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22lr ammo

LineofDeparture

LineofDeparture

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Feb 7, 2011
330
3
44
New Roads, La
Its been over a year now since the ammo and gun craze. Yet, we still aren't seeing 22lr ammo appear in large quantities as it did 15months ago. I've read articles in NRA magazine with claims of allocation, to articles or hoarders etc.... To me it's all BS! Anyone have any real insight on where all this ammo disappeared to, and the reasons why it is not returning? If like to hear some real testament if anyone has it to offer. Opinions will be accepted and appreciated as well. Yes I know this topic has come up many times in the past, so if you're trolling and want to make some type of uneducated remark, don't waste your time or mine. Thanks in advance.
 
I bought 1000 rds of Win 22lr $49.95 & 500 Rem Thunderbolts for $21.95 delivered from Cabelas an hour ago. They may still may have some.
 
I wish I knew the answer myself :(. I wanna start reloading but unfortunately it isn't worth me buying the equipment yet cause brass, powder, and especially primers are still super hard to find! On a good note my .22 loves eley edge and my go to place has more than enough instock so that's a plus :).
 
Scalpers and hoarders.

I see tons of it at every gun show I go to.

Heck, a month ago, on a Thursday night, I bought a brick of Federal for 23 bucks at Fleet Farm. They had at least thirty bricks on the shelf, I bought one and texted a friend to let him know they had some (it was limit one box). I asked the guy at the gun desk about it, wondering if they were actually starting to get more in now, he told me that they get in several cases every week, usually Wednesday, in this case the truck was late and they didn't get to stocking it until a few hours before. I asked him how long it usually lasted, and he said there was a group of guys that showed up every week. Different ones would stop in the store throughout the day, and whenever something was on the shelf they'd apparently let the other guys know because all of them would show up over the next couple hours. He said that more than once, he'd see a guy buy a brick, then twenty minutes later he'd see the same guy grabbing another brick. He said the people in the sporting goods department tried to stop that sort of thing, but that effectively the 'limit one' meant the cashier wouldn't let you buy two bricks, and that if someone was dumb enough to go back to the same cashier the same day, the cashier might say something.

Anyway, that Saturday, I was at a gun show, and a guy (actually someone that I don't know personally, but know of, as he's always got tables at every gun show in the area) had the same ammo on his table for 90 bucks a brick. And guess what, there were bits of price tag left on the some of the boxes. He'd peeled off enough that you couldn't tell what any of them had been marked at, but the bits looked identical to Fleet Farm price tags...
 
Hitting home (Australia) here now, tried to get some .22WMR at the local and they didn't have any. At all.

Plenty of .22LR but no WMR... damn!

- boingk
 
LineofDeparture said:
American Rifleman Mobile
Click to expand...

This article may very well have some merit to it. Over 100 million gun owners in America - I doubt that this accounts for the number of youth shooters who we buy firearms and ammo for when mentoring them in the shooting sports. If 100 million folks are buy ammo for not only themselves, but their kids as well,,, and the added increase in female shooters (up 46%) - I can start to see a picture of ammo shortages in all aspects of shooting developing. Eventually the bars will rise and lower to equal out to where ammo will once again be available for the masses, but it's going to take time for supply to equal demand. Granted, those that hoard & prep, and the scalpers don't help the situation,,, but neither does the sales of ammo to criminals and illegal aliens, and terrorist running rampant in America. Is it any wonder that 1 in 3.6 Americans own a firearm? I look for this to rise in the future, and who can blame the honest person for wanting to own a firearm and shoot it in this day and age...
 
Two stores here in Oklahoma City have told me the same thing: there are groups who show up almost every day soon as the store opens, and buy all the .22 ammo they can. They KNOW some of them have two or three friends along buying for them, but can't prevent it. They scarf up damn near everything, then resell it.

Add that to people just trying to find a few boxes for shooting, and the people thinking "I'm NEVER going to get caught short again!", and it evaporates from the shelves.
 
I have had some luck lately at the local Wal Mart. I have three .22s in the house a 10-22 takedown, a Remington 572 Fieldmaster and an AR-7. So one usually goes with me to the range. I almost gave up on Wal Mart until I found a site called ammocan.net. Keep an eye on this and you will probably find it at Wal Mart. But you do have to get there at the right time because when they put ammo on the shelf it is gone very fast.
 
Midway USA will let you backorder some 22 LR ammo right now at pretty reasonable prices. It may take a bit to show up, but could save you many trips to the local shops you purchase ammo from along with the frustration that comes along when you see the empty ammo shelves.
 
RMW said:
Midway USA will let you backorder some 22 LR ammo right now at pretty reasonable prices. It may take a bit to show up, but could save you many trips to the local shops you purchase ammo from along with the frustration that comes along when you see the empty ammo shelves.
Click to expand...

I just put 9K rounds of .22 on backorder last week. 4K should be here in Febuary and the other 5K in May, just have to wait and see I guess.
 
Rimfire has always been my bread and butter because I'm a cheap bastard who often only has access to 100 yards or less. . In KC we are seeing some hit and miss at Walmart, Cabelas, and Bass Pro. Some gun stores alway have some but at inflated prices I won't pay. I'm definitely one of those "I'll never get caught low again" people. I could foresee the assault weapon politics as a consequence of Sandy Hook, but this 22 shortage blindsided the shit out of me.
 
Benito Clandestine said:
Rimfire has always been my bread and butter because I'm a cheap bastard who often only has access to 100 yards or less. . In KC we are seeing some hit and miss at Walmart, Cabelas, and Bass Pro. Some gun stores alway have some but at inflated prices I won't pay. I'm definitely one of those "I'll never get caught low again" people. I could foresee the assault weapon politics as a consequence of Sandy Hook, but this 22 shortage blindsided the shit out of me.
Click to expand...

Same here I never thought this would affect 22 LR especially match ammo! Who the fuck in there right mind is hoarding match ammo costing $10-$20 a box lmao?
 
I'm sure there are some hoarders out there, but there are also TONS of new shooters. New shooters tend to shoot a lot of 22LR at first, so that is creating record demand. Add the bad economy onto that, and the desire for cheap ammo goes up as well. It's a perfect storm.
 
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In the past year and a couple months I have been in Walmart at least once a week picking up household items. In that time I have seen .22 ammo twice! one time I got three 50 round boxes of CCI and the other time because my wife was there..I got six bricks. On Thanksgiving night I stood in line at the local Dicks to buy a brick of ammo on sale for 19.99. Dicks went through ten cases of ammo in less than five minutes. There were more guys there to buy ammo than there were to buy guns LOL..Took the wife with me that time too. Obviously the store planned ahead and had ammo as a lead in item. So it has to be in the supply chain. However they could have sold 100 cases in the same time frame.

Other than that... the only ammo I have seen is ammo that has been marked up up several times the original price. Just crazy but I will say the guys at the local gun shows are not selling anything priced at $60 a brick so it must be starting to improve a little.
 
The way prices on .22 are going up, it will be cheaper to buy .223 ammo.
 
.223 was 750.00> 6 months ago and now is under 400.00 in many places. I think that soon we will see the .22 pricing trend down to an average of around the previous pricing plus 15-20%.
 
I think Ruger shares a lot of the blame, not saying its bad, but that's my outlook.

I shoot a lot of action style of matches, and "mouse gun" action shooting is getting quite popular. I normally like bolt guns for 22 shooting but I can't compete using my 5 round CZ 452 against the Ruger 10/22.

Look how popular they are now days. Look at all the options, and multi round magazines. I broke down and got one. Added the 25 round mags. Scope, trigger, Yup I got on the band wagon. Then you throw in items suck as the Champion 10-22 Mag loader. A few cranks of the knob and the 25 rounder is full. Those sucker eat ammo.

Not only that but I switched from my Model 18 Smith to the Ruger MKIII 22/45, it goes through ammo much faster then the Smith Revolver

Mouse gun shooting is getting more and more popular, the guns used in these sports eat a lot more ammo then the single shot target rifles used in NRA/ISU small bore.

Add to that the huge increase in gun sales, guns need ammo.

Ruger makes good products, but the Rugers eat ammo like there's no tomorrow.

So its Ruger's fault.
 
Asperly Aimless said:
Demand has exceeded supply. No conspiracy theories, no bullshit, just reality.
Click to expand...

Bingo. Stop and take a detailed look at the firearms market...I've been observing the industry from the inside for fourteen years.

We just experienced the second "once in a lifetime" market bubble in four years. In the last five to eight years we've sold firearms to millions of first time gun buyers. Women are buying guns and joining the ranks of "shooters" in droves. The general trend among gun buyers the last decade is buying firearms to shoot (not hunt or collect). We have witnessed the rapid growth and expansion of CCW friendly laws and a massive growth in firearms training. The push among taste makers in 2014 will be "get training".

In the last five to eight years manufacturers have introduced dozens of new 22lr pistols and rifles. A whole new niche in 22lr firearms has emerged in the last seven years...tactical rimfire analogues. Rimfire versions of AR-style carbines as well as rimfire conversions and uppers has been a real growth segment in the industry.

While we've seen all this growth from new consumers and new, different firearms...ammo manufacturers have been plodding along producing rimfire ammo at relatively consistent production rates for the past decade and half. At various times in the last 15 years, there have been gluts of product on the market. Not five years ago, there was a relative glut of bulk rimfire ammo (think bricks of price point fodder) while more premium rimfire was readily available in every supply channel.

Rimfire ammo is difficult to manufacture. Consider the case of Winchester moving their rimfire production to Mississippi several years ago. The engineers predicted they could move and set up the machines in a few months. They believed there would be no interruption in supply. It took just over a year for Winchester rimfire to enter back into production following the relocation. Also consider there a mere three rimfire manufacturing operations in the US (Winchester, Remington, CCI). Everything else is loaded by one of those three under contract or is an import. Furthermore, consider every time loading machines are changed over to a new product a manufacturer will spend a several days to a week on the conversion,setup, and SAMMI tests of the new SKU.
 
Middle Man said:
Rimfire ammo is difficult to manufacture. Consider the case of Winchester moving their rimfire production to Mississippi several years ago. The engineers predicted they could move and set up the machines in a few months. They believed there would be no interruption in supply. It took just over a year for Winchester rimfire to enter back into production following the relocation. Also consider there a mere three rimfire manufacturing operations in the US (Winchester, Remington, CCI). Everything else is loaded by one of those three under contract or is an import. Furthermore, consider every time loading machines are changed over to a new product a manufacturer will spend a several days to a week on the conversion,setup, and SAMMI tests of the new SKU.
Click to expand...

What about federal, are they a contract loader from Remington, cci's, or Winchester?
 
Federal is CCI both brands are owned by ATK. Have been one and the same for decades.
 
When I was buying .22 in 1977, CCI Mini Mag was $20 a box of 100. Gas was 62 cents per gallon. So a box of 22 was about 3 1/4 gallons of gas.

Today gas is about $3.50 per gallon. So the equivalent price of .22 should be $11.29 per box of 100.
 
Asperly Aimless said:
Demand has exceeded supply. No conspiracy theories, no bullshit, just reality.
Click to expand...
Correct, then add the fact the .22lr is the std rd for many world wide to place food on the table as well. The only folks talking loudly about this are new shooters (a lot lately),... those who can't see past their nose,... and those who believe it's all because of someone with both ores on the same side of the boat.
 
After reading the December 2013 American Rifleman article on ammo shortages, they do indeed put the ammo shortage into prospective. We're going to have to ride out the supply in demand for all the new gun owners we've picked up over the last two plus years. I'll try to find the link to the article and post it here. It makes sense.

Here you go;

http://www.americanrifleman.org/mobile/article.php?id=26757
 
supply and demand Smart company invest and meets demand. This is just very bad business. I just looked on midway and they are actually quoting American eagle 22 lr ammo to be delivered 10-14 so don't even think its going to be around then. I have a place that I can get 17hmr for 11.99 a box for the hornady. I have about 3k right now and will just collect this.
 
Well be glad you don't live in ny now. We can't even buy ammo online! There is 0 .22 ammo on store shelves around here. My favorite gun to shoot is my m&p 22 and I can't even use it.
 
Prebanpaul said:
supply and demand Smart company invest and meets demand. This is just very bad business.
Click to expand...

And how long will this "shortage" last?

Invest how much for a a short term demand and then have unused capital equipment sitting idle for many years until the next shortage?

That is not smart business.
 
I think it is fair to say that most small manufacturing industries can't respond well to big spikes in demand, particularly when there are overtones of personal safety/government control involved. The exact same thing during the Anthrax scare when everybody wanted Cipro, or when H1N1 hit and everyone wanted a Flu Shot.
 
A local sporting goods store gets their ammo shipment in on Tuesdays.Their is a line every Tuesday morning and everyone is waiting for 22 ammo.Mostly the same people from what Ive seen.Sure glad I stocked up before the panic.Wish I would have bought some match grade though.Most is just bulk.
 
Turners store has put no .22 ammo sign in there window. Wish this 22 ammo storage would be over....
 
The jack holes in line are generally the ones selling at gun shows. They know the shipping schedules for these stores. The average joe looking on a store shelf doesn't stand a chance.
 
Well it should get better for you guys now that NY has been removed from ammo buying equation in the rest of the country.

Enjoy all the extra ammo fellas. :(
 
pine cone, I guess your saying a short term is two years huh. Guess what you cant tell me if you opened up a whole line or two or three and started putting out the ammo you would not make a profit. If you worried about sitting on it, sell the line when your done. You will still make a profit and that is the name of the game. 22lr ammo is about 1-1.5 years behind right now.
 
What is the payback for expanding the production line?

It is it under a year, year and half, it would be worth expanding.

But what if the payback is 5 years? Would you expand?

I don't know the actual numbers, but think thte CCI/Federal, Winchester, and others HAVE the numbers and considered it. And they are in the game to make money. If they could make more money by expanding, they would.

Another factor, how long to get the production equipment? This is not off the shelf machines. Do the machines take 6 months? 1 year? 2 years? to be delivered after you order.
 
Pinecone said:
What is the payback for expanding the production line?

It is it under a year, year and half, it would be worth expanding.

But what if the payback is 5 years? Would you expand?

I don't know the actual numbers, but think thte CCI/Federal, Winchester, and others HAVE the numbers and considered it. And they are in the game to make money. If they could make more money by expanding, they would.

Another factor, how long to get the production equipment? This is not off the shelf machines. Do the machines take 6 months? 1 year? 2 years? to be delivered after you order.
Click to expand...

pinecone , you better get on the horn an find some ammo
see you have a new barrel coming LOL
i think you will be well pleased with lilja tube for 455

we are stating to see more 22lr coming in to gunshop around here as of late
but still noway like it was years ago
 
Pinecone said:
What is the payback for expanding the production line?

It is it under a year, year and half, it would be worth expanding.

But what if the payback is 5 years? Would you expand?

I don't know the actual numbers, but think thte CCI/Federal, Winchester, and others HAVE the numbers and considered it. And they are in the game to make money. If they could make more money by expanding, they would.

Another factor, how long to get the production equipment? This is not off the shelf machines. Do the machines take 6 months? 1 year? 2 years? to be delivered after you order.
Click to expand...

Berger just announced that they're doubling production by adding 6 new bullet making machines, total of eleven, up from five at the start of 2013.
Apparently some think the need is there!

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/
2nd story down
 
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yoteman said:
pinecone , you better get on the horn an find some ammo
see you have a new barrel coming LOL
i think you will be well pleased with lilja tube for 455
Click to expand...

I have a few rounds of .22 in stock. :)

Yeah, I am looking forward to the new tube.

Not that the stock one shot poorly.
 
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