223 Match Ammo

[BeauBeaux]

Is the Federal Gold Medal Match [69gr bthp] good ammo?

It's $399.00 for 500 on Ammoman. That would see me through all 7 of the highpower matches at the club this year.

Looking to purchase instead of reloading.

Is there better ammo to look at?

Is there any cheaper someplace?

Thanks

[Schuetzenman]

$400 bucks for 500 rounds let's see that's 80 censt each time you pull the trigger! :thud:

http://www.champchoice.com/shop.php?respp=10&action=viewpage&page_num=4
500 Sierra Match King bullets cost $86.75 at Champions Choice in LaVergne, TN. That's 17.4 cent's per bullet.

You can get 275 shots give or take 5 rounds out of one pound of Varget powder. Varget by Hodgdon Powder company has always given me sub .5 MOA performance in my AR match rifle. I see Varget listed at $18.50 / lb. or $118 / 8 lb. keg which is only $14.75 / pound. At the keg price each round will have 5.4 cents of powder in it.

Unprimed Winchester brass at the same place is $21 / 100 cases. If you use once fired GI brass you should be able to get cases for a dime more or less. I see Widener's Reloading has once fired Lake City cases for $66 / 1000 cases so that's less than 7 cent's a case. You can easily reload a case about 8 times more or less.

Lastly primers, I see primers are about $29 / 1000 at Widener's in TN. Now naturally there are haz mat fees for shipping the powder and the primers. If you can snag a gun show or even a large gun shop that has an extensive reloading section you should be able to source components that will allow you to beat 80 cents each round by a goodly margin.

So let's add all that up and see what the reloaded price per match round could be if you did reload. I'll round prices up to the nearest half cent for the total.

Bullet - 17.5 cents
Powder - 5.5 cents
Case - 21 or 7 depending on new brass or once fired GI brass.
Primer - 3 cents.
Total: 47 cents for new Winchester brass or 33 cents per round when using a once fired Lake City case. So the cost for 500 rounds with new brass is $235 bucks and the cost for 500 rounds of Lake City brass loads is $165 bucks.

If you don't have reloading gear ..... this alone would cost justify getting some. The difference in price one time frees up enough cash to go get a single stage press, balance beam powder scale, a powder measure and a set of dies.

Here's a link to Midway, they have many offerings in 69 gr. Sierra bullet equipped loaded ammo. http://www.midwayusa.com/ebrowse.exe/browse?CurrentSort=manufacturer_a&CurrentCountRet=20&CurrentManufacture=AnyCompany&CategoryString=653***690***&CategoryID=7519&BrandID=&page=1&KeyWord=&TabID=3&company_select=AnyCompany&search_keywords2=69+grain&sort1=manufacturer_a&PageSelect=1&RecordsReturned=20&PageSelect2=1&RecordsReturned2=20
This is fairly cost effective as they have Black Hills match ammo at 69 cents / round by the 50 round box or if you go whole hog and get a case of 1,000 rounds they have it for just under 64 cents per round. Follow the link to view many others.

[BeauBeaux]

I usually reload for matches. LC cases, 4895 powder, CCI mag primers with the 69 Sierra Match King HPBT on top. Have a 550 and a old Lyman single stage. I'm use to cranking out the rounds.

Was just being lazy this year. Sometimes it would be nice to have a break. It was till you hit me with the .80 for every bang....lol

Will call Champchoice tomorrow for bullets as I only have about 30 left. Didn't know about them, thank you.

I was good to go on everything but bullets, and was being lazy like I said.

First match is second Saturday in March, then every month till July. We skip that and go till October.

I have been corrected in my thinking, thank you.

[Schuetzenman]

LOL, anytime! Check out Widener's at this Link. They have a good variety of .224 bullets. They don't say who they are made by, I think possibly IMI. They carry milspec SS109 penetrater bullets and a 62 gr. HP match type and a 75 gr. bthp match type bullet. Both are a good deal cheaper than name brand match bullets. I honestly don't know how good they are but for the price they might make some good plinker / practice grade rounds up. I am particularly interested in the 75's but they are out at the moment, more due in mid month they say. http://www.wideners.com/itemview.cfm?dir=278|281|727

[308]

Is the Federal Gold Medal Match [69gr bthp] good ammo?

It's $399.00 for 500 on Ammoman. That would see me through all 7 of the highpower matches at the club this year.

Looking to purchase instead of reloading.

Is there better ammo to look at?

Is there any cheaper someplace?

Thanks
To answer your question directly, the FedGMM 69gr BTHP is the best ammo "purchased" that I have ever shot through any of my 1/7 and 1/9 twist AR15s. That being said, I cannot bring myself to pay ammoman prices for that stuff at this point in time. If you are setup for reloading as Schuetzenman noted, you can make you own equal to the FedGMM. In fact, I've loaded 52gr BTHP that is just as accurate at 100 yards as the FedGMM 69gr BTHP.

[BeauBeaux]

308, I've read several reviews shouting the praises on the 52gr BTHP. With your report on them I'll have to try them for the reduced matches [100 yards].

Schuetzenman, looks like champchoice website is down. Can't get it to load up, getting a DNS. Will keep trying.

[Schuetzenman]

308, I've read several reviews shouting the praises on the 52gr BTHP. With your report on them I'll have to try them for the reduced matches [100 yards].

Schuetzenman, looks like champchoice website is down. Can't get it to load up, getting a DNS. Will keep trying.
www.champchoice.com Strange, it was working yesterday. I wonder if they got that Valentines day worm?

On the 52 gr. Sierra BTHP bullet, yep it's a good one for out to 200 yards if you want reduced recoil. On a reduced 100 yard Service Rifle course it really shines in the rapid fire sitting and prone.

[BeauBeaux]

Custom Competition rifle bullets 52gr 1000 in Midway is not bad price. Same company also has the 69gr.

I know they don't say Sierra on the box but sure is a nice price difference.

886-194... 52gr
198-316... 69gr

Know of anyone that's tried them?

[308]

23.5 grains of Varget and Sierra 52gr bthp seems to work best for me. The only problem with Varget is that being a stick powder, it is sometimes difficult to get a consistent volume in the casing. I've spent too much time adding or subtracting one or two sticks to get the perfect load.

[Flinter]

I used to shoot their 308 load a good bit. It was the most accurate, over the counter ammo that I've ever found.

I imagine that the .223 is about the same.

[308]

Not my intent to promote Varget, but 43.5gr varget with 168gr sierra bthp provides the same excellent results as the federal gold medal 168gr match ammo. I use the federal as the standard by which I measure my reloads.