.22 Ammo Cost History

[Salty RI]

The sticker on my 65 GTO rag top was 3500 and change, a few years ago my wife paid more than that for a sewing machine..

 

[Drm50]

DeWalts prices per the time are right on. I have a lot of 22lr that
I kept after folding up shop in 1992, plus picking up more when
on sale at KMart @ Wally World. For years you cold get bulk or
promo 22s at $100 a brick. There are a lot of variables going on
with 22 ammo. (1) Political situation causes Hoarding (2) more
people in the market (3) new generation shooters, with hi cap
fun guns (4) price of energy & materials (5) Govt regs. This is
strictly supply and demand. No company is going to install new
lines to produce rf ammo, to bring the price down. Before all this
hit the fan there was a lot of cheap foreign 22s on the market.
They are still here but not cheap anymore. So instead of using X
as the unknown, use k, for the constant price increases. The ammo companies are making hay while they can. They have dropped many old standbys. They use to have to cater to the
customers, now they can sell as much para military as they can
pump out to the Sky is falling crowd. The loss of sales on deer
rifle ammo is just a drop in the bucket. Military duplication 223
was .15 cents a rnd.now over .50-- most commercial CF is 400%
rise in last 8 yrs.

 

[Ranger17]

One thing that's helped me in the past year or so, is when Cabelas (and at times Gander) has their $20 off $100 sales. Recently was able to grab a couple 300ct boxes of mini mags, and added enough 9mm ammo (also on sale) to get to the $100 minimum. So by not going crazy, i then saved basically 20% on my purchase and am close to a store so i can save the freight as well.

Doesn't happen that often but i never pass it up when i see those types of promos.

 

[45er]

Resurrecting an old forum

The cheapest I've been able to buy 22 l.r. ammo for lately has been about $4.00/50, translating into $40/500. I remember buying 500 (a "brick") for $5.00-6.00 in the 1980's. I guess the current price isn't that out of line with inflation, or is it?

 

[mikerjf]

What does 22LR cost in terms of a gallon of gas?

 

[Paul in Nevada]

Man, I really don't care what you paid for 22 ammo in the 1960's. It was $0.04/round three years ago, it's $0.10/round now. Get your head out of the past and live in today.

 

[HorizontalMike]

I still have this, even though shot&shoot much more over the years. As you can see, I bought this at K-Mart in 1980 for $2.88 per 100rd box. That equals to $1.44 / 50rd OR just 2.88cents/round.

NOTE: Inflation makes that 100rd box for $2.88, NOW cost $10.22
Academy has it currently listed as $12.99 /100rd or roughly 125% of what it should be. The current inflation rates pretty much explains why.

 

[.455_Hunter]

I still have this, even though shot&shoot much more over the years. As you can see, I bought this at K-Mart in 1980 for $2.88 per 100rd box. That equals to $1.44 / 50rd OR just 2.88cents/round.

The week before Sandy Hook in 2012, Walmart had Federal Champion .22 at $1.49 / 50 rounds- essentially the same price as 1980, but 32 years later.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

A few ago I was admiring a Beautiful 1955 Pontiac.
The owner came up and asked What do you think?
I replied, that's an absolutely fantastic Paint Job!
It never looked that good right from the factory!
The Owner replied I paid more for the paint than the original owner paid for the car!
I don't actually recall how much I paid for 22 way back, but it wasn't much.

 

[rockquarry]

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.

You're right, but few consider the inflation factor. They can't see beyond "good 'ol days" prices which are often very close to what we pay today if you consider inflation, which you must for a realistic comparison.

Your 7-11 offered better prices than mine did in the '60s. I think .22 ammo was around fifty cents for a box of fifty, but I don't always remember things accurately.

 

[Greyman50]

Discovered wally world just raised cost of CCI standard velocity from $4.83/50 to $5.23/50. Buddy and I went to kinda local gun show this AM, back to his house then back home. Stopped by wally world just down from buddy's house for air filter. Happened to go by sporting goods and low and behold CCI S.V. still had $4.83/50 price on shelf! After 15 minutes of looking for sales person, told them wanted 3 boxes. Rang up as $5.23 so told them NO, you have to sell it for what prices is shown. After another 5 minutes some " manager" came, voided the original sale and sold them for $4.83. Original sales person made a new price sticker for shelf, LOL. 10x28 wally world.

 

[AC Man]

When I was 16 in 1972 My Dad freaked me out as a surprise. I wanted
a Marlin 30/30 for Christmas he said no way. Christmas morning there it was under the tree when I woke up. Just like the BB gun in a Christmas story. I already had a 22 riffle. At 18 I bought myself a model 13 pinned and recessed 357 magnum. I was making $2.00 a hour or there abouts.

I say all that to say this. I don't remember what ammo cost back then and I don't think about it now. Doesn't seem that bad to me, but I don't follow ammo cost.

 

[Skeet 028]

Way back yonder late 50s.. I bought 22s at the local hardware...50 cents for LR. Western auto in the next town would sell 'em on sale for 35 cents. I rode my bike 14 miles RT to save a dollar and 50 cents. I scoured the countryside for soft drink and beer bottles for the 2 cent deposit. Bought lots of 22s. Last I bought were the Federal Auto match.. Wally World had 'em at 17.99...so I bought 2(the limit). Went back 2 days later and the price was 21.97. Think they priced 'em wrong the first time. I typically buy 'em on trips to Montana...No sales tax.

 

[clang444]

Please note if you are reading this thread fro the first time, it is from 2016...

 

[martyd]

At the present time, June 2022, Walmart is selling Federal AutoTarget 325 bulk pack for $21 and some change.

I have shot it in a custom target rifle and it is really accurate, actually better than their Champion which was considered their entry level target ammo at one time.

I shot both a week ago.

 

[murphydog]

Interesting history. Please feel free to start a new thread about current ammo prices? Thread closed.