.22 Ammo Cost History

[CATI1835]

There seems to be a great deal of outrage over the cost of .22 ammo these days. That got me to thinking back and applying a little basic algebra. Bear with me...

In the early to mid 1960's I recall going to my neighborhood 7-11 and buying a box of 50 round .22LR ammo for 27¢, short and long being a cent or two cheaper. I was probably 16 at the time, no ID checks, no questions. I was working part time at the time making minimum wage, $1.25/hr.
When I retired several years ago, i was making about $50/hr, since I was salaried it is hard to compute directly, but that is close enough. Applying the math the equation comes out to this:
.27/1.25=X/50, where X is the adjusted price based on my latest working salary.
Guess what, the math says that 50 round box of ammo, in relation to my pay, should cost $10.80 today.

To make it more apples to apples, lets do this. Since I was just a kid and only making $1.25/hr. let's up the pay to $5/hr. In the early 60's that was a very generous rate of pay. The equation changes to this:
.27/5.00=X/50,where X is the adjusted price for my latest working salary.
The math now says that 50 round box of ammo should cost $2.70. A brick of same that generic, low velocity ammo should cost $27. You know what, if I spend just a tiny bit of effort looking, I can find high velocity ammo for that price.
For those who complain about the current prices, I feel your pain, but it is not really out of line when viewed in an historic perspective. A 10 fold increase over 50 years may even be slightly below the average.

 

[oldfart64]

There seems to be a great deal of outrage over the cost of .22 ammo these days. That got me to thinking back and applying a little basic algebra. Bear with me...

In the early to mid 1960's I recall going to my neighborhood 7-11 and buying a box of 50 round .22LR ammo for 27¢, short and long being a cent or two cheaper. I was probably 16 at the time, no ID checks, no questions. I was working part time at the time making minimum wage, $1.25/hr.
When I retired several years ago, i was making about $50/hr, since I was salaried it is hard to compute directly, but that is close enough. Applying the math the equation comes out to this:
.27/1.25=X/50, where X is the adjusted price based on my latest working salary.
Guess what, the math says that 50 round box of ammo, in relation to my pay, should cost $10.80 today.

To make it more apples to apples, lets do this. Since I was just a kid and only making $1.25/hr. let's up the pay to $5/hr. In the early 60's that was a very generous rate of pay. The equation changes to this:
.27/5.00=X/50,where X is the adjusted price for my latest working salary.
The math now says that 50 round box of ammo should cost $2.70. A brick of same that generic, low velocity ammo should cost $27. You know what, if I spend just a tiny bit of effort looking, I can find high velocity ammo for that price.
For those who complain about the current prices, I feel your pain, but it is not really out of line when viewed in an historic perspective. A 10 fold increase over 50 years may even be slightly below the average.

But, I will still make the effort to find the best possible deals. I have a stock of pretty good ammo (I am weeding out the dirty and inconsistent ) with plinking and replacing it with quality stuff as time goes by. So, I have the luxury of waiting for the price and quality I want.

 

[clang444]

So when you were 16, working 1 hour at min wage would get you 4-5 boxes of ammo (ignoring all taxes).

What's min wage now? Will 1 hour at min wage still get you 4-5 boxes of ammo?

 

[DWalt]

"In the early to mid 1960's I recall going to my neighborhood 7-11 and buying a box of 50 round .22LR ammo for 27¢"

In the 1960s, I don't remember any .22 LR ammo that cheap. In the mid-late 1950s, I remember buying .22 LR for around 35-45 cents, and in the early 1960's, about 50 cents (depending upon brand and where it was bought). I was frequently buying case lots of .22 LR standard velocity ammo (usually CCI or Federal) in the late 1960s, and I remember paying something like 60-70 cents per box, again depending upon brand and where I bought it.

 

[Grayfox]

I hear it all the time. people griping about the cost of .22s. There is no doubt that the ammo droughts of the last several years have driven prices up higher than they've ever been. What really gets me is the folks who say they aren't buying any until the prices return to normal. Uh Bubba, this IS the new normal. Better learn to live with it.
Also remember back to what .22s were selling for just a year or so ago. Scalpers were charging outrageous prices and people were paying it. So prices have actually gone down since then.
I'm no math wizard, but as near as I can figure, about 8 cents per round is a decent price these days. A lot of it is selling for 9 to 10 cents per round.
I own quite a few .22LR firearms. I rarely go to the range without at least one . So I shoot a good bit of .22 ammo. As such, I'm always on the look out for good ammo at a fair price. Its a good thing cell phones have a calculator function because now days I will break down the price to cost per round before even considering buying. These days for me, anything under 8 cents is worth consideration.
Example: last weekend at a gun show one dealer had Federal Auto Match 325 rd box on special for $22.99. that breaks down to 7.07 cents per round. I bought 4 boxes.
BTW: Federal seems to be catching up with their production as lately I've noticed more of their ammo offered for sale than other brands. Here's hoping the other makers catch up soon.
Will prices go down in the future? Maybe, time will tell. But I think prices have pretty much stabilized.
One thing is for sure, prices will never be what they were.

 

[DWalt]

Several weeks ago the local Academy had lots of .22 ammo out on the counter. The cheapest was the Remington bulk pack, I think 550 rounds, around 7 cents per round. CCI was over 10 cents.

 

[6GUNSONLY]

When I got my first .22 at age 11, long rifles were between .50 and .60 per fifty, depending on the source. Minimum wage was about $1.65/hr as I recall. So about 3 boxes of .22 shells for an hour's pay. I know it's all relative, but even then .22 ammo seemed like a pretty good bargain to me. When I got my first job other than farm work in 1974, I made all of $2.05 an hour, and I don't think ammo prices had gone up much since I first started buying it at age 11 or 12. I remember getting 4 boxes of Kleenbores for Christmas one year and thinking I was ammo-rich!

 

[AlHunt]

All of this economic modeling ignores increases in operational efficiency and manufacturing.

 

[amazingflapjack]

Comparison is badly out of proportion, as said above. Comparing your wage at retirement to minimum wage in the "60's" is irrelevant.

 

[Peak53]

All of this economic modeling ignores increases in operational efficiency and manufacturing.

That's what I was thinking. Every other industry is head and shoulders above what they were 50 years ago. I think the efficiency premium is going straight to profit, just like in my own engineering field. Granted, the costs to enter production and for environmental compliance is probably higher.

 

[F75gunslinger]

For those who complain about the current prices, I feel your pain, but it is not really out of line when viewed in an historic perspective. A 10 fold increase over 50 years may even be slightly below the average.

I don't agree with you on this point, not because of the cost, but because it wasn't a slow price increase over the course of 50 years. It was a huge jump over the last 10 years or so . I have 2 bricks of Thunderbolts ( yes I know..they're dirty and not the best ammo, but my P-22 seems to work best when shooting them ) that I bought a few years apart...One has a price of $8.00 on it , the other has a price of $12.00 on it. These were bought in 2004 and probably 2007 or so . So that first box is looking like 1.6 cents a round, the second is at 2.4 cents a round . And those were bought pre ammo drought. That ammo hovers around $.05-$.07 or so a round now , 4 or 5 times as much as before over the course of 12 years.

 

[Inusuit]

When I was in junior high school circa 1956/57, I could buy a box of 50 standard velocity .22 long rifle for fifty cents from my science teacher. That was cheaper than anything at the local hardware store at the time. Oh, and with a note from my parents, I could check out for the weekend one of several .22 rifles that he kept in a cabinet in the classroom. Just couldn't take it home on the school bus.

 

[DWalt]

In the immediate pre-2008 period (everyone knows what happened then), I remember buying a couple of bricks of Remington for less than $15, and the Remington bulk packs were selling at Wal-Mart for around $10. I doubt that .22 ammunition manufacturing technology has changed much in the last 50 years, maybe longer. I have been inside Remington, Winchester, and Federal's plants during the early-mid 2000s, and most of the equipment used on the .22 lines looked to be far from new.

It didn't involve .22 ammo, but in Remington's Lonoke AR plant, they had some equipment there that looked as though it could well have been used back in the UMC days.

 

[fat tom]

I really don't think too many people are complaining about the cost of .22 ammo compared to 1960! Hell,five years ago,I was buying it for $9.99,and sometimes $8.88 a BRICK. That's a BIG increase. What makes it worse,is that MANY people are still earning what they did five years ago. Some are making less. None of the above arguments holds water if you ask me,but then nobody asked me.
f.t.

 

[Ballistic147]

All of this economic modeling ignores increases in operational efficiency and manufacturing.

You are correct but don't forget you have the CEO, CFO, and other management folks driving up the cost so they can afford the yacht, private jet, and multiple homes. For the most part it didn't used to be that way. Yes, the business owner had a nicer home and a nicer car than the employees but nothing like today.

 

[BC38]

I really don't think too many people are complaining about the cost of .22 ammo compared to 1960! Hell,five years ago,I was buying it for $9.99,and sometimes $8.88 a BRICK. That's a BIG increase. What makes it worse,is that MANY people are still earning what they did five years ago. Some are making less. None of the above arguments holds water if you ask me,but then nobody asked me.
f.t.

Exactly. As others have said, a 400%-500% price increase in the last 8 years is ridiculous. I sure wish my pay had gone up 400% in the last 8 years.

I still firmly believe the "shortage" has been just like the gas "shortage" of the 70's. Once demand got the price up to where the suppliers wanted it, the shortage miraculously began to ease.

 

[AlHunt]

According to this site, .50 in 1960 would be $4.02 today. So, if 50 rounds of .22 cost .50 in 1960, that would be ballpark close to about .08/round today.

http://www.dollartimes.com/inflation/inflation.php?amount=.5&year=1960

It still costs too much ...

 

[Sconie]

Using your individual pay is an inappropriate comparison, as your skills, knowledge, abilities and responsibilities were unlikely to have been the same from your 1960 job as compared to your 2015 role.

Here is the link to an excellent cost of living comparison "tool" published by the American Institute of Economic Research:

https://www.aier.org/cost-living-calculator

If one works through the process, you'll find that $0.27 in 1960 is equivalent to $2.21 today----"2016 dollars."

 

[chud333]

Comparison is badly out of proportion, as said above. Comparing your wage at retirement to minimum wage in the "60's" is irrelevant.

This ^^^^
What does your pay per hour at retirement got to do
with anything? Or the minimum wage?

I started buying a brick of .22's every time i got paid (bi-monthly),
back in 2008 when you know who came on the scene.
I figured that if they couldn't find a way to get our guns
they would likely come after our ammo.

This stocked me up and served me well.
I didn't buy the cheapest stuff (thunderbolts)
nor the priciest (No Eley, or Match ammo).

Whatever i "do not shoot" will go to my grandkids.
They will have some ammo to shoot in the guns
they get handed down from Papaw.

Chuck

 

[Ranger17]

I may be in my 50's but been shooting less than 4 years so to me what's on the shelf for pricing is the norm. In these few years I've had dry spells trying to find ammo for the range (i enjoy my fun time so that can suck) and have had great luck at other times. I have learned what ammo may not work well for me, and i avoid buying it. But one thing i can say, is that I've only paid 7.99-8.99 for mini mags as an example; that's been pretty consistent over this period for me. So when i see an online site with it much higher, or someone with a bunch on a table with a high price, i keep on walking.
I figure in some small way, if i dont buy from those jacking the prices then I'm happy with my purchases. I'd rather miss a range trip than support a gouger (just my .02).

After all, this .22 ammo craziness reminds me of another item that was hard to find some years back..... had people driving store to store to find it.... reselling for outrageous prices... and eventually tapered back off with many stuck with overvalued inventory.
That's right, I'm talking Beanie Babies....