Thinking of getting a .22...

Shotgun

Shotgun

Joined
Feb 3, 2006
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8,250
...can you guys explain the ammo situation? Haven't owned guns in a while but heard .22 ammo is hard to get and expensive. Why?
 
It was very hard to get last year, but it's around now. Everyone of the 3 - 4 stores I go to have popular .22 now. Slightly inflated prices but not terrible. I buy mostly CCI which I haven't had any trouble finding recently...

It's still hit or miss online, brands like CCI sell out fast online.

All I can say is that in my area it's around. Maybe head to a few of your shops and see.
 
It is coming back around here. Bought three 325 round boxes at wal mart a couple weeks ago. Gunshow had bunches and the prices were not that much higher than wal mart.
 
I still haven't seen any in walmart for over three years. And I look often. The only places that have it are big box outdoors stores with highly inflated prices. Even that is scarce.
 
I've noticed that the Midwest is still running in short supply of .22LR but I don't have a problem finding it out here in CA. It's more expensive than it used to be for sure, but I can still walk across the street to the gun shop (yes, across the street from home!) And buy .22 ammo.

The flip side of that is I have seen .22 gun prices take a dip as people have thinned their fleets of rimfire due to ammo prices. There is always a good old remington, mossberg, marlin, etc on the consignment rack at the shops for under $200 and some around $100.

-X
 
You can readily find .22LR cartridges. All though the "panic" even I was able to keep my stock above 10K cartridges. I never slowed my shooting of .22LR even through the 2013 "panic".

Google "gunbot", open the site and sort by cartridge and price. There are a few good online sources not listed on gunbot. Some ship free to your front door when you buy a case of ten bricks (5000 cartridges) which is the only way I buy .22LR.

Sandy Hook was on a Friday. I heard about it on the way home from work that afternoon. Saturday morning I got on line and bought more two cases of CCI standard velocity and went to Walmart and bought all the Fed AMT they had. Shortly later I sold half a case of the CCI which paid much of my costs for the two cases. I sold all the Fed AMT while standing in line at a gun show and used the profit to buy an NRA EXC Ruger Standard .22LR pistol.

2013 wasn't the first panic for cartridges, powder, or primers, and it certainly won't be the last. In light of that, I have a hard time feeling bad for long time shooters caught unprepared. They should know better. New shooters are a different story.
 
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Also, I love my 10/22 Takedown. Comes with a little backpack thing to carry it around, which has enough storage for extra mags and rounds. I keep 6, 25rd magazines and the factory 10rd in the bag with the rifle (along with other things). Just a fun little rifle.

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I have noticed a big dip in gun prices almost across the board here. I think people bought way to many during the last big scare and are now trying to sell off a few.
 
We had better get any .22 ammo we can find right now. With another recent mass shooting by a mentally ill coward, there is no telling what Obama and his mouth/agenda will lead to.
 
True but I do not think we will see anything with him not having backing in congress by either party. Election year and gun control does not fair well for those supporting it.
 
There is plenty of .22 available. Just don't expect it to be as cheap as it used to be. (What is? Bought a steak lately?) The ammo companies are running three shifts and can barely keep up. One of the problems is the new cool tactical looking .22 rifles. Who can resist these things? (Besides me.) I have seen families at the range go through 500 to 1000 rounds in an afternoon. They don't hit much, but they seem to be having fun.

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I remember my dad quickly selling my Marlin semi-auto 22 when I was about 9 years old to replace it with a bolt action, simply to slow my down lol! But a 550 box of federal was still about $5 then. It was a good thing though, as the fundamentals I learned then stuck with me and are still used.

Ammo is there, maybe take a drive to your local sporting good stores and pick up a few bricks and check prices too.


-X
 
I just took a quick look at gunbroker. There are 15 pages of .22LR ammo for sale. You can get 1000 rounds of good ammo for less than 10¢ a round, delivered. It's not super cheap, but it's there.
 
I went to Dick's sports again today. Remington golden bullets, two boxes of 525 - $29.99ea. :D
 
Still having a hard time finding it locally, but I'm starting to see availability of 100 round bricks increasing. Still none of the 300+ round "value" packs though, and stores that do have bricks in stock are still limiting quantities.

leghog said:
You can readily find .22LR cartridges. All though the "panic" even I was able to keep my stock above 10K cartridges. I never slowed my shooting of .22LR even through the 2013 "panic".

Google "gunbot", open the site and sort by cartridge and price. There are a few good online sources not listed on gunbot. Some ship free to your front door when you buy a case of ten bricks (5000 cartridges) which is the only way I buy .22LR.

Sandy Hook was on a Friday. I heard about it on the way home from work that afternoon. Saturday morning I got on line and bought more two cases of CCI standard velocity and went to Walmart and bought all the Fed AMT they had. Shortly later I sold half a case of the CCI which paid much of my costs for the two cases. I sold all the Fed AMT while standing in line at a gun show and used the profit to buy an NRA EXC Ruger Standard .22LR pistol.

2013 wasn't the first panic for cartridges, powder, or primers, and it certainly won't be the last. In light of that, I have a hard time feeling bad for long time shooters caught unprepared. They should know better. New shooters are a different story.
Click to expand...

And here is a perfect example of why there is a perceived shortage. :grumpy: People buying everything they can get their hands on when they already have more than enough, only to turn around and try to resell it at inflated costs. :thumbdn:

I'm all for keeping yourself stocked up on ammo (I have modest reserves myself, not nearly 10k), but at what point does it become hoarding??? :rolleyes:
 
I shot of 1,500 round this past week. Mind you I wasn't working but 10 k. Would be good😃
 
The 22 rimfire shortage was luke warm just prior to the first Obama election and then with Sandy Hook shootings, all of it disappeared from the stores pretty much everywhere and people that had it or were buying from places like Walmart (camping out sort of ) were reselling at inflated prices.

Availability is much better now and places like Cabelas, Academy Sports, Gander Mountain have been getting it in, but it sells. It just doesn't sell out immediately as a lot of us have simply given up unless we run onto it in our travels. Prices tend to be in the $0.06 to $0.10 per round area where as before the shortage you could easily buy promotional grade (plinking grade)for $0.04 a round.

I heard that Walmart (WM) may be discontinuing selling 22LR, but can't confirm. They never raised their prices as most did. I used to buy 22LR just about every week at WM and developed a pretty good cache. I bought some CCI a couple of months ago at Cabelas, but have not seen any at WM since about December/January 2012. Yes, I know, that was more than 3 years ago. A shortage developed for a short time after the first Obama election, but that changed and normalized. Following Sandy Hook Elementary incident (Dec. 2012) the shortage that followed was different and long lasting.
 
I haven't seen any at Walmart either. I see lots of CCI at the gun shops, so I suspect that Walmart isn't ordering ammo. They have centerfire ammo, but I think that it's stuff that's been on the shelves for a long time. Their prices aren't that great anyway.

I buy most of my ammo from dealers on gunbroker. I have to pay shipping, but no tax so it evens out. 10¢ a round is pretty cheap these days.
 
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