Its cheaper because of all the surplus military brass. It also uses less powder and is loaded in bulk by many outfits like Black Hills ammo. There are a lot of reloaded Military brass which also forces down the price of the regular factory loads. It is however not the long range performer that the 22-250 is. I have both and the 22-250 beats the 223 for long range HANDS DOWN. I also have a couple 25 calibers that are great varmit rounds. 250 Savage from which the 22-250 was made and a 257 Roberts shooting 75 grain bullets at 3500 fps.