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All down to how many in a year you are going to shoot.  I reload for everything I have bar rim fires obviously and I don't do it because of cost. It means I can choose what bullet I wish to use 99% and 1% I can tune the round to the rifle as I have found that using the printed formula available in various loading manuals, if you stick to a middle of the road load you are talking maybe 1/8th inch diffeence in a group and a fox or even a rabbit ain't going to notice the difference.

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1 hour ago, Vince Green said:

Its marginal whether its worth reloading if you want to save money to be honest, particularly when you are starting out. You are going to need some cases to reload anyway. In the longer term it is more rewarding to shoot your own ammunition but don't think about it as a cost saving.

Got to disagree there Vince.
.223 53g Vmax costs around £1.20 per round

I can reload that same round , to my specs, for 40p

My reloading kit (second hand) cost less than £150, and will always be worth that.
There is plenty of cost savings, and an interesting hobby in reloading.

Unless of course the OP is one of these people that only fires 10 rounds a year ?

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9 minutes ago, Lampwick said:

Mine loves American Eagle 55g and they are only £11.00 a box of 20!!

I appreciate home loading can deliver custom made rounds and can be cheaper in the long run but £11 for 20 and no fuss. 

Give them a try. 

Depends on what kind of performance you are looking for.
When I first got my .223 I tried 10 different brands of ammo in the 50 -55 g range.

To say I was disappointed is an understatement, the best was Sako gamehead with just over 1 MOA , that might be perfectly acceptable to some.

But at least I had 200 cases to reload !
Reloading gives me 1/2 MOA without trying too hard, it gives you the confidence to take those longer shots, and a satisfied feeling of 'I made that !'
 

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3 minutes ago, Lampwick said:

Mine loves American Eagle 55g and they are only £11.00 a box of 20!!

I appreciate home loading can deliver custom made rounds and can be cheaper in the long run but £11 for 20 and no fuss. 

Give them a try. 

PPU is much the same, I think its just gone up to £12 a box since Christmas. Never found a rifle yet in our circle of friends that doesn't shoot well with it

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56 minutes ago, Vince Green said:

PPU is much the same, I think its just gone up to £12 a box since Christmas. Never found a rifle yet in our circle of friends that doesn't shoot well with it

Both my Howa's shoot better than me with PPU (223 and 308) but I am now reloading the cases in 308 really just for myself (although I can knock out a Hornady SST now for less than 80p)

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Be interesting to hear what is meant by 'shoots well' ?
Im not doubting PPU is decent budget ammo, but it really depends on what youre asking of it.

A friend of mine uses PPU factory loaded in his old K98 , he seems quite happy with his 12 inch groups at 100 yards.....

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3 hours ago, Rewulf said:

Be interesting to hear what is meant by 'shoots well' ?
Im not doubting PPU is decent budget ammo, but it really depends on what youre asking of it.

A friend of mine uses PPU factory loaded in his old K98 , he seems quite happy with his 12 inch groups at 100 yards.....

Well thats the question isn't it? My critiria says being able to produce a group smaller than the diameter of the bull at what ever range you are shooting at

That would be more than enough to bring down a fox every time out to 200yds at least

but PPU is not budget, Hornady is budget at 50p or Federal at 55p

Edited by Vince Green
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36 minutes ago, Vince Green said:

PPU is not budget, Hornady is budget at 50p or Federal at 55p

PPU is widely regarded as budget .

Whilst hornady and federal do budget rounds for the plinking market, I'm talking about vmax and ELD type ammunition at a quid plus a round , with other options like Norma usually being even more.

If I'm taking quarry I never skimp on accuracy or expansion properties, just happens hornady works best in my gun.

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Another thing to think about with reloading is you can hold as many component parts as you wish.

I don't live that close to an RFD so it's handy to have a decent stock of parts so I don't need to go and buy ammo that often. (I target shoot so can get through a fair bit). You can also get bullets via the post, so you only need to hold primers and powder.

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17 minutes ago, Burney said:

Cheers for all your reply’s it’s something to think about. How accurate should a .223 be at 100 yards

Ha Hah... I could say as accurate as you can hold it but that would not be nice ...my apologies.  A good 223 should certainly be capable of 1/2 inch groups but I have always taken into account the human input and said that any rifle which consistently shoots sub moa is going to do the job.  I am not talking competitive target shooting as that is a different story entirelybut if you can consistently shoot sub moa from a reasonably steady rest then any fox is going  to be in serious trouble out to 200 but as I have said before,  anything over 200 and the 223 starts to get loopy dropping some 8 inches below zero at 300 so you need to know your hold overs out there and onwards. 

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22 minutes ago, Burney said:

Cheers for all your reply’s it’s something to think about. How accurate should a .223 be at 100 yards

Most gun manufacturers guarantee 1 MOA on a new barrel, so I would say anything bigger than a 1 inch group at 100 yards is unacceptable. To me anyway.

However some bullet types and weights dont suit some barrels, experimenting is the key, read up on barrel twist rates too.

I like to see 5 holes touching at 100 yards from my reloads, I cant always manage it , but I know the gun/ammo combo isn't to blame.

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2 hours ago, Rewulf said:

PPU is widely regarded as budget .

Whilst hornady and federal do budget rounds for the plinking market, I'm talking about vmax and ELD type ammunition at a quid plus a round , with other options like Norma usually being even more.

If I'm taking quarry I never skimp on accuracy or expansion properties, just happens hornady works best in my gun.

PPU is often considered budget but in in my opinion it is just very reasonably priced and good quality.  It is plenty accurate enough for me. It just depends on whether it suits your weapon, and you have your ego under control 😳 - 50mm discs at 150m is good enough with the 223 and 100mm discs at 200m with the 6.5x55 will stop anything I want to shoot. The reality is Roe deer are normally 60-80m. Fox 100-120m At 65p and 86p per shot it really isn’t worth loading. 
 

My Granddaughters can shoot orange clays of a bank at 100m with either the 6.5x55 or the 223 all day long. 139gr. soft point or 55gr. Soft point respectively.

Edited by Fisheruk
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On 19/01/2021 at 21:51, Fisheruk said:

50mm disc and I’m happy.

I would agree with that. The trouble with reloading is that you have to test and develop your loads. When you start doing that its easy to find yourself chasing the end of the rainbow..

Benchrest is different, in America the long range benchrest competitions shoot for the smallest group size. They really do get down to the nitty gritty last detail in preparing their ammo.

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If you're going to be shooting 100's of rounds a year and you can't find a  suitable bullet that your rifle likes then it may well be worth investing in loading gear. Or if you just want the satisfaction of rolling your own. 

My rifle will shoot 1/2 moa at 600yds with factory ammunition. Unfortunately I have to blame the wind. 

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3 minutes ago, Mr.C said:

If you're going to be shooting 100's of rounds a year and you can't find a  suitable bullet that your rifle likes then it may well be worth investing in loading gear. Or if you just want the satisfaction of rolling your own. 

My rifle will shoot 1/2 moa at 600yds with factory ammunition. Unfortunately I have to blame the wind. 

1/2" MOA at 600 yds is beyond my comprehension. Please elucidate.

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Target shooting at Bisley 8 for 10 vbulls. Have to own up it wasn't me shooting, that's why I have no excuse!

It's just shy of 8" across. 

Factory Tikka T3 and off the shelf ammunition. Very good shooter. 

Edited by Mr.C
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