought for 3.5 cents easily and cheaper

lets say you use powder that cost $25 / pound and your load calls for 20 grains of powder per load
with 7000 grains per lb your cost per load on the powder is .07 cents each charge

Brass- .033
Primers- .035
Powder- .07
Bullet- .12 (just an estimate based on 55 gr FMJ cost at Midway)

add this up and you get .258 cents each

now, I know everyone will chime in here and say they can get this or that cheaper.

I know that, trust me, I'm just throwing in some practical numbers here for the guy to get an idea on what to do.

DB
 
#5 ·
Know your wanting to reload, but you may want to bookmark this for future use...1000 rounds for 329.00...federal American eagle...all rounds for all guns are at this site...I've bought 1,500 rounds for .223 and 5.56 there, thanks to George. They sell in all amounts, starting at 20 rounds..
 
#7 ·
That is where that cost calculator comes in handy. Plug in all those numbers and the cost per round, per 50 rounds, and per 1000 rounds instantly comes up.

1 pound of powder - $28 and you are loading 24.6 grains (last I bought was that amount)
1000 primers - $32 (cheaper if you buy 5000 at a time)
1000 pieces of brass: $80 (I have never bought any .223 brass so I don't know the cost)
500 55 grain FMJ bullets: $62

That comes to .334 cents a round and next time you don't have to buy any brass, of course if you saved your brass as you shot it then the cost drops to .254 cents a round.
 
#8 ·
I pay $29.99 for 1k primers. I use BL-C2 or 8208XBR preferred, at $24.95 and $26.95 respectively. I pay $74 shipped for 1k 55gr FMJ-BT bullets. $42.95 shipped for 1k range brass, it's usually over half LC, most of the rest is FC with a few other manufacturers tossed in there. Load 26 grs of BL-C2, 25.5 of the XBR. Round up to $250 to 'make" that first thousand, then subtract the cost of brass after that to make it $205. Basically from .20 to .25 a round.
 
#9 ·
ok, how much is your brass going to cost? you should get multiple reloads out of each piece

so lets say you buy Remington brass for $33/100 from Midway
if you figure getting 10 reloads, you can say your brass cost .033 cents each

Primers can be bought for 3.5 cents easily and cheaper

lets say you use powder that cost $25 / pound and your load calls for 20 grains of powder per load
with 7000 grains per lb your cost per load on the powder is .07 cents each charge

Brass- .033
Primers- .035
Powder- .07
Bullet- .12 (just an estimate based on 55 gr FMJ cost at Midway)

add this up and you get .258 cents each

now, I know everyone will chime in here and say they can get this or that cheaper.

I know that, trust me, I'm just throwing in some practical numbers here for the guy to get an idea on what to do.

DB
Good fair assessment, and shows leeway .. for instance. if he bought bulk projectiles .. he could go cheaper.. or if he got stuck on primers and had to pay 4 cents each..e tc..

good ballpark!
 
#10 ·
DB Cooper has things about right, it may cost me a bit more or a bit less, I don't buy brass, but his prices are in the ballpark.
sometimes if i start loading a new caliber that i already shoot, if i have been smart i will have been saving any reloadable brass anyway, and should have a stash built up. brass and projectiles are the biggest expense..
 
#11 ·
I pay $29.99 for 1k primers. I use BL-C2 or 8208XBR preferred, at $24.95 and $26.95 respectively. I pay $74 shipped for 1k 55gr FMJ-BT bullets. $42.95 shipped for 1k range brass, it's usually over half LC, most of the rest is FC with a few other manufacturers tossed in there. Load 26 grs of BL-C2, 25.5 of the XBR. Round up to $250 to 'make" that first thousand, then subtract the cost of brass after that to make it $205. Basically from .20 to .25 a round.
If you don't mind me asking gunner where are you getting 1k fmj-bt 55gr .224's for $74.00???
 
#21 ·
if he does, i'm impressed with his copper drawing capabilities. the copper jacket with open back lead reminds me of milsurp 7.62 for tokarevs. I had maybee thought he was sourcing ruskie or ukranian ( ppu/prvi ) projectiles. ( not pulled ammo.. etc.. )
 
#22 ·
I ran across him on some obscure forum post on an unknown to me forum while searching for something else and did some checking as to whether they were legit or not, everything was good on them that I could find. I didn't ask whether he made them or sourced them but from the conversation that I ran across it sounded like he made them. I've also seen posts regarding making .224 bullets using lead "rod" and spent .22 cartridges as jackets but the dies for swaging them look to run around $1k. Yes, I do indeed spend way too much time cruising the internet!
 
#28 ·
I know this is a thread about reloading, but you can buy "factory" ammo at waaay less than .40 a round. Now, your handloads are likely to be much better quality, and that might mean a lot to you. I find though, that I'm usually just plinking with my AR so "bang" is about all I'm looking for.
 
#32 ·
I've shot steel cased as well, the accuracy wasn't good enough to justify even keeping it on hand as last ditch stuff, so I shoot it and reload it with quality projectiles instead of the bimetallic ones they come with and brings the accuracy right up there with my regular brass reloads.
 
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