Well, it looks like the days of ammo hoarding are over. I was at a gun auction yesterday and there were thousands of rounds of ammo for sale. I bought 7 bricks of CCI standard Vel .22 Target ammo, at $32.50 per brick. There was 223 by the case and 12, 28, and 410 shotgun shells by multiple cases. Piles of other calibers. Took them over an hour to auction it all off.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

$32.50 per brick is more than I'm willing to pay for that ammo. Others seem happy to pay that. I've been told that at least one of the major US ammo/reloading component companies has had a lay off as demand had slackened off.

Since they know that shooters will pay stupid prices, they have no intention of returning to the prices we enjoyed 9 years ago in the pre-panic days.

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be safe,enjoylife,journey well

One man's sale is another man's hoard . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

I know prices for 22 magnum ammo were outta sight even last year. $15 was a bargain last year with some shops asking $22 or higher.

Possibly - unless they see sales of ammo drop dramatically. I'd say the hoarding sales have largely in part came to an end but the 'red herring' will be with 'usage' sales I.E. sport and weekend shooters. If that falls off then they might be forced to discount ammo. Hard to say.

Lets just say I have a good supply of ammo available, no other adjectives need to be used!


My wife and I were at a gun show yesterday AM, did see a lot of all sorts of ammo for sale. Prices were all over the place!

FWIW this was the first gun show my wife has ever went to

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

Just look at Cabela's there pushing 1600+ rounds of .22 for 5-6 cents a round no limit. This seem like it's going to be the norm now. Guess Cabela's got caught up in the buying frenzy also and are overstocked. Every place online has a abundance of ammo now.

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Psalm 23:4

I wouldn't consider myself a hoarder, per se. I got caught short in 2013 and learned my lesson.

This past year I was buying reloading components regularly, any time I could free up a few bucks.
I wanted to have a good supply on hand depending on how the presidential election and subsequent Supreme Court nomination went.
I haven't purchased any .22LR in quite a while - I've had a healthy supply for a couple years now.

I have slowed down buying stuff lately, with the exception of some .357 projectiles.

For me the litmus test for the ammo shortage being over is .22 on the shelf at Walmart for longer than 90 seconds. (Boxes of mainstream - not HV - like Federal, Rem, Win, etc.)

That's not to say good .22 deals can't be had. I found some CCI MiniMags recently at a pretty reasonable price - and there were lots on the shelf.

Low-end AR prices are dropping like crazy. And online there are great deals on 9mm and .223.

I talked to one LGS owner who essentially said he's about to go out of business. "I bought up all this inventory last Fall expecting a different outcome from the election - and now NO ONE is coming in!" I'm sure him pricing stuff ~20% higher than other places isn't contributing to his business issue at all.

Considering the cost of center fire pistol ammo, $30 for a 500 round brick of 22 isn't bad at all.

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Life Is A Gift. Defend it!

My Walmart, Academy NE, Albuquerque still has no 22.
They have most everything else, but no 22.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

I've noticed more 22 ammo at my LGS's. However, prices are
still a bit high for my taste.

I distinctly remember that in Jan-Feb of 2012 Walmart had Federal Bulk 550 round boxes of 22lr HV for $19.88. I bought a few bricks. That's kinda the benchmark I use for 22lr pricing. Shortly after that, things went crazy. Factor in inflation and that same ammo shouldn't go for more than $22 to $25. It hasn't returned to that level yet.

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NRA Benefactor

I would not say that the days of buying ammo at a good price (sometimes AKA "Hoarding") are over. You should have seen the shelves of the sale ammo line at my Cabela's yesterday. They were breaking open cases and just passing it out.

And I see the same picture at WalMart. They are keeping stuff (even .22LR) on the shelf a little longer (hours, rather than minutes), but it is the brands that I don't want to waste my time on.

On top of that, WM is redesigning the counter layouts, and cutting back on what they carry, to match the smaller footprint of the cabinets.

I suspect that demand for the next year or so is not so much dependent on another election or Court appointment, but another "event" that causes a new crisis in public opinion. There are two sets of "hoarders" that I've seen. One being the guy who wants to have a supply that meets all his future needs, just in case. The second being someone who is buying to eventually sell or trade. That first group will never go away, but the second will get smaller as the immediate opportunity to make a small fortune vanishes (for now).

Something will likely happen that changes the entire market again.

Yep - ammo is not the only thing where prices have exceeded normal inflationary levels. Other sporting activities have also done the same and have pushed them out of the reach for many. I think part of the 'master plan' was to a get ammo prices up to reduce the amount of people shooting. I could be way off but I see no other reason for the massive increases in ammo prices - especially .22.

In central Kansas there wasn't much in our local WM until anout a month ago. There is plenty of CCI, federal, remington and winchester. Lots of 22 mag as well. Three box limit here. I know when 22 ammo is there overnight things haveg slowed down. Tula 223 came way down in price, I like that stuff for shooting where I cant find brass in the weeds. Lots of everything else at good prices but I reload. Some stuff is so cheap it makes you reconsider reloading it all.

I have been stocking up on reloading supplies for several years. Only pay what I am willing to pay, otherwise I just walk. There are deals out there on most everything shooting related.

The High velocity and even higher velocity is every where, but I want 40 gr. "Standard Velocity" (1070 fps). I have more 1250, and 1435 fps (33 gr and 36 gr) than i need but never enough of the "accurate" stuff. I like to see those nice little one hole groups in the target.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

I am not a hoarder.......I learned from my Dad the scarcity of ammunition during WW11.....I am a stocker......For shooting is my sport.....Therefore i keep supplies for my sport......The last 10 yrs of highs & lows(panics) haven't effected me in the least............

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S&W Accumulator

Mike...I'm with you. Experience has taught me to take advantage of deals on ammunition and to stock as much as I think I may need in the future. I do the same thing with reloading supplies, including reclaimed lead. If I see a sale or come on a large, reasonably priced quantity of a caliber that I shoot, I take advantage of it. I would never try to make a quick buck "hoarding" ammo, but we all know that it is virtually the same as cash, if we ever felt like liquidating any of it, we could certainly get our money back, so it seems like a no lose scenario to me.

Just prudent to stockpile ammo when we have the chance.

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

I didn't participate in the hoarding thing. I always have an ample supply. That being said, I was at the local gun store last week and spied 2 full cases of Western brand 30-30 ammo with the 170 FMJ bullets. The ammo is quite scarce and was labeled to be sent to Sing Sing prison armory. The owner said it just walked into the store and he wanted it all gone soon. I am now the king of FMJ 30-30 ammo.

It's still outta sight. Bang Bang Bang Twang there goes $8.00 when I shoot my Garand.

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Paul
Salome, AZ

I don't think we will ever see .22 long rifle ammo selling for $.03 per round again!

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Virtue,Liberty & Independence

Im afraid your stuff is in our stores locally. :-)) Go to any WM, Academy--and find ton of .22 of all types-including .22 magnum etc. I just cant yet afford to buy more than one box of anything--till all debts get paid. After that--im going on a decent spending spree for ammo. Im NOT--getting caught bare-naked again.

I for one disagree: There are untold million of rounds just sitting that hoarder's and other who panicked bought when the prices were high and future availability questionable due to politics. This situation at least for the time being is in the past so I expect we're now in an overproduction situation and additionally there are millions more rounds sitting in the distribution system.
IMO: The laws of supply and demand will take hold and ammunition will return to far more reasonable levels. I for one have enough on hand either loaded or in the form of components to last several years and I expect many others on this forum are in the same position.
Jim

The main reason for shortages--GREED. Ive seen many gun sales not going through because buyer couldnt find ammo for whatever gun he was buying. The greedy who stood in line day after day buying the vast majority of it--caused our sport to lose many newbie shooters.

I go caught with no ammo in 2013--I had ONE box of 9mm for my Walther-2 boxes of 30-40 Krag-no .22 at all. It took me since then--searching for one box here--maybe 3 there--mostly every store was completely sold out before I could get there. Not sure how much I have now in .22? 10,000++ rounds-maybe 1,000 9mm, and maybe 600 or so of .45 and .45 Colt. Not much compared to others-but I got all mine honestly. I might be at a store where they had a 3 box limit-and COULD have bought it every time BUT--when there was another by me wanting the same ammo--I let them have the last box. Made a few good new friends that way too.

I plan to triple the .22 within a reasonable amount of time--have about 5,000 rounds of the other stuff. I gave away a couple thousand rounds of .22 and a few hundred 9mm--to friends and relatives--during that crunch. My stocks dropped some-teachint three women how to shoot-and going out on my own--about 3 times.

Just remember that in a few years the ammo shortages may start again.(Just saying).

Not if you shoot HXP.....Or reload........

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S&W Accumulator

I have over a ton of WW lead on hand and about 25 molds...So with primers & powder I can keep all of my centerfires(long & short) running almost forever......

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S&W Accumulator

Mike,

Thank you. I now have something to show the long suffering GF when she thinks that I am nuts for scrounging the older WWs, and any other scrap lead I can find. I only have four molds, two for the 44s, and two for the 38/357s, and appropriate sizing dies, but just those two calibers cover a lot of my accumulation. Need to get a .32 mold and sizer die to feed my half dozen or so .32s. Can you imagine, with those little bullets, and a couple of grains of Bullseye per round....and plenty of small pistol primers, I could keep in the game for a long time!!

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

During the last (9 year) dry spell for 22 where people did seem to be hoarding ammo, I just kept up with my normal process. Buy 10,000 rounds of CCI Std Vel when I got down to my last two bricks. Sometimes I spent a lot (over 600.00 in one case), but I did prevent personal panic by doing it that way.

The time spent at the range shooting was worth the extra cost. On the other hand, I do shoot quite a few more re-loaded center fire than I did in the days when 22 was cheap and available everywhere.

There are SMOKIN' deals on CCI from time to time if you keep your internet eyes open.

The drought got me hooked on good .22 ammo. Aguila ammo is a fairly close second to CCI IMO. It's my new "bulk" ammo but it always goes bang.

My sizable stash of Federal & Remington has sort of made it's way to the back of the storage locker.