.22 Long Rifle

[Sam]

Took my two brothers in law to BPS this past weekend so they could get some hunting equipment to take home to Pennsylvania and I was surprised to see no .22 bricks on the shelves.

BPS guy told us they cannot get the .22 shells which blew my mind.

I don't visit this part of the Forum so I have no idea if this topic has been discussed so if anyone can bring me up to date I would sincerely appreciate the input.

I plan to attend the Richmond Gun Show this weekend to try to find outlets for .22 bullets.

Thanks for your feedback.

[Crestliner2008]

This caliber of ammunition has become increasingly hard to find here in the northeast. Why this is so, I have no logical explanation. I've been assured that the manufacturers are still producing .22's, but they are just not making it to the retail shelves. I found a case of Winchesters at a Dick's store a few months back. Pure luck! The truck was just pulling in as I arrived. They only had 3 bricks on the truck. Amazing!

 

Best thing to do is to let your fingers do the walking. Call around and talk to some sporting club members. Someone will find you some ammo. Good Luck!

[FD.]

not exactly cheap, but an option

 

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/ProductListing.aspx?catid=490

 

I have a small local gun shop who manages to find any ammo I need.  I was told last year by a large chain that there was no .380 within 100 miles.  15 min later I bought 10 boxes from Charlie.  My advice is to find one around you and go make friends.  The owner/operators will always beat the big boxes.

[Wayne P.]

Some places have it but you won't know they do unless you purchase a firearm in that caliber.

 

It was that way when I bought a Ruger SR-22 and I was given a couple of choices for .22 ammo.

I chose 1625 rounds in hollow point.

[clayton86]

Next to impossible to find here and when you do it's expensive I'm talking $80 a brick of 500. Cabelas had 50rnd boxes at $3.99 limit. 3 boxers per customer

[unageo09]

The local Gander Mountain had some this morning. Some Remington and CCI Standard Velocity rounds and thunderbolts. They were running a special on them. They keep all .22 behind the counter and you have to ask for it. Their shelves are practically running over with all other calibers, just very limited in the .22 department.

[Crestliner2008]

I have a small local gun shop who manages to find any ammo I need.  I was told last year by a large chain that there was no .380 within 100 miles.  15 min later I bought 10 boxes from Charlie.  My advice is to find one around you and go make friends.  The owner/operators will always beat the big boxes.

Ya know, I agree with what you said and yet it's totally un-American! We live in FREE country and we can't buy ammunition! This is an abomination. Anyone should be able to buy the ammunition they need at a FAIR market value. Shooters across America need to group together and protest. Unfortunately, to whom and how to protest is like trying to catch fireflies during the noon hour! My apologies for the rant.

[Jeff H]

It's the shooters causing the whole .22 LR mess.  Everybody is in panic mode so they buy everything they can get their hands on even though they don't need it.  I only have 600 rounds left and am afraid to use any to sight in my new rifle.  I haven't been able to get any around here for a long time.  As soon as any hits the shelves, it's gone and you ain't getting any if you aren't standing right there to grab it.

 

If a guy had the money to start up and manufacture quality 22 LR ammo right now, he'd get rich in a d**n hurry!!

[Lund Explorer]

It's the shooters causing the whole .22 LR mess.  Everybody is in panic mode so they buy everything they can get their hands on even though they don't need it.  I only have 600 rounds left and am afraid to use any to sight in my new rifle.  I haven't been able to get any around here for a long time.  As soon as any hits the shelves, it's gone and you ain't getting any if you aren't standing right there to grab it.

 

If a guy had the money to start up and manufacture quality 22 LR ammo right now, he'd get rich in a d**n hurry!!

 

Yup!  Nothing drives a market like irrational fear, which makes the saying that "Those that keep their heads when everyone else is losing theirs" quite relevant in this case.

 

If you read enough gun forums, you'll find all kinds of people who are bragging about the 10's of thousands of rounds they have hoarded away. 

[Crestliner2008]

I must disagree. This shortage of .22's has been going on now for over 2 years. It's not plausible to contemplate the BILLIONS of rounds, having been manufactured during that time, as being horded by we shooters. If that were the case, why are other calibers so easy to obtain? Something else is going on here. I don't know what it is (yet), but I do not believe it is the total fault of shooters hoarding.

[Trek]

  I believe its the stores and the media that is causing all this. Here's an example. I wanted to buy a SIG P238 for my CC. Two gun shops told me good luck and if they could get it then it would cost some where around $1000. One private dealer said sure no problem it would take 6 months and cost $950. I thought oh bull I'm not paying that. Then I stopped at a place to get some fishing stuff one day and thought I'll go upstairs and ask. They must have had a dozen of them. Half hour later I was walking out the door with the gun and 100 rounds for less then $600. What a joke this gun thing has become. Fear has made their hobby cost them a ton of money.

  About a month ago I lost my pocket knife. So I went to this same store to find the Kershaw 1600. So the same store that sold me my gun cheap told me that the metals they make knifes out of doubled in cost and wanted $65 for the knife. Again I though oh bull I just paid $32 last year for it. So I came home and bought it online for $35 shipped free to my home. The sad thing is there were guys buying knifes like crazy when I was there. All of them believing the salesman and buying them before they went any higher.

[DogBone_384]

Next to impossible to find here and when you do it's expensive I'm talking $80 a brick of 500. Cabelas had 50rnd boxes at $3.99 limit. 3 boxers per customer

I don't feel so bad anymore.  .22 LR has been almost impossible to get here in MA for over a year, and when I find it, it's hovering around $50 per brick.  Most other common calibers are in good stock.

[Josh Smith]

I have to disagree.

I am in the gun business and am seeing first-hand the number of new shooters.

It's unprecedented. In fact, I hate to give numbers because they'll not be accurate tomorrow.

Rimfire and milsurp (especially Mosins) is what is selling right now. Mosins have doubled (at least!) in price. It was impossible to find surplus ammo in many locales.

Even a lot of democrats and/or former anti-gun people are now shooting.

Winchester predicted, about a year ago, that supply would not meet demand for about two years. That's late 2015 sometime!

I am looking for my preferred fodder, CCI Subsonic, for hunting. I might have to switch to supersonic and limit myself to 50 yards if I don't find some soon.

I will be doing a custom 5.7x28 or maybe a .22 Epperson Cricket build so this doesn't happen to me again.

Josh

[SPEEDBEAD.]

We had an entire pallet of .22 at our store last week for a new ad that started on Tuesday.

 

By Saturday, even with a one brick limit, the store was sold out. I wouldn't go blaming too many stores for this. As much as I like Mom & Pop stores, they are also able to set their prices to the market.

 

The bricks I was selling last week:

 

Remington Thunderbolt, 500 rds, $22.90

Remington Golden Bullet 36gr HP, 525 rds, $24.99

Federal Match 325 rds $19.99

 

For some reason, the CCI standards were priced at $4.99 for a 50 box. I just take the orders from above.  LOL

[tbone1993]

I found a bunch of it in 325 round boxes, 500 round boxes, 100/50 round cci mini mag fmj and jhp.  It is all about timing and where you go to find it at. The reason it is running out is because people have bought so much of it distributers cannot keep up with the demand. The producers of ammo are still making the same amount if not more. People paying $50 a box are impatient and going to online resources which drives up the online price. The people spending $50 are just as bad as the guys selling it online for $50.

[Lund Explorer]

I must be the only guy in the world that was ever happy to buy a single box of 50 rounds of ammunition.  Maybe its the fact that the only time I pull out my .22 is at the start of squirrel season, or it might have something to do with the other fact that my rifle is a bolt action.

 

Just how many bricks of ammunition does the typical shooter go through in a year?

 

I know that in a few trips to our gun club, I witness the spray and pray boys popping off countless rounds.  I've seen their rifles.  Everything from old school modified Ruger 10/22's to lord only knows what they are.  To be blatantly honest, many of them need to shoot so many shells, because they sure don't have a clue to accuracy.  Then there is the mess left behind.  I've been in charge of mowing those ranges every couple weeks, and in that time the shell casings can be piled up like snow drifts!  I have literally vacuumed up over 30 gallons of casings in a single pass over those ranges in a single swipe.

 

Then there are the guys I've talked to that tell me about how many cases they have sitting at home.  Cases!  It's lead not gold, but to many of these guys you'd think it was.

 

And we all sit around and try to figure out why nobody has any bricks on their shelves, or why when you do find one, they are so expensive!

 

We'd all like to see availability improve and for prices to return to normal.  The only way that is going to happen is to see consumption return to normal as well.  If the spray and pray gang would learn to enjoy the sound of a sting of Black Cat firecrackers going off for a year, and the hoarders would try investing in something with real value, maybe sanity will return. 

 

I wouldn't bet on it!

[clayton86]

I must be the only guy in the world that was ever happy to buy a single box of 50 rounds of ammunition. Maybe its the fact that the only time I pull out my .22 is at the start of squirrel season, or it might have something to do with the other fact that my rifle is a bolt action.

Just how many bricks of ammunition does the typical shooter go through in a year?

I know that in a few trips to our gun club, I witness the spray and pray boys popping off countless rounds. I've seen their rifles. Everything from old school modified Ruger 10/22's to lord only knows what they are. To be blatantly honest, many of them need to shoot so many shells, because they sure don't have a clue to accuracy. Then there is the mess left behind. I've been in charge of mowing those ranges every couple weeks, and in that time the shell casings can be piled up like snow drifts! I have literally vacuumed up over 30 gallons of casings in a single pass over those ranges in a single swipe.

Then there are the guys I've talked to that tell me about how many cases they have sitting at home. Cases! It's lead not gold, but to many of these guys you'd think it was.

And we all sit around and try to figure out why nobody has any bricks on their shelves, or why when you do find one, they are so expensive!

We'd all like to see availability improve and for prices to return to normal. The only way that is going to happen is to see consumption return to normal as well. If the spray and pray gang would learn to enjoy the sound of a sting of Black Cat firecrackers going off for a year, and the hoarders would try investing in something with real value, maybe sanity will return.

I wouldn't bet on it!

All my .22s are bolt action as well actually all my rifles are don't own a single semi firearm. I've got 200rnds left of .22lr cci mini mags. I went threw around 100rnds last year between sighting in and raccoon hunting. We shoot over 100 coons a year so we can use up some ammo in a hurry coons arnt so easy to kill but most the time one between the eyes does the trick.

My 5 year old enjoys shooting and he will burn threw a box in no time. I had to stop shooting with him because I can't find ammo for him.

[rboat]

Despite what some think, ammo, like everything else, doesn't last forever. I think it will be funny when the hoarders pull out the thousands of rounds of .22 they have kept and find that many have long term storage issues. Corrosion, bad powder, bad primers, ftf, fte, etc.

Shoot some, buy more and always have better quality.

I truly do not understand hoarding .22. If  $#%t  hits the fan, .22 will not save you from aliens,an invading army or zombies.

[spartyon8]

Despite what some think, ammo, like everything else, doesn't last forever. I think it will be funny when the hoarders pull out the thousands of rounds of .22 they have kept and find that many have long term storage issues. Corrosion, bad powder, bad primers, ftf, fte, etc.

Shoot some, buy more and always have better quality.

I truly do not understand hoarding .22. If  $#%t  hits the fan, .22 will not save you from aliens,an invading army or zombies.

My biggest question is moisture. For how loose 22s are crimped, I'm sure a TON of ammo will be duds in 10 years.

[Josh Smith]

 

 

Just how many bricks of ammunition does the typical shooter go through in a year?

 

 

There was a time when I was shooting 500 to 2,000 rounds of .22 per week.  This was practicing precision shooting with a bolt action, not burning through 'em with a semi-auto.  Being naturally gifted in neither casting fishing poles or shooting guns, I have to make up for it with lots of practice.

 

The typical shooter will burn a couple hundred in one session at the range.  

 

Josh