the new 22 ammo reality?

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

I have nothing against WalMart except that the closest one is too far away. They have a lot of stuff at good prices, especially for retired folks like me, who don't get any financial (or other) benefit from impressing folks by how much money they waste on stuff.

That said, what happened to buying ammo at a gun store? My local gun store does about as well as anyone else, and I buy almost everything gun-related there. As a result, I get good prices on most everything I buy.

I used to SCUBA dive quite a bit, and was well aware of folks who tried to find the cheapest everything mail order, and then wondered why they couldn't find breathable compressed air in the neighborhood.

We need to support our local pushers. With most intelligent retailers, once the customer makes that decision, he finds that the retailer's prices are competitive.

Leastways, that's how it has worked for me.

 

[walnutred]

The local small gun shop in my area, OK he's probably 5 miles away, still has Federal bricks on the shelf. However the price has gone up to $20 a brick. I can't complain too much as he's still selling S&B 9x18 for $10 and 9x19 for $12.

 

[CJofWolfcreek]

just chill out and wait a bit longer, ammo prices ARE droping and will continue to do so I believe.

He's got that right. Prices are slowly dropping as the shelves are filling back up. For what it's worth Walmart's prices have remained steady for what is available there. I've been slowly stocking up on federal 20 gauge 7 1/2 shot for $4 and change a box and Federal 30-30 150 and 170 grains for around $12 a box. Basicaly my ammunition needs are fullfilled for the next two upland game and deer seasons.

For my rare hunting trips onto land requiring steel shot, I've been lucking into $6 a box deals on federals at Scheels for 20 gauge 2 3/4".

I refuse to pay outrageous prices and contribute to those prices remaining unrealisticaly high so I bargain hunt, which includes looking at the prices on the back of the shelf. I've saved $2 a box on 30-30's that way around 2 years ago when the cost of ammo had shot up during the lead and metal shortage.

 

[rburg]

If that is really the new reality price wise then I'm out of the game for good.

I'm thinking we all just need to step back and watch. Way too often we only look at the present and don't think about how things were in the past. 50 years ago, ammo was expensive and money not nearly as "thrown around" as today. Back then, if you had a box of 50 22s, you were wealthy. You made them last. You aimed. If you missed, you wasted something you really couldn't afford to waste. So your next shot was considered more carefully. By the mid 1970s, we were going out and burning up (the best term I can think of) a whole brick at a shooting session. Money was more plentiful, ammo was on every shelf.

Now we're seeing a new metric. Ammo is becoming more expensive and harder to obtain. The kids (those under 50) have their semi-autos, and they think nothing of ripping off a full mag, just to hear it go. Often they never think to aim, they point and spray. Maybe they learned that in the army (someone else was paying.) Most of us fossil relics do the unthinkable. We use revolvers and often fire them single action, aiming each shot. We use our bolt action rifles. And again aim each shot.

So I've gotten old. And I've moved through the stages. One where I wouldn't even consider burning up a full box of 50 rounds in an afternoon, the ultimate waste. Then on to the stage were a day's shooting was measured as one brick. And now we're back to thinking about our shots. Back in my youth and young adulthood, I've gone hunting with my father and not fired a single round. But we hiked all day. And even in this fairly heavily populated region, only heard one or two shots all day long. Didn't see anything worth shooting at, so we didn't. But more recently, I've heard the equivalent of a firefight.
And I seriously doubt they saw anything much to shoot at. They were just burning ammo for the fun of it. Still had to clean our shotguns. Not because they really needed it, but because it was what you did after a day's hunt. And those burning up the ammo will preach there's no need to clean your guns using today's ammo.