Cheap .22 LR ammo

[alwslate]

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.

 

[Univibe]

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

 

[BB57]

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.

 

[bmcgilvray]

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.

 

[Farmer17]

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.

 

[memtb]

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

 

[ArchAngelCD]

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.

 

[rockquarry]

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.

 

[alwslate]

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.

 

[Racer X]

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.

 

[alwslate]

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.

 

[Skeet 028]

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

 

[6string]

I'll stick to the Euro brands, thanks!

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....

 

[Tubbsy]

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.

 

[ACORN]

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.

 

[Racer X]

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

 

[Engineer1911]

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.

 

[ol777gunnerz]

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.

 

[wetdog1911]

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....

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

 

[DWalt]

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.