[jbat35]

In your OP you mentioned a .22 LR and 12 GA as your only two firearms. Now you say you burned out a barrel on a .243 in 3500 rounds? How fast did it go from shooting decent to shooting worse than 5 MOA? What did you do with the .243 after you burned the barrel out?

Reread my Op, notice the "Currently." I currently own a benelli cordoba and a ruger 10/22. I have had other guns, including the .243 savage that started 1 moa and worked its way to 5, which marked the point I threw a new barrel on it and sold it.

Buying in bulk you'll be looking at $1000-2000 a year in ammunition costs, even for .223 depending on what you buy. Regardless of your living arrangements I'd be looking for a place I could go reload. For less than $1000, you could buy all new reloading equipment and load up your first 2000 rounds pretty easily.


Of course there will be some shipping that I didn't include but even at $800 for your first 2K reloads you save in the neighborhood of $200 the first year. The next 2K reloads you'll be looking around $400 +/- depending on what deals you can find on bullets, powder and primers (buy powder and primers local to save Hazmat fees). You may have to buy a brass trimming tool as well, but .223 brass lasts a long time, plus if you shoot at a public range there is always a ton of it lying around to pickup. If you are seriously going to shoot 2K a year I wouldn't even waste my time buying bulk ammunition, and go straight into reloading, even if my buddies were helping to offset the costs.

University apartments don't allow guns or ammunition on campus, and its not an option. As long as I am getting $4000 of room and board for free per semester, that takes priority to my want to have a place I could reload. Buying crates of ammunition, I can get 2000 rounds of decent federal or hornandy for $600 or $800 a crate. This is for either .223 or .308, but .308 does not match my volume.

Also, in my research, the amount I would save on ammo would be negligible, as when I am out to shoot I am out to shoot well. I also do not have the time to sit and reload that quantity of ammo, on top of other arrangements, and when I factor my time vs. working, it is not worth it. I would need to buy a progressive to make it worth my while.

A 17 grain bullet at 2194 fps in a 20 mph wind is only 8.4"/8 MOA at 100 yards of windage full value. Shooting in adverse conditions and still being able to hit your target can be just as fun as shooting tiny groups IMO. I've shot a ton of prairie dogs and it is rarely a calm day in the towns, doesn't stop me from having fun with my .22 LR or WMR.

Wind here goes from 15-40 mph, and is never constant. At just 20 mph gusts I am looking at a .17 hmr drifting like you said up to 8 inches. If it was constant, and exactly to the side or behind/infront of me, then yea it would be fine. But wind doesn't just flow, it gusts. And 8 inches of horizontal gust is just a LOT, that is a hit or miss on a squirrel or prairie dog.

So far I am considering the .223 and the .22 wmr, both have traits I like, and I like that I can buy a .22 wmr with basically every thing I would like (light trigger, bull barrel, bedded) for 350, where as to get a quality rifle for .223 I will be looking at 700-1200 (no scopes included for either). But the .22 wmr lacks a little in range.


Edit: Well I won a bid on gunbroker for a nice savage .223, so the quest for a caliber is now over. Thanks a ton to everyone that has helped and contributed, every single post in this helped me somehow or in some way!!!