5.56 match savings?

[yeshuascoming]

I’m wondering what you guys are seeing for savings (if any) reloading 5.56? In particular I’m considering reloading some MK262 type stuff. I’m aware that reloading is quite the rabbit hole to go down and wonder if it would be worth my time (based on $ savings alone). What sort of price per round of good 77 otm are you seeing? Thanks

 

[Simonsza1]

Do you already have reloading equipment and components? If not then I’d say don’t start reloading to save money especially for a caliber like 5.56

 

[yeshuascoming]

Do you already have reloading equipment and components? If not then I’d say don’t start reloading to save money especially for a caliber like 5.56

I don’t. Figured I’d ask before I gave it anymore than just a thought.

 

[Simonsza1]

Let that thought be like a feather in the wind

 

[Near miss]

.15 for primer
.19 for a good charge of VV.
So .34 to start.
Then,
.45 for 77 scenar or
.31 for 75 hornady

I have bought few lapua cases but not really shot them. I use sako brass from the range and my PMC brass mainly.

The sako brass seems really good.

Overall, I get pretty good results. I started reloading because over here the the price for 77gr match ammo was €1.1 but then went to 1.3 and no big lots available.
I also knew that reloading fits me like a glove.

 

[DownhillFromHere]

There is no simple yes-or-no answer to the "should I start reloading" question. In addition to the cost of a reloading setup and components, you need to factor in the time required to reload rifle ammo (far more than pistol ammo due to brass preparation) and how many years you have left to amortize the cost of your equipment.

Regarding time required: for precision rifle ammo, these are the steps required. Each step involves one or more pieces of equipment you'll need to buy.

1. Clean brass - requires a tumbler and some kind of cleaning media. Bigger tumblers clean more brass per unit time. I use corncob media in a 1970s-vintage tumbler; takes about two hours to get nicely clean. Note that gas guns are going to spew out dirtier brass and that some people feel that a lot of cleaning is unnecessary.
2. Deprime/Resize/Reprime - Requires lubricating the fired brass, then run the brass through the resize die which deprimes/resizes on the downstroke and allows repriming on the upstroke (some people reprime as a separate step; I never have).
   - The upstroke can also pull a neck-size button back through the neck; some people prefer to use a neck-size mandrel as a separate step.
3. Clean the lube off the brass. Some people use their tumbler to do this, or a separate tumbler. I have my own manual method but it's lengthy; I'm retired so I accept the time hit.
4. Trim. Bottleneck brass grows in length with each firing. I trim every firing. Others don't.
5. Drop powder charge in each case. Scales range in price (for decent ones) form maybe $75 for a good beam scale (slow) to several hundred or more for laboratory-grade scales.
6. Seat bullet.

Left out: annealing brass. Each firing work-hardens the brass. Annealing releases that work stress and makes brass last longer.

Dillon Precision has cost calculators that can help you find accurate per-round costs and break-even costs. You can get component costs from any of a zillion different places and plug into the calculators.

Regarding brass: You don't say what your goal is beyond "match ammo." I bought 1000 Starline cases two or three years ago and I'm on my 8th loading or so for 700 pieces (300 pieces unopened). These are for my bolt guns. I have little interest in gas guns beyond occasional playtime; I don't waste my decent brass for this - I have cheap once-fired range brass I pick up after a mag-dumper leaves. I also don't compete with my .223s; for my match rifles I use better brass like Alpha, Lapua, etc.

Yes, reloading is a very deep rabbit hole. I've been doing it for over 50 years, so my gear has long paid for itself (my newest press, a Dillon RL-550, was purchased in the mid-90s). The longer you do it, the more you learn and save.

Some people love it. I do it because I get best performance from my rifles, but I see it as a chore, not a hobby.

 

[CK1.0]

My thoughts on gas-gun 77gn 5.56/223Wylde stuff is: it's probably better to just to buy it in bulk if it's $1.00 or less per round. The ol' "buy it cheap and stack it deep" mantra.

Chances are a 7T 5.56 or 8T 223Wylde with launch stuff like this just fine all day: https://www.midwayusa.com/product/2090124928?pid=546028

I wouldn't get into reloading unless you were planning on loading for a .223 bolt gun... and if you were thinking of doing that, I'd say just build a 6GT or 6ARC instead since it costs about the same but buys a lot more performance.

 

[mtrmn]

There are many reasons to reload. Saving money ain't one of them.

 

[thedude824]

If you're ONLY interested in loading 556 and ONLY interested in savings I seriously doubt you'd find it worthwhile. Even with the less expensive single stage presses you'd still have a tremendous investment. Before buying my Dillon 750, it took me at least 6 hours total to load 100 rounds. Tumbling, sorting, depriming/sizing, priming, powder measuring (i don't use one of the super expensive electric powder dispensers so I measure EVERY charge), then seat the bullet. Youll notice i don't anneal... so add several hundred and at least another hour or two...
Components
Primers $0.10 each
VV N140 $0.08 per round
Factory 2nd Sierra 77 grain SMK $0.17 each

Now that I have the Dillon and a tool head for each caliber I can crank out 500+ in an hour pretty easily
This doesn't account for having to ream primer pockets on military brass though..

 

[Heretic]

It gets spendy real fast. MK262 load data is all over the place and not all rifles shoot the same load the same size (something you will hear until you die). I have a PRI Mk12 MOD 0 with OCM suppressor - it shoots both the 77 Lapua scenar and the Berger 77OTMs (Lapua brass in both cases) in under an inch. Brass alone is $.75, (in my case at least), 25.2grains of powder (277 charges per pound - $40+/- lb, $.14 per charge), bullets $.50each, primer $.10 each
$1.49 per round x 20 = $29.98. Berger Factory 77 OTM is $40.99 per box in my area, when in stock. You save $11+ tax per box. Dillon XL750 with case feeder = $1,400. $1,400/$11 = 127 boxes of ammo x 20rds = 2545 rounds to load to break even on the cost of the press. After that your cost goes down because you can reuse brass. My math is probably wrong, don't drink and do math - $1.49 x 2545 = $3,792 in supplies alone...not counting re-using brass.

It used to be very advantageous to reload. Now - it's become therapy for me.

Buy $1400 worth of good ammo as noted above and save your brass. One of us will buy it off you at some point.

 

[BuildingConceptsllc]

If you want something else to do, then go for it. I really like being able to have many hundreds of loaded rounds that I know are precision rounds for my guns ready to go. I also like being able to know when I miss it's me and not my ammo. I like shooting tiny groups at distance. I like having all the stuff I need to load several thousand rounds in any of the calibers I shoot anytime I need to(this is a big factor for me personally)

I'm not real fond of the time it takes to do it all, I suppose if I had more time, that may be different. The amount of ammo I could just buy for all the reloading crap I have is staggering. ..

Like so many have said, you aren't going to save money, though it is cheaper to load your own by about $0.30/rnd. You will have better ammo,(though the match ammo now days is pretty good) and shoot more of it, and you will have a new hobby that will take a lot more time than you ever spent shooting so, consider that.


All that said, I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[supercorndogs]

You can definitely load match quality ammo for less than you can buy it. You don't have to break the bank on equipment. You can order a Lee reloading kit with everything you need to get started minus dies and components for 170-200 dollars.

1000 pieces of 1x LC will give lots rounds before it ever "needs annealed." I put that in quotation marks because I loaded a lot of different brass a lot times before I started annealing.

 

[M4orturnate]

If reloading saves you money youre doing it wrong

 

[Cascade Hemi]

I broke even on reloading equipment and components, when I started, on my first 1k rounds of 5.56. You can absolutely save money if you want to.

 

[rdinak]

The rabbit hole is deep. If you get to the opportunity to load on someone’s Dillon please do so. The experience may help you decide.

 

[MarshallDodge]

I started reloading in the early 90s and have since paid for my equipment many times over. Right now, components have skyrocketed, but I see them slowly starting to come down. It may be a good time to jump in.

With the components I purchased before the panic started, I'm loading mk262 for 24 cpr using sorted range pickup brass. I don't save any money because I shoot 2-3X more than if I bought ammo

I think the biggest thing I like about reloading is the ability to make custom ammo, and to have complete control of the quality of my product.