Is .223 ammo really getting scarce/expensive??

[Podunkadunk]

All the gun stores I frequent are over flowing with black rifle ammo. There may be shortages from manufacturers that make ammo for the military but there are numerous other manufacturers around. Wolf came out with their Gold line of ammo a year or so ago, brass reloadable cartridges at a fairly good price. At least from what I have seen there is no shortage. Better yet, load your own.

Some .223 ammo sources.

Natchez Shooters Supplies

Here's a food example. Note military suppliers [like Lake City Arsenal] are out of stock, others are in stock.
Show Search Results

AIM .223 .223

223 Remington

Midsouth AMMUNITION * CENTERFIRE RIFLE * 223 REMINGTON

Ditto what Squirrel with nuts said ...wanted to add a few more for ya.

My personal favorite:
AMMOMAN.COM

Others in my "arsenal":

The Armory: 223 Ammunition, ammo, Remington, Winchester, Corbon, S&B, PMC, Aguila, Wolf,

Federal Cartridge XM193, 223 Remington, Metal Case Boat-Tail, 55 GR, 3250 fps, 20 Rd/bx

Cheaper Than Dirt - America's Ultimate Shooting Sports Discounter

https://www.outdoormarksman.com/buyammo.php

Like Diesel said, most surplus ammo is almost impossible to find right now. It's the "best", however being in short supply and great demand because of the war effort in Iraq/Afghan., if you can find it, it's really high dollar. If you can find Winchester Q3131 ( a good milspec type round), that's really good stuff too.

I'll probably get flamed for adding this, but my luck with steel cased ammo hasn't been great, but most all the stuff will shoot fine. Once you find out if your rifle likes the ammo you chose, buy a bunch of it...the day may come when online sales will be a fond memory of the past.

Good luck, post pics of your buy and have fun....BE SAFE!

Podunk

 

[DieselPower]

Lewis
That article was describing what reloaders did in the 50's and 60's. Bullet makers like Speer and Hornady were just getting started and the selection of weights and sizes were limited. A lot of reloaders made their own bullets using swaging dies. As I remember they had dies to iron out the rim and trim the hulls to length. They used lead wire to place in the prepared hull and then swaged the bullet to be. I did not do any of this then but a buddy did and it was interested to watch this thread of excess lead being squeezed out of the top of the dies as pressure was applied. I have been reloading off and on for over 50 years and seen a lot fads..er..techniques and tricks come and go.

Vernon

Been swaging my own bullets for about 6 years now. The first ones I did were made with old 22 rimfire cases. Note the C for CCI on the bottom of the bullet. If your really interested in swaging your own bullets Corbin is the one stop shop for bullet swaging tools and supplies. Last time I checked the .223 or 6mm dies used to make bullet jackets out of old 22's ran around $599.

Corbin Bullet Swaging

Why are 22/250 more than .223. Quantity. Look how many black rifles there are out there compared to 22/250 rifles. There is a huge difference in the quantity of .223 ammunition made every year when compared to the 22/250. More produced, lower price.

 

[Bigbear]

Between my oldest kids and son in law, we go through several hundred rounds of 223 every other weekend. No problem getting ammo, whether ordered through the internet or local Walm, or sportsmans warehouse. I do reload for 223, 44 mag, 45acp, 9mm, but only for hunting rounds or accuracy. Using Hornady jacketed bullets, the cost per reload, is usually about half, using Midwayusa jacketed bullets, less than that. I have found a less than factory fps reload (223) using midwayusa dogtown bullets will shoot far better than my old eyes will. We really enjoy shooting the Bushmaster AR15 223, or we also have a couple Ruger Mini-14 that are just a blast to bump fire (cheap wolf 223) 20 rounds in a couple seconds. Just my 02 cents. BEAR

 

[Skyco]

I reload 223 and 7.62x39 .40 .45 and 9mm. Have recently had some long waits on the 2 rifle calibers...bullets backordered many places. I accidently got really stocked up on 223 at Midway...had 1000 on backorder and went to order a box of 500 that was also backordered so I placed an order for it too. A week or so later got an email the 500 was in so and it shipped. An hour later got an email the 1000 was in too and it also shipped Oh well, actually turned out to be a good thing so I'm set for awhile

 

[Bigbear]

I reload 223 and 7.62x39 .40 .45 and 9mm. Have recently had some long waits on the 2 rifle calibers...bullets backordered many places. I accidently got really stocked up on 223 at Midway...had 1000 on backorder and went to order a box of 500 that was also backordered so I placed an order for it too. A week or so later got an email the 500 was in so and it shipped. An hour later got an email the 1000 was in too and it also shipped Oh well, actually turned out to be a good thing so I'm set for awhile

Skyco, have you tried the Midway dogtown 223 bullets yet, they seem to shoot as good if not better then the expensive Hornady. Actually, if you were to take them both in hand, you could not tell the difference. It seems if I order bullets in the 100 box, 5 or so boxes at at time, they never get backordered, only the bulk pak, maybe there is some method here. BEAR

 

[Skyco]

I don't see any Dogtown in FMJ. That's all I load. The Hornadys are $7.99 a hundred while the cheapest Dogtowns are $10.99 a hundred for softpoint, same price as the Hornadays which are also $10.99 a hundred for spire (soft)point....

 

[Bigbear]

I don't see any Dogtown in FMJ. That's all I load. The Hornadys are $7.99 a hundred while the cheapest Dogtowns are $10.99 a hundred for softpoint, same price as the Hornadays which are also $10.99 a hundred for spire (soft)point....

Your Right Skyco, I just checked the website and that's what the price is. The last time I ordered the Hornadys, 55 gr. spire point they had the list price as 12.99 and on special for 10.99, now it says that is the regular price. That's why I tried the dogtown that were 55 gr. soft point, for 10.99 regular price. I thought when the sale price was off the Hornady's, the dogtown would be a good replacement, for 2 buck cheaper @100. I don't think they offer a FMJ in the dogtown, just hunting bullets. Sorry about that, I didn't notice you were only using FMJ. BEAR

 

[Skyco]

No problem, I'm not hooked on Hornady by any means, just happened to be what was available at the time...I'm not hunting with the 223 so FMJ is fine with me, my last order for 1000 was $64.99 or $6.50 a hundred

 

[sandman2234]

I haven't owned an AR-16 in a while. I bought one, didn't think much of it, and went back to playing with my mini-14's. I do have the Ceiner .22 kit installed in one of them. The kit was part of the deal when I purchased an AC-556 and I just installed it in a semi mini-14 so I could play with it. I can understand Bigbear's fondness to the mini-14, and he would probably understand mine when it comes to the AC-556. When I do go out shooting with it, my pocketbook determines how long I will be out there pulling the trigger. Any bullet can get expensive if shot by the case, instead of by the box.
David from jax

 

[sandman2234]

Dieselpower,
How much force does it take to make the brass conform to a bullet?
I have several air powered presses, and wondered if one of them would work for this.
David from jax