Okay, so the Radway Green .308 from AIM Surplus I pointed to in this post has already dried up. I ordered one case of 750 rounds at a cost (with shipping) of $412 or so before it vanished from the site. That’s about 55 cents per round. Ouch!! I’d contemplated buying another case every other month or so for the next few months, but that’s not possible anymore, as AIM appears to be out.
So now Midwest Outfitters is giving Jim Rawles’ Survivalblog readers first shot at a case of 1,000 Portuguese .308 rounds in sealed battlepacks (at left). Price $675. That’s 67.5 cents per round !??!! Actually more once shipping costs are included.
Is this a deal or a ripoff?
Are Portuguese .308 better or worse than British Radway Green .308?
With ammunition seemingly drying up everywhere, does it matter at this point?
UPDATE: The Radway Green has resurfaced at JandG Sales (right). They’re selling it for $450 for 750 rounds, or 60 cents per round. Shipping will add more.
Radway Green is Berdan-primed, thus not reloadable without effort. Anybody know if the Portuguese is Boxer-primed? If so, it might make more sense than the RG even at the higher price. The Portuguese is reportedly Berdan-primed, too.
And yes, I know I need to start reloading. 🙁
The Portuguese .308 is decent stuff.
That price is insane.
But… better than nothing, I guess.
Seriously though, why not reload? At these prices, it’s the only thing that makes sense. You might as well get commercial reloadable ammunition for that price. I know how hard it is to find commercial .308 brass these days, but hell, the price is the same.
308 brass
308 bullets
I stocked up on brass cased 308 in addition to the GI brass and components a while back before it got nuts.
Man am I a happy camper now.
Even $0.50/round for surplus is a rip-off, let alone 67.5.
The price is high enough that if I didn’t already own a reloading press, I’d buy one and the .308 dies, plus supplies and make my own. Your cost will be well south of those prices. Here’s an example, go to Graf’s website http://www.grafs.com/ to confirm:
1,000 Prvi Partisan 150 grain FMJ bullets = $171
1,000 Prvi Partisan .308 cases = $297
1,000 Federal Large Rife Match Primers = $34
Sufficient Win 748 powder for 1,000 rounds at 43 grains/round = $124 (incl. $20 hazmat fee for the primers and powder).
Total cost = $0.626/round AND YOU GET TO KEEP THE BRASS! Assuming that you use the brass 5 times, the cost of the brass declines to roughly $60/thousand, bringing the average price/round to $0.389/round. You’ll have made your own ammo, and if you’re careful it will be more accurate than the old milsurp being advertised.
The cost of a simple set-up from Lee, including the dies, cannot be more than $150. Saving $0.11/round (off of the no longer available Radway Green) results in pay-back for your equipment in 1,363 rounds (so by the second batch of 1,000 you’re showing a profit). Against that Port .308, you’re savings is roughly $0.285/round, resulting in a breakeven of only 526 rounds. Just from the savings of the other 474 rounds of that first batch, you’ve saved $135. That buys you lots and lots of stripper clips, or a few magazines. Every 1,000 rounds after that, you’ve save another $285.
Shopping around a little and/or buying in larger quantities (maybe with a buddy or two) will cut costs further. Becoming a C&R dealer for $30 will get you some nice discounts from a lot of big suppliers (Midway and Brownells prime among them).
Downside? You have to actually do some work, which takes effort and time, plus clear a space for your set-up. I used the kitchen table until I was married, and now a bit of space in the garage. The press and dies last damned near forever, so it is a one-time investment. Of course, you’ll want a case tumbler and media for cleaning cases, but that’s not much (hint: buy 25 lb. bags of the smallest corn and walnut chips you can at a farm or pet supply store – it lasts for years at minimal expense).
Best of all, if you shoot for accuracy, is that reloading your own lets you make custom ammo for your rifle at about $0.60/round, vs. well over $1.00 for non-custom match ammo that you buy in stores or over the Net. In bolties, you get the added advantage of fire-formed brass, which fits your particular gun’s chamber as exactly as it is possible to do (and which you’ll never, ever see with any new brass, no matter how expensive).
Pass on the Port, buy a reloading set-up and supplies.
Oh, sorry, the Radway Green was $0.55/round, not $0.50 – that means an earlier break-even than my example, 938 rounds instead of 1,363.
Wow. Texan, you’ve convinced me! I have a birthday coming up after Boomershoot; I think a Dillon is in my future.
David, glad to see I won over a convert. Welcome to the Eternal Order of the Brassrat.
I just bought a Springfield Armory, National Match M1A, and the manufacture literature warns against using reloaded ammo. I want to start reloading for the reasons Texan listed but as a novice I am scared to death to try it and escially try it in a rifle that specifically says not to.
Answers Anyone????
Texasred: Springfield is telling you, by other means, that if you blow up your guns by screwing up on reloading, don’t look to them to buy you a new one.
This can only happen in 2 ways: first, you prime a cartridge but don’t load powder. The primer send the bullet 1/2 way down the barrel, and when you shoot the next round through, there’s a rather large and tight obstructiion. Second, double load powder, creating severe pressure problems up to and including catastrohic disassembly. If either happens, the least of your problems is the cost of buying a new gun.
Load carefully. I’ve been reloading for years, and I have never had a problem. I weigh damned near every load of powder or, if I’m doing lots of handgun rounds, simply look at 50 rounds very, very closely under a light before loading the bullets – if the powder looks equal in all of the cases, I load bullets. Of course, I’ll still have weighed every 5th or 10th round.
I don’t reload because I like my cocktails and they don’t mix with reloading. That said, Radway Green is really good stuff. Really good.
With a dital scale, you just weigh the complete rifle rounds for a final check. No chance of a double or no charge round that way. Takes 2 minutes to do 100 rds.
BTW, the USMC handloads for their snipers, and if it’s good enough for the Marines, it’s good enough for me. Springfield can blow it out their hoohoo.
Every manufacturer will tell you not to use reloads in their guns.
And as noted… the real reason why is that there are people out there who will blow up a gun due to seriously bad loads and then complain to the manufacturer.
Almost everyone I know with an M1A reloads. Imagine that. 🙂
I wouldn’t be able to shoot these days if I didn’t reload. Well, not nearly as much.
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