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My reloading is fun and the expense depends on what I am trying to build in a 308. There are spendy match components that take time and money to assemble or a man might build hunting rounds with specialized bullets that ain't cheap.

I get a wild hair to have fun and build 308 ammo that fires 223 bullets. The build is really fun and the shooting a lot cheaper and it tickles the hell out of you to drive a 223 bullet out of your 308 at 3000 fps.
Not to doubt your findings, I'm sure they're going much faster than 3k. .308 uses roughly 20 more grains of powder and you're getting 3k out of an of the shelf AR with .223 already
 
Not to doubt your findings, I'm sure they're going much faster than 3k. .308 uses roughly 20 more grains of powder and you're getting 3k out of an of the shelf AR with .223 already
I follow the loading data the sabot company puts out and use the low start. Haven't run them over my chronic yet because I am building loads in other calibers to and want to test them all at same time.

What is good is useing less expensive bullets while still keeping familiar with the rifle.
 
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I have never hunted with a cartridge bought from a store (22lr is the exception) nor will I. Sure, reloading has gotten more expensive, but it's a past time/passion for many of us. No reason to stop just because Brandon is raising the prices of all supplies and lowering our buying power with inflation.

If I go to bi-mart and buy a box of 7.62x51 for $18 and change, then after shooting the round, collect the brass and reuse it (maybe 10-12 times) then I have bought brass for a few cents per round. I still can find power online in bulk for not much more than it was a few years ago, so no huge rise in cost there. Primers, I'm going to pay .08-.10 cents per primer (big rise in cost there) and bullets, I just look for sales online and bide my time for a good deal, oh and buy in bulk. So overall it's still cheaper to reload if you don't impulse buy like the rest of the sheeple in our county.
 
Where do buy yours?
Buy the kit to assemble projectiles in the sabot, its so easy and helps build a consistent round.



You can make mistakes loading these but it won't take much to learn.
 
I bought my .577 Snider cases from Australia a few years back when they were 'cheap' even taking into account the shipping charges from there to here.

They are now around $10 each.

Thankfully, I don't 'work' them, since I use Rob Enfield's [britishmuzzleloading on YT] method with a push-fit bullet, so all they need is a clean-up and re-priming. I have around 150 of them now, and figure they'll see me out, and then some.
 
I've been loading 30-06 for my O3-A3 for decades with a gas checked 190 gr Lyman spitzer on top of 13 gr Red Dot. Costs probably $5/100.
If I want to hot it up I use IMR 4895 which of course costs a bit more.
 
What good is useing less expensive bullets while still keeping familiar with the rifle.
I was of the same mindset for some time, but came to realize that dry firing and mag changes practiced in the garage have value, but they do not incorporate the true recoil or possibility of introducing flinch.
@Andy54Hawken and I were discussing accuracy once and he mentioned his groups were offhand, and they were better than mine from a bench. Made me determined to shoot offhand a lot more. For that, what I consider practice time, I cannot see using 180gr Match Kings, because I'm working on technique.
For the same reason, I'm shooting 55 grainers in my AR15 (9¢ per bullet) rather than the 77gr Custom Comps (22¢/bullet).
 
I've been loading 30-06 for my O3-A3 for decades with a gas checked 190 gr Lyman spitzer on top of 13 gr Red Dot. Costs probably $5/100.
If I want to hot it up I use IMR 4895 which of course costs a bit more.
Sad thing is, the gas checks themselves are now 3¢ - 5¢ apiece when you have to buy more.

Question - can you substitute Promo with that Red Dot? I use Unique and Universal for the same using 110gr plated, swaged lead from Xtreme. I think the most expensive thing in the load is the primer.
 
Consider this your first batch of components and you want new brass. I think it might still be better to buy factory loaded ammo unless you want some fancy brass.
Probably for your original specification of plinking ammo. However, to me 308 is not a typical plinking round. If I am going to shoot anything that has a bullet that is 15-35 cents and 40+ grains of powder, I am going to shoot it to work on accuracy or marksmanship while still having fun making bang bang noises. I will be looking for certain bullets and powders not offered in factory ammo.
 
I was of the same mindset for some time, but came to realize that dry firing and mag changes practiced in the garage have value, but they do not incorporate the true recoil or possibility of introducing flinch.
@Andy54Hawken and I were discussing accuracy once and he mentioned his groups were offhand, and they were better than mine from a bench. Made me determined to shoot offhand a lot more. For that, what I consider practice time, I cannot see using 180gr Match Kings, because I'm working on technique.
For the same reason, I'm shooting 55 grainers in my AR15 (9¢ per bullet) rather than the 77gr Custom Comps (22¢/bullet).
I read too fast and leave words out in my post. It should have read "what is good".

As 30 caliber bullets went up I still had plenty of 22 caliber bullets I bought long ago for 9 cents. Load them into sabots for my bolt action 308 and it's like training ammo but I still get the practice I need without breaking the bank.
 

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