It seems that .22 ammo is now in abundance and almost as
cheap as it was before the shortage. Dunham's had 525 rd bulk
packs of Federal 36 gr plated HVHPs on sale Sun & Mon for
$17.99. I thought they might run out but they had plenty. I
bought a few.

I'm stocking up on CCI standard velocity 40 grain only. It's the poor man's match ammo.

I bought 9000 rounds of CCI 40 gr Standard Velocity last summer. Dakota Mart had it for $24.99 per brick of 500. It shoots as well as SK Match in my High Standard Victors and Model 17s, but at less than half the cost.

I buy cheap bulk .22 Long Rifle high velocity to "save" for a rainy day, but I'm shooting standard velocity most of the time these days, lots of it CCI.

I just bought a 500 rd brick of CCI standard velocity for $22.45 shipped with no sales tax and if I can get CCI anything at that price I won't be buying from Remington, Winchester, Federal, etc.

I should take advantage of the recent good prices. But, have enough that much will be in the inheritance “stuff”! memtb

I'm happy to see a brick of .22 LR ammo for under $20 which I thought would be the new normal but it's not as cheap as before the shortage. Pre-shortage the price was $9.99 and as low as $7.99 on sale.

I knew the $10 days were over when I saw shooters paying over $100 for a brick of cheap .22 ammo. Once the ammo companies saw how much some shooters would pay they had no reason to charge less that $20/brick.

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

I agree with those willing to spend just a little bit more to buy CCI SV. Far better than the cheap, inaccurate stuff that doesn't always fire or function properly. Such ammo is never a bargain.

I already have several thousand rds of CCI std velocity on hand. I shoot
it in my rifles mostly. For use in handguns I tend to prefer the HVHPs for
their higher velocity and they often group better than std velocity out of
my revolvers.

out of a short barrel, they are subsonic anyway.

True. Good HV ammo will chronograph about 1050 fps out of
my 4" S&W 18-4 or 4 5/8" Ruger Single Six. About the same
velocity as CCI std velocity out of a rifle.

I have been buying 22 ammo when it is on sale for over a year now. Gotten 500 rounds from 12.99 OTD to just under 20.00 for the Federal 550 boxes. Think I have about 40-50 thousand at this time. But I am still usually shooting the older stuff I had before the big shortage. Granddaughter shot up a couple hundred 22s practicing handgun shooting yesterday. She also shot up a box and a half of 38 CCIs out of the Blackhawk. I feel the bottom is about out of the ammo market now..Well till after the end of the year... I just got a flyer from a wholesale supply house and even powder has taken a big drop. They had BE86 for under 10 bucks a pound. Not a big selling powder but still! And the price of CCI SV and HV was actually higher than you can usually buy it at the big box stores. Get more 22s guys and gals

We'll never know the full causes of the shortage.
However, one upside that it did have was to make room on the market for some of the "entry level" European brands.
For a while, Norma (made by RWS), SK, and Eley were available from retailers like Cabelas. Yes, it was more expensive than the bottom end CCI and Federal stuff, $40-50 per 500 vs $20-25.
But, for my uses, the higher cost was worth it.
To each their own, I guess.
The bummer is that places (Cabelas is quickly topping my frowny-face list!) carrying the aforementioned European brands have now dropped them in favor of the cheap stuff.
To make things worse, so much of the cheap stuff is high velocity, plated or (ugh!) polymer coated.
Again, to each their own.

Oh well, back to mail order....

I buy. 22 every time i visit the gun store, been buying a lot of cci mini mags because my marlin loves em, buy the standard velocity occasionally for my iver johnson and my remington.

Dunham’s recently had Armscor .22lr for $15.99/500. I had no experience with it so I passed. I should have bought a couple bricks and experimented.

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I told you not to use Lifebuoy

Armscor .22LR is kinda iffy from everything I have read. Inconsistent is the biggest complaint.

CCI Blazer gives me great results in my S&W revolvers, Ruger Mk II, Ruger 10-22 custom, S&W M41, and two old Mossberg bolt action 22 LR. The $108 case of 5,000 is gone (1990), the $165 (2005) and $205 (2008) cases have been tested. I have bought MidSouthShooter and MidwayUSA 22 LR ammo for less than $200 a case delivered, Aguila and Federal Auto Match.

WalMart stopped selling ammo locally and I haven't shopped Academy, Cabela's, or Gander Sports.

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S&WHF 366

Avoid the Armscor, I bought 2 bricks really cheap, It has a residue all over the outside of the cartridges, like others say, some must have less powder, make a lighter bang & did not cycle my Glenfield 75 each time it happened, [about 1 out of every 5],which will shoot any HV ammo. Same thing in my Ruger mk2.

European stuff is all I shoot now, the Wolf MT made by S/K. Have a bit over 9,000 rnds and @71 it's pretty much a lifetime supply.

My M41 liked the 'real' CCI SV, the black bullets in 50rnd boxes made by CCI, till it got impossible to find. But did not care at all for the CCI branded stuff made by Federal in the 100rnd plastic cases (or was some years ago, IDK about now). Easy to find, but problematic in the 41.

Anyway, a fekkow shooter told me about the Wolf and that it was not Russian junk but made in Germany by S/K. The M41 loved it and no problems whatsoever, as did all my .22s. In the early oughts found a deal in the SGN where these guys had literally bought a freighter full of it and got 2 cases for $183.60 each, shipped. Had to wait close to 3 months because customs slow walked the inspection. Put it all in ammo cans & climate controlled and it's still as fresh as when it arrived.

At that time it was just slightly more expensive than CCI SV, but when I did a recent price check, my jaw dropped, it has more than doubled in price. But, it is still 100% and I cannot recall ever having a FTF. I'm sure it has happened, but I don't remember having one.

Sure seems that the Europeans (Germany anyway), put quality over profit, or, at least on equal footing. Not so much with American ammo manufactures, wher it seems profit is everything.

Rob

It's difficult to beat CCI SV. In my Model 52, it groups alongside any match-grade ammo. Remember Black Friday is coming up soon, and some places may have ammo on sale. For the last several years Academy has had good sales with manufacturer's rebates. I bought about 3000 rounds of Federal .22 LR at last year's Black Friday sale and the all-in price worked out to be a little less than 0.03/round. They had some very good prices on 9mm and .45 ACP also.

A model 52 in .22 long rifle, must have been a special order.

I'm guessing Winchester Model 52, but Stevens also made a bolt action .22 LR bolt action rifle with that Model number, but the 52C.

I have a Savage Mark II FVT that I restocked with a Boyd's adjustable stock that just loves the CCI standard velocity ammo. I just ordered another 3 bricks from SGAmmo.

Attached Images

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Only a cold warrior

Yes, the Model 52 referenced is a Winchester Model 52B with a heavy barrel and a Unertl 10X target scope.

The "full causes of the shortages" was everyone stocking up thousands of rounds, pure and simple.

John

This... And the people that were buying to sell for 4-5 times the price...

I get great results with the inexpensive Golden Bullets in my Ruger Mark lV, which I use for plinking.

Will that CCI 40gr standard operate semiauto pistols reliably?
I know many like more power, like the Bobcat.

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“Look life in its iron face”

That is completely dependant on the pistol. A new Walther P22? No Way! A well broken in Ruger MK II? Very likely.
Irregardless, you can get CCI Mini Mags ( that will run in ANYTHING) these days for around 5 cents/round if you shop smart
We've had our taste of how bad it can get and now our reprieve. .22 is everywhere and as cheap as it will ever get. Lay it in!
If any gun enthusiast of today, ever runs out of .22 again, it's bad on them.

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Dave

I've never found a semi-auto handgun (or rifle) that did not work properly with CCI-SV. I can't say that about a number of other standard velocity ammos.

I’ll pick up a couple of boxes and find out if it works in mine.
I’ll let you know

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“Look life in its iron face”

I’m sure the mini mags will operate anything that’s operable.
I like the accuracy of the standards, if they’ll work.

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“Look life in its iron face”

The profit margin on 22LR ammo is very low. The demand for center fire ammo was up and the big manufactures cashed in on that. They backed off on production of 22LR and concentrated on the others. The demand for center fire ammo has cooled off considerably in the last couple of years and manufacturers have ramped back up on 22LR ammo production. During the shortage I saw 22LR ammo for sale at $40-$50 per 500 carton. I recently purchased some for $16.00 a carton. Hoarders didn't help the situation but in reality there was just much less of it to go around.

Be careful about stocking up too quickly. I am sitting on 12k rounds of Federal load 790 - the 550 bulk pack they market through Wally World. I had used this for DECADES before the "shortage" with great results. MANY thousands of rounds. The lots which I purchased in 2011, 2012 worked great. The first 2 lots from 2018... see my thread "" They don't make it like they used to (.22 LR)

I have two boxes of it sitting on the hood of my truck waiting for UPS to pick it up to return to Federal for evaluation. I also experienced similar cycling issues with Winchester Super-X from 2015. I am waiting for Winchester to send me a call tag to return two bricks. Interestingly some Super-X from 1990 works just fine. The newer stuff seems to be underpowered.

I got in a case of Mini-Mags in yesterday, tested the and am thinking about ordering a second case. I will at least have some ammo I can trust (in addition to the case of 1990 vintage Super-X.)

Ken

Regarding the CCI SV ammo, the only semiauto pistol I have fired it in is an early Ruger Standard Model, it functions fine in it. Also works OK in several semiauto .22 rifles.

Sorry, but I must respectfully disagree with that statement.
First, you don't make centerfire ammo on the same production lines that rimfire ammo is produced.
Second, the manufacturers were making all ammo as fast as they could produce it, and this certainly contributed to lower quality.
Third, all of the big box stores in my area did not jack up their ammo prices during the shortage. The problem was that there was never any on the shelf as it was bought up as soon as it appeared. I saw high ammo prices at the smaller shops and gun shows. After the first couple months of the "shortage" most shows had plenty of ammo listed at ridiculous prices.
It was no conspiracy at the manufacture level. It was pure fear and greed. Just like the sugar and coffee shortages of the 1980s, and most other so called shortages.
If the big box stores would have simply doubled their prices at the onset, most hoarders would not have been so quick to buy up as much as they could and there would have been ammo on the shelves, albeit at higher prices and the "shortage" would not have lasted as long.
The legacy of the great ammo shortage of the Obama era is the we now are paying more for rimfire ammo because the manufacturers learned that most are willing to pay more. The market is following the basic rules of supply and demand as found in Econ 101.

John

I bought a case of Armscor during the "shortage" for $300 and never had a bit of problems with it. With all the grandkids shooting it out of various pistols, rifles, and revolvers, we never had a hiccup with it. The squirrels never new the difference.

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Kevin in Oregon

Dunham's has the 1400 round Bucket of Bullets Remington Golden 36gr
HVHPs on sale for $49.99. That's the best price I've ever seen on those.

I have plenty!, but ... Note to self: buy some more on sale for a Christmas present from me to me!

I really like not having to worry about depleting my inventory if I want to have a .22LR day at the range!
(which 'should' happen at least once every month. )

I had rarely ever seen any real QC problems with most common .22 ammo until the 'shortage' occurred. I was working p/t at a LGS/Range at the time - and the store had a hard time keeping ammo available for the rental guns and for customers to purchase.

About every common brand we got in had issues then - blown-out rims, many misfires, undercharged cartridges failing to cycle, etc. Pretty disheartening.

I won't use the word 'hoarding', but I have been accumulating far, far more .22 ammo than I shoot since the 1980's. I have more CCI and Winchester Wildcat promo .22 than I'll ever shoot - most from the 90's. Never a QC problem.

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Ret'd LEO
SWCA #2275

I picked up a few bricks of CCI - SV when they were on sale for just under $ 25. They shoot great in my autos. Wonderful groups and good reliability. Unfortunately after only 2 - 3 cylinders full on my S&W 617 the cases start to stick and extraction becomes a problem.

I've been playing with cheap ammo lately. Blazers are my favorite. Groups are tighter than SV and, in my revolver, I can load a few more cylinders before I have to clean the gun. I picked the Blazers up for $19 a brick and bought 3 cases. They are my Go-To-Round for practice.

I saw that Remington Golden Bullets were on sale for 3 cents per round for the .36 grain brass plated bullets. I figured I had to give these a try. Groups are just under 2 inches at 25 yards from the 617 and I can run at least 300 rounds before having to clean the gun.

Federal BYOB were on sale for 3.5 cents a round so I tried them. Again, I'm happy. Groups are between 2 - 3 inches at 25 from a rest and they are very clean. I also get 100 % reliability.

Since I mostly shoot Steel Challenge Matches not having to clean the gun between stages is very important to me.

God bless who ever invented the bore snake. Makes shooting the el cheapo .22 ammo so much easier. 25 to 50 rounds and run the bore snake through a couple of times to knock down the lead fouling and you're right back to shooting. Yeah I've shot a lot of bargain basement Blazer ammo.

For years I shot only "match grade" ammo. But now at my age, I decided I don't need to pay for match grade; so I installed a stiffer spring in my Ruger MKs II and III, and shoot the cheaper high velocity stuff. Remington & Winchester mostly

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John

"Cheapest" .22lr for me, is the "expensive" Eley tenex.

Edit. There is nothing more truely expensive than inaccurate and unreliable ammo.

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Expect the unexpected

I couldn't agree with you more about Blazer 22, it works very well for me and is my favorite non match ammo as well. I am also totally familiar with the same extraction problem you have experienced. For decades I struggled with very difficult ejection. I finally borrowed a 22 chamber finish reamer from a forum member and in less than 15 minutes I had the revolver I always wanted! I can now shoot 100 Blazers(or more) with effortless extraction.

I know it’s been over three weeks since this thread was active, but I was doing some end-of-the-year browsing and came up with I bit of a question. Prior to the “the great 22 scare” several of my fellow shooters and I had settled on the bulk boxes of Federal Auto Match ammo for pretty much all uses in all 22s up through casual competitions. It worked well in my HFTs and K-22 as well as my High Standard Target Autos and even my Winchester low wall and Dad’s Model 52. During the “scare” and after, I accumulated several thousand rounds of then current Auto Match as it became available at “reasonable” prices, but now as I shoot it, mostly in my K-22, I get an occasional misfire.

Does anybody else here use much of this particular ammo, and what kind of results are you getting?

Froggie