Is the ammo shortage ever going to end?

[kbm6893]

A guy in my town just opened a new store. 525 brick of Remington Golden Bullets is listed at $125. I was polite enough not to curse the guy but he saw my expression. He said "I have it right now. You wanna scour the earth for it for less?". I said "Yes, I do".

I have 5000 rounds of .22. I am a teacher and will be off in the summer. Those are the days I will join the old men at 7 AM at Walmart to increase my supply. There is NO WAY I am going to pay 25 cents a round for .22 Golden Bullet.

I still have 1300 rounds of Thunderbolt from 15 years ago. If I lasted that long not shooting it I will last another 15 years. These ammo gougers can kiss my ***.

 

[Murdock]

My gun dealer buddy needed some help at a local gun show a couple of weekends ago, and asked me to give him a hand. Mostly this amounts to helping carry heavy stuff from the vehicle to the tables, and watching the tables for him when he wants or needs to walk around, make a head call, get coffee, etc.

He had three bricks of Federal for sale. They were the only bricks at the show. One brick sold by 50-round boxes, and the other two whole. They were $80 for the unbroken bricks, and $8 for each 50-round box. They cost my buddy $50 per brick wholesale. Both solid bricks went in the first hour, no questions asked. Most of the smaller boxes went by the end of the show.

Frankly, I was embarrassed to watch .22LR go for this much. Personally I will not pay more than $25 per brick, as at Wally World. I'm glad my buddy was able to make a little bit of money, because not much was selling at the show by any of the dealers. But crimminy! $80 per brick?

We have the freedom to not buy, and at least for a time we should probably exercise it.

 

[Salty RI]

As I am writing this the big C has Rem Golden's for 23.99/525.

 

[The Celt]

Wal-Mart in Bremen GA has everything but .22s and .308. As of yesterday at least.

 

[ladyT]

By the numbers.

22lr production 30 million per day

365 days in the year

Production running 24/7/365

Over 100 million gunowners

2 bricks per shooter per year

If 25‰ of gun owners shoot 22lr

Years required to provide 25% of gun owners 2 bricks of 500 rounds of 22lr per year is 2.27 years. Thats over two years of 22lr production just to provide 1,000 rounds to 25% of American gun owners. Over years.

 

[Seldom]

Deb and I have given up on finding .22s in the local stores. It's a waste of time. We have enough for occasional plinking for about a year and a half but it will mean cutting way back though. Our solution was to buy pellet guns. They have no recoil, are inexpensive, the ammo is cheap and plentiful, you don't have to go through an FFL to buy them, they can be shot in your basement, garage, backyard or range, they're quiet, you don't need brass or powder, they need virtually no cleaning and they are great fun.

I don't see the .22 shortage ever ending. By the time supply gets anywhere near meeting demand there will be another mass shooting somewhere and panic buying will empty the shelves again. Then the cycle will repeat ad infinitum.

I've never seen a more irrational shortage situation. No one saw this coming because people of sensibilities underestimated the narrow-mindedness of the 7:00 am Walmart morons and mean-spirited scalpers. It's a classic study of stupidity fueled by greed. To those folks I say: get a life (or a bigger TV). there's more to it than just guns. In the words of Thomas Carlyle: "The tragedy in life is not what men suffer, but what they miss."

 

[curlysir]

At Wally World today and walked by the ammo counter as I always do. To my surprise they had the UMC 250 round Mega Pack in 9mm. First time in quiet awhile that they have had them. Also has the .40 Mega Pack. Brought home one of the 9mm Mega Packs. Stock was better then I have seen it in several months. Still hit or miss but there is ammo out there.

 

[s&wbest]

I have seen 22lr recently priced a little higher but still in stores. The two box limit is still in effect.

I asked a local gun shop today where the 22mag ammo was. They said the last time they had it a buffalo farm bought it all to dispatch the critters. Never underestimate the power of a 22 mag. I am sure that this was close and behind the ear shooting but buffalo are huge.

 

[kbm6893]

Deb and I have given up on finding .22s in the local stores. It's a waste of time. We have enough for occasional plinking for about a year and a half but it will mean cutting way back though. Our solution was to buy pellet guns. They have no recoil, are inexpensive, the ammo is cheap and plentiful, you don't have to go through an FFL to buy them, they can be shot in your basement, garage, backyard or range, they're quiet, you don't need brass or powder, they need virtually no cleaning and they are great fun.

I don't see the .22 shortage ever ending. By the time supply gets anywhere near meeting demand there will be another mass shooting somewhere and panic buying will empty the shelves again. Then the cycle will repeat ad infinitum.

I've never seen a more irrational shortage situation. No one saw this coming because people of sensibilities underestimated the narrow-mindedness of the 7:00 am Walmart morons and mean-spirited scalpers. It's a classic study of stupidity fueled by greed. To those folks I say: get a life (or a bigger TV). there's more to it than just guns. In the words of Thomas Carlyle: "The tragedy in life is not what men suffer, but what they miss."

I agree. I am starting to reload for that very reason. I know I can't reload .22, but at least that will be my only ammo purchases for the foreseeable future. I got enough powder to load 1500 rounds of .38 and 3000 rounds of 9MM. I will continue to look for powder and primers, but at my rate of shooting, I will be set for 4-5 years with what I have.

People do need to get a life. A guy I work with has over 100,000 rounds of .22, and he rarely shoots it, because he "doesn't want to use them up".

 

[TexasRider]

In center fire it is mostly around now - it is just more expensive . 380 ACP is darn hard to find though .

22 LR is a problem . I like the analysis by Lady T there above . Once the inventory buffer was gone at the distributor and manufacturer level and guys got the idea that not only it was going to be unavailable but more expensive too, the run was on.

Most of the buying by the various Federal agencies is just about consistent with what they always buy. Maybe a few more here or there but overall about the same .

In asking the manufactures reps they say they are going full tilt . The dealers I know here that are BIG sellers just say that the guys that used to buy 50 or 100 or 250 rounds are buying bricks. Like Grandmothers and the like . And the guys who bought 5,000 are buying 10,000 or 25,000 when they can get it . So it really brings it in to focus on the change in buying patterns.

With more owners, more shooing, more guys trying to keep it in stock for 10,000 rounds at home vs 1,000 ,and everybody trying to get it, it really adds up in 22LR.

 

[RussellD]

Went to a local Dicks early grand opening this morning. First 100 people got a free t-shirt and entered for a drawing. Care to guess what everyone was there for? Every third person was there to buy .22.

Men's wives were there to buy ammo, Girl friends, grandparents-the story was the same. A happy crowd that waited about an hour.

Limit was 3 one hundred rounds boxes or one bulk pack. It lasted about 10 minutes. Store promised there would be more ammo available for the Grand Event opening on Saturday.

Funny thing was they had cases of .22 Magnum and .17 HMR ammo with no limit.

Like others have said, its easier to load .38 and 9mm than find .22.

 

[venomballistics]

Went to a local Dicks early grand opening this morning. First 100 people got a free t-shirt and entered for a drawing. Care to guess what everyone was there for? Every third person was there to buy .22.

Men's wives were there to buy ammo, Girl friends, grandparents-the story was the same. A happy crowd that waited about an hour.

Limit was 3 one hundred rounds boxes or one bulk pack. It lasted about 10 minutes. Store promised there would be more ammo available for the Grand Event opening on Saturday.

Funny thing was they had cases of .22 Magnum and .17 HMR ammo with no limit.

Like others have said, its easier to load .38 and 9mm than find .22.

Provided you can find pistol powders.
I've been playing with the good old calibers of late.
Brass is scarce, but the powders they use seem to be overlooked by the masses.
I am looking for 45-70 brass, .... eventuality some will turn up.
As soon as I do, all other components are already on hand.

 

[S&W45Colt]

Not for awhile, unfortunately.

 

[markfromark]

I noticed yesterday the local Academy Sports has moved all the 22 rounds back to the Customer Service desk for rationing.

 

[Twogunnes]

No, and when Hillary gets in it will get worse!

 

[Whitens Moss]

Seems to be the "new normal." In my neck of the woods, zero rimfire to be found. LGS says "it's getting worse" as far as .22 is concerned. I didn't give much weight to conspiracy theories about government purposely buying up ammo as a means of gun control but now I'm not so sure. There's a story here and no investigative journalist has really dug deeply enough. Something nefarious is going on.

If it were strictly supply-demand, the fact is that like all commodities, eventually a balance is struck in a free market. Even with all the new shooters and record sales of rimfire firearms, there ought to be adequate supply if manufacturers are truly producing what they say they are.

The few times over the past several months I've come across .22, it is ALWAYS rationed. 2-box limit. In my case I have to travel 50 miles to buy 100 rounds and usually when I get there it's sold out.

Like many sportsmen, I am thinking of selling all my rimfire guns. If you can't shoot 'em, why keep 'em?

 

[NJM15]

yes and no depends on the caliber .223,9mm, 40 cal easy to get .22's getting better Try finding 10mm or 357Sig not so good I managed to get one box of them (357) and got first fired brass to load more Sig's have everything to load the 9's, .223's and 40's

 

[NJM15]

I deal with Dicks in NJ usually they have 22's every Thursday reasonable prices not a hoarder but have plenty, enough to keep me shooting for a while

 

[the ringo kid]

I noticed yesterday the local Academy Sports has moved all the 22 rounds back to the Customer Service desk for rationing.

At academy here-its been moved (a few months ago) from the ustomer Counter to behind the Gun counter. Everything else is on regular shlves in aisles and no rationing. Last time I bought 22--wasoveeramonth ago and somelady compained that I got 200 rounds. I got my "legal" limit of two boxes and they happeed to be 100 round boxes. There was a **** loaof Aguila 22--both blue and red boxes-and Winchester in Gray and whits box, and someover-prics **** in a black box. I alost told her instead of moaning and groaning-why doesnt she simply go to the counter and ask for two boxes of Remington 100 rounders like I did.I had just left and they still had about 20 boxes of those too.

 

[the ringo kid]

In the above--dunno why a word was ****edout as it wasnt a banned word. I was talking about the 22 in the black box which was over-priced.