To load 1000 .223"

Starline brass $242.50
1000 Sierra 62 grain BTSP: $310
Powder about 3.7 lbs @ 26 grains per round and @ $45/lb: $166.50
Primers: $90

Adds up to about $810 plus hazard surcharge, shipping and taxes

Yeah, if you weren't all in with supplies from the good ole days, it can be painful.
Just be sure to catch all your brass so the next go-round is about 25% cheaper.

Well, with a range buddy, brass can be free. I bought bullets in Jan, ‘birthday price’ Speer at Midway, a little over $10 per 100. Yeah, nothing fancy, but they work.

Forget about the powder I got from a guy downsizing just before Covid, at $20 a pound. There was a guy early Covid getting out, he sold at $27 a pound.

Even without looking for those deals, one can go with ‘once fired’ brass, though new is easier.

I agree, I’d look for reloadable brass ammo at sgammo & similar & start there if costs are comparable to reload.

I’m buying once-fired brass. The 5k I bought along with 5k I can get from the factory ammo I got is all I need.

Bullets in bulk are .10-.14 each, I search classifieds for these mostly. Primers are always 80$/1k, then I have about 20# of powder but I also shop local classifieds as well.

When I’ve been lucky I’m at about .20 a round, but I’m also relatively new to this and I only got enough supplies for about 5k rounds. Still way better than what I could so factory new.

Buy the Hornady 55gr Soft Point!
A good bullet for blasting ammo with decent accuracy potential.

$128 for some TAC
$120 for some Hornady 55gr SP
$90 for some primers
Brass is not figured nor any haz mat.
With Factory FMJ 223 way north of 550/K
with Factory HP 223 is 800/K or more.....
as with any statistic you twist how you want it to come across.

My reloads are way more accurate than any factory ammo.

I expect that if you are shooting .223 it will be least expensive to purchase commercial ammo. Bad news for me I like to load for a sub 0.3 moa rifle so commercial really isn't an option. Good news for me is I stocked up on components for years before Covid hit and have enough to last me the rest of my life.

If you are shooting anything other than .223 I expect that you will find reloading is less expensive.

With Handguns the Cheapest caliber is the 9mm Parabellum provided you like 115 grain ammo, I do not. For any other caliber it's less expensive to load your own. What really gets me is how much 380 costs for commercial ammo. Because it may be the least expensive hand load achievable.

For Shotguns, shot is expensive and the more shot you load into a shell the more it costs for that shell. Note just 1/8 ounce of shot costs 0.50 per box.

The 12 gauge is the least expensive and a slight bargain for the 1 1/8 grain shot wasters in commercial loads. If you want to shoot 1 oz. 12 gauge it's a tossup between commercial and hand loads and Target shells at 3/4 or 7/8 ounce are all hand loaded because you won't find them in stores.

For the 20 gauge the 7/8 ounce commercial shells are nearly a tossup with hand loads. Load 3/4 ounce shells and the hand loads cost roughly 55-60 cents per box less.

The real savings are in the 28 gauge and the 410. Here commercial loads are 18-20 dollars per box and current cost per handloaded box is 7.56 for 28 gauge and 6.66 for 410.

I've got some good deals on GB for used brass. It's not new starline, but ....

https://www.evergladesammo.com...lets.html?caliber=42

I've used them. Decent stuff.

I paid 30 for my primers, purchased 62 grain bulk bullets cheap, powder was 160 for 8 lbs and I use range brass. my average range session is shooting 5 gallon buckets, old soda pop, clay Pidgeon's but mud puddles are my favorite.

quote:

Originally posted by XLT:
I paid 30 for my primers, purchased 62 grain bulk bullets cheap, powder was 160 for 8 lbs and I use range brass.

Been a long time since I've seen component prices that low. Mostly I just buy commercial ammo, though I've got enough stashed away now to probably last me the duration. When I run out of the components I have now I probably won't buy anymore. Except for a short handful of calibers that are crazy expensive to buy commercial (or really hard to find) like .45-70, .45 Colt, and .38 Spl wadcutters.