Why Can’t I Find .22 LR Ammunition?!?!?

Where? Share?! I've only been buying .22LR for a year and I've never paid below .10 cents per round.

Cabelas.com I have a local store, so I don't pay shipping, but even with shipping I think it is still isn't that bad.

Watch the ammo thread in the 15-22 forum... Blazer bricks are available at Cabelas quite often.
 
No. Its impossible to plat,permit,zone and construct enough stores to impact the situation given the time involved. Also manufactures are now running at full capacity which means more ammo is being produced today than 2011 and 2012. Not to mention foreign sources in the market.

I have 4 Walmarts within 5 miles of my house, with a fifth one being built. Out of the 4, 2 have been open a year or less.

They are multiplying.

As I have posted before, I worked at Academy several years ago. We would only get a case or two of .22lr in at a time. It was plenty for stocking the shelves...

There was a gentleman on the rimfirecentral forum whose Walmart manager has told him for the past year that they have not received any shipments of .22lr. One call to Walmart corporate HQ confirmed that this was not the case. Don't believe everything the counter guy tells you...
 
You use this same argument at the gas station? :o

Gas is sold close to cost. We know what cost is (roughly) when some retailers sell boxes of 500 for $20-$25. When someone sells for $60 we understand he's taking advantage of supply and demand and pocketing $45 or more.

I don't disparage anyone for selling something for what they think it's worth. But since I have 3-4K in .22LR don't think I'll be in some huge rush to pay over $0.07/rnd when it, with patience, can be had for that price.
 
LMFAO!!!!!!!!!!!!

All these comments and it's like not one of you read the article the OP posted, the article is accurate and correct and the very simple math is there yet you all ignore it....wow.......
 
LMFAO!!!!!!!!!!!!

All these comments and it's like not one of you read the article the OP posted, the article is accurate and correct and the very simple math is there yet you all ignore it....wow.......

Look, fire, try not to ruin the fun for the rest of us....;);)

I'm stuck at work today and this thread is making it at least a little interesting. :)
 
The guys you see at Walmart weekday mornings, you'll find at the gun show Saturday morning reselling their Walmart purchase at 2X the price. It is a way to make a living. Folks that pay the gun show price keep these guys in employed.
 
The guys you see at Walmart weekday mornings, you'll find at the gun show Saturday morning reselling their Walmart purchase at 2X the price. It is a way to make a living. Folks that pay the gun show price keep these guys in employed.

I never go to gun shows. Why should I pay an admission fee for the privilege of seeing what vendors are selling? Hell, they should pay me.
 
Lets look at some numbers for a moment. The NRA says there are over 100 million gun owners today. Lets also accept the numbers mentioned in the Sierra Bullets article. And for the sake of argument that each person shoots only 1,000 rounds a year of 22lr.

So we have:
100,000,000 gun owners

22lr production of 30 million rounds per day and based on a 365 day year with production every day of the year we end up with just under 11 billion rounds of 22lr production in a single year.

For the sake of this argument we will assume only 25% of gun owners shoot 22lr.

So we have 25 million people shooting 22lr.

25,000,000,000 (shooters) x 1000 (rounds shot per year) = 25,000,000,000,000 rounds (22lr demand)

Production is 11,000,000,000 per year

how many years @ 11 billion rounds per year of production is required to produce 1 years worth of 22lr.

25,000,000,000 / 11,000,000,000 = 2.2727273 (years)

To summarize.

yearly production of 22lr is 11 billion rounds

2.27 years of production required to meet a demand of 2 bricks per shooter per year


conclusion.

The 22lr shortage is permanent unless production increases.
 
.22

I'm picking up a brick, 525 rd's, (one per customer) of Remington at Bass Pro every Sat. for $29.95.
I little high for me, but it's there every week.
 
Back to the original post, thanks for posting that. Seeing those numbers really puts it in perspective, and I can understand why I can't find any.

What I'd like to know is why the quality control has gone south like it has. I have never in my life had a misfire with a .22 round until the other day, and I've been shooting for 60'years. The guys I was shooting with were having problems, too, with three different brands of ammo.
 
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Exactly as above, my Walmart puts out 22 ammo at 7 am and the same group of guys buy it all, every day. They must be reselling? Otherwise they would eventually have so much they wouldn't want to get down there by 7am.

About twoor so weeks ago, I met an older guy at WM who was openly bragging at havig at least 50,000 22lr in his grage and about 30,000 of 9mm and many thousaands in other calibers. that guy alsohas a newish gun shop on Carona street here in town. Last severaltimes I went passed it-not a custome in the parkinglot. Anyway, I thinkpeople are figuring himout here in the area but--ill bet he's making the money to stay open--by selling online. He recently went around town buying all the bulk packsof 45 he could find--3 boxes per visit whereever he went.

WM,again has the 100 round 45 packs in and seem to be staying on the shelves a bi longer-or that guy must be running out of funds? I could care lesswither way. Im geting my ONE box per visit most of the time.Icould buy more but dont.
 
The guys you see at Walmart weekday mornings, you'll find at the gun show Saturday morning reselling their Walmart purchase at 2X the price. It is a way to make a living. Folks that pay the gun show price keep these guys in employed.

I willnot.

The only ones ill buy ammo from at gun shows-are the ones who sell for normal prices-and yep--one or two do exist.
 
About twoor so weeks ago, I met an older guy at WM who was openly bragging at havig at least 50,000 22lr in his grage and about 30,000 of 9mm and many thousaands in other calibers. that guy alsohas a newish gun shop on Carona street here in town. Last severaltimes I went passed it-not a custome in the parkinglot. Anyway, I thinkpeople are figuring himout here in the area but--ill bet he's making the money to stay open--by selling online. He recently went around town buying all the bulk packsof 45 he could find--3 boxes per visit whereever he went.

WM,again has the 100 round 45 packs in and seem to be staying on the shelves a bi longer-or that guy must be running out of funds? I could care lesswither way. Im geting my ONE box per visit most of the time.Icould buy more but dont.

Funny you should mention 45acp. When I was lookng at the ammo, I noticed a pretty good selection of 45acp. A cute woman was looking at it for her significant other.
They had Winchester white box, CCI and Blazer. Blazer was $2 cheaper than the other two. I told I probably preferred the Winchester. That's what she bought.
I know what you're thinking! Would I have given advice to a woman not so cute? Absolutely! I would have told her to wait in the truck.
 
You guys need to get out more often...I've bought dozens of cartons of 22LR ammo and several cases of CCI mini mags over the last 6 months, at between $22 and $40 a carton, but not one cent spent at the Wal of China Mart.
*************************
Drop the Wal of China Mart, Shop the USA, and Save the American Dream.
 
You guys need to get out more often...I've bought dozens of cartons of 22LR ammo and several cases of CCI mini mags over the last 6 months, at between $22 and $40 a carton, but not one cent spent at the Wal of China Mart.
*************************
Drop the Wal of China Mart, Shop the USA, and Save the American Dream.
Me two. Where? Inquiring minds want to know.
 
I haven't seen any here in Virginia for a long, long time. I did score on a trip to upstate New York about six months ago. Right up next to the Canadian border, stopped in a Walmart for some other stuff. Expecting to be disappointed as usual, I was shocked to find multiple boxes of the 550 ammo on the shelves. No limit. As I took every box they had (6), another gent came for a look and saw I had grabbed the last one. I thought he was going to collapse and cry, so I decided to 'pay it forward' and split them with the guy. Win for both of us.

On another note, I did hear from a highly placed senior official here in Washinton (no name) that our .22's are actually going to the Syrian Rebels. Must be true. To here him tell it, the absence of .22's are actually a political compromise by our folks on Capital Hill. This way, we can honestly say that we are sending support to those opposed to the Dictatorship; and we can also tell those aligned with the regime that we are not sending ANY sophisticated, state-of-the art weapon systems to the Rebels. That makes the Iranians and Russians happy, keeps Bloomberg, Schumer and Pelosi happy (November elections just around the corner), and keeps those firearm nuts in the US from stockpiling palates worth of .22's. I mean c'mon, how many squirrels or tin cans are there to shoot?

We all need to live on less ammo. History will tell us that George Custer went to the Little Big Horn with single shot Trap-Doors so that his trigger happy troops would not waste ammo by frivolously shooting that anything that moved. That strategy apparently worked for him, although I never read his after action report......
 
I do not know the profit margin on 22 lr, I do know that any company that would purchase space, machinery to "fix" the problem now, will be out of business when the market is finally saturated, 1-2 yrs down the road. You can not spend 1/2 million dollars to "fix" the problem now and have to turn off the unpaid machines 1-2 yrs from now. The people who planned ahead and are flush in 22 lr will weather the storm, others will have to pay the premium or go with out till the market settles. It will take time, to fill the shelves, satisfy the hoarders and take away the market from the gougers, until then whining and complaining will not help and becomes irritating. Be Safe,

Preppers
Hoarders
Resellers
Unemployed
Gougers

I've heard it all. Now I can finally add:

Whiners
Complainers
People that planned ahead

I'd rather see a guy up early, standing in line, and buying three boxes of ammo than him trying to rob, steal, or plunder.

Hunters
Shooters
Trainers

Such is life. Go stand in line a couple of hours a few days. You might meet some of the above. Might even make a friend or two that will try to help you find ammo.
 

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