.22lr Ammunition

[Dog Soldier]

The popularity of the .22 rimfire had dropped off during the past 20 years. As posted with the advent of Concealed Carry laws people buy their first guns in 9MM, .380 .40 S&W etc. But the oldest marketing trick in the world continues to work. Just create a shortage and raise the price. We now see ammo buyers rising like trout to grab the bait. I saw a fellow in a Walmart one day buying .22 ammo. He said he does not own a gun. But he was going to buy some .22 just in case? Well the sheep line up on the left? The shearing has begun.

 

[Delford]

I have a .22 pistol and rifle. I was out shooting with friends yesterday and only shot the rifle. I hit a hanging golf ball at 30 feet on the 2nd shot. I couldn't hit another golf ball with the next 12 rounds. It sure was fun trying. Going thru .22lr ammo quickly is normal so I've been able to buy at Bass Pro, Dicks, and Academy but not Walmart in the last two years.
I've spent between .05 and .08 a round. I buy it when I see it at those prices and now have enough that I don't worry about running out.

 

[Cannibul]

The popularity of the .22 rimfire had dropped off during the past 20 years. As posted with the advent of Concealed Carry laws people buy their first guns in 9MM, .380 .40 S&W etc. But the oldest marketing trick in the world continues to work. Just create a shortage and raise the price. We now see ammo buyers rising like trout to grab the bait. I saw a fellow in a Walmart one day buying .22 ammo. He said he does not own a gun. But he was going to buy some .22 just in case? Well the sheep line up on the left? The shearing has begun.

Please drop the bong and set back into reality.

The demand for .22 LR is at a all time high.

 

[Dog Soldier]

Let us keep this debate sensible. I do not and have never used "Street Drugs". The hoarding of .22 ammo is at an all time high. The percentage of handguns sold in .22 caliber is down.

 

[Bill50]

This may not directly answer your question, but I too once had Walter P22. I never did find any ammo that it would run well.

I have one too. Took it to the range once after I bought it with CCIs and cheap ammo. Both shot fine.

The next time I shot it, a friend wanted to try. He put some kind of cheap 22 ammo he bought 10 years prior and we went 0/20. I tried every kind of cheap ammo I had and CCIs. Everything we tried except his ammo functioned flawlessly.

He was able to shoot what he had through his Berretta neo no problem. I've still never had a problem with anything except what he brought that day. Sometimes 22s are weird.

 

[22-rimfire]

The most logical explanation for shortages of .22 LR is that
1. Everybody has multiple automatics and an outing is typically a "brick" of 500 if not two, whereas I used to think a box of 50 was plenty in my bolt or even lever action.
and
2. In the political panics of the first and second Obama terms, people hurried to either "stock up" for hoarding, or to get into financial speculation with increasing prices of ammo.

That has been my opinion for a long time with regard to the volume of 22LR ammo typically shot during a plinking outing. I don't believe the military is buying up 22LR. 22 rimfire is also loaded on separate production lines, so other than using up available metal resources, the military or police demand is very small.

 

[Delford]

Funny but my Beretta Neos doesn't like Federal. I have acquired sufficient rounds over the last two years to freely enjoy myself at the farm. The Neos goes through 100 rounds quite quickly, especially when shooting golf balls suspended on twine. My Marlin 60 handles Federal just fine.

 

[Cannibul]

Let us keep this debate sensible. I do not and have never used "Street Drugs". The hoarding of .22 ammo is at an all time high. The percentage of handguns sold in .22 caliber is down.

Ok,

Explain the 2008 shortage that started in early November and ran about 18 months.


The fact of the matter the supply chain for .22 LR ammo has never been very long and is easily disrupted by outside events and demand. Used to be shooters would buy a 100 round box for a range session and be satisfied. Now with all the AR style .22 LR guns being sold shooters can easily go through 500 rounds per trip.

Do you have any actual basis for your idea that the sales of rimfire guns is down or is it something you just "thought of"? Or could it be that people aren't buying rimfire guns because they can't find any ammo to shoot?

 

[22-rimfire]

2008.... election year. Obama won over McCain. He was a wild card and nobody really knew what to expect other than they knew he supported more gun control measures.

I also believe the packaging of 22lr ammo in loose bulk packs contributed to the the volume of ammo used.

 

[Dog Soldier]

cannibal your continued personnel insults are very distasteful.

 

[larryh1108]

The popularity of the .22 rimfire had dropped off during the past 20 years. As posted with the advent of Concealed Carry laws people buy their first guns in 9MM, .380 .40 S&W etc. But the oldest marketing trick in the world continues to work. Just create a shortage and raise the price. We now see ammo buyers rising like trout to grab the bait. I saw a fellow in a Walmart one day buying .22 ammo. He said he does not own a gun. But he was going to buy some .22 just in case?

I disagree on almost every statement here.
I don't believe that the popularity of 22 rimfire has dropped off at all. I don't know what you mean when you say "popularity" but I see more people shooting 22 rimfire than ever before. Why? Well, cost of ammo is one reason. It's still a lot cheaper than 9mm ammo (less than 1/2 the cost). It is still the best choice to teach new shooters, especially kids, to the sport. Also, as the baby boomers age, our joints can't take the pounding the big calibers offer. I can say that my use of 22 rimfire has quadrupled in the last 10 years due to aging hands and wrists and the post shooting pain my hands have for a few days after a session. My 44 mag, 357 mag and 10mm as well as my 40S&W remain in the safe a lot more now and in the last 5 years I have picked up a .22 revolver, an AR22 and a 1911 conversion just to shoot .22s where previously I ignored the small caliber.

I also agree that a shooting session now consumes a brick or 2 (or 3) when previously a session was a box of 100 or so. I also believe that the AR22 contributed to this quite a bit as well as bulk pack boxes.

You also seem to say that the ammo makers created the 22 rimfire shortage and raised the prices as a marketing ploy. I also disagree with this statement as well. Ammo producers are now producing more .22 ammo per day than any time in history yet the shelves aren't bulging from excessive stock. I think the higher prices are from the middle men more than the factory.

Yes, there are speculators and hoarders. There are also a lot more who are keeping a healthy inventory level on hand to take care of their needs in time of scarce availability. That is not hoarding if you are shooting it instead of speculating. How can you say popularity is down when demand is at an all time high?

.22 rimfire has been around for a long time and will be around for long time. Maybe sales of new .22 guns has waned but that doesn't mean that the millions upon millions of guns already in our hands are going anywhere. I believe that the .22 rimfire will still be around when our grand kids are learning to shoot.

 

[John G C 1]

All I know is I was in Mr Gun in Grand Rapids, MI yesterday and they had a ton of 22. They had CCI, Winchester, Lapua (sp?), Browning, Remington, Aguila......

They had one whole shelf that was four feet long filled with it.

My local shop has a lot of it too. Guess it is a regional thing

 

[Dog Soldier]

Larryh, A very nice post. That is how we should debate our ideas. Thx.

 

[22-rimfire]

I think if you think the popularity of 22 rimfire has dropped off, you're probably referring to your self. Blowing away 500 rounds at age 16 is a lot different from doing it at age 60.

Without a doubt, many are focused on the little to non-existent self defense threat and they buy the 9mm, 45 acp, or 40 s&w. But for many, they would be a better shot if they shot more 22.

 

[22-rimfire]

Those that shoot, used to shoot, or wanna shoot more 22LR have been in a slow stock up mode in the last 6 months unless they had already stocked up years ago. The 2008 year was mentioned. I was stocking up prior to that and suspected that the election would nudge some folks into a serious stock up mode. It happened and prices increased. That's when Walmart started their four box daily limit as I recall.

I don't think folks are generally paying big box retail for re-sale now like two years ago.

 

[Cannibul]

cannibal your continued personnel insults are very distasteful.

Ahh.... I see. Asking for facts and proof is a personal attack. Gotcha.

 

[22-rimfire]

The popularity of the .22 rimfire had dropped off during the past 20 years.

I see no point in trying to prove anything.

 

[Lizard1911]

That story is the same stuff that comes out the south end of a north bound bull.

The military MIGHT use some .22 LR but I never did while serving.

All the manufacturers are running at full production right now. Several million rounds a day all total. ATK group is producing around 7-8 million rounds per day.

To put that into perspective that would be 8000 100 round boxes. There are about 3500 Walmart Super Center stores in the US.

So daily production would give each Walmart just over two boxes per day.

Stop and think about that for a minute. Two 100 round boxes per Walmart per day. 16 100 round boxes per week.

That's just Walmart stores. Doesn't include any other stores.

The supply line on .22 LR was never very long. At most there's about a months worth available in the supply chain when everything is perfect.

It takes 2-3 years to get a rimfire ammo line up and running. Then it takes 7-10 years before that line makes a profit. It's understandable why companies are reluctant to invest in more production.

A rimfire line can't be used for anything but rimfire. It's a pretty specialized setup. Also many people are unaware of how much manual labor is involved. All the cases are primed by hand. If you've never seen how it's done it's worthwhile to Google it and watch some videos.

80,000 100 round boxes, actually. Even multiplying your answer by ten, it holds water.

 

[Dog Soldier]

Thanks for your corrections of my post. I shall try to do better.

 

[stchman]

Let us keep this debate sensible. I do not and have never used "Street Drugs". The hoarding of .22 ammo is at an all time high. The percentage of handguns sold in .22 caliber is down.

Where do you get your stats? I see people shooting 22 guns at the range all the time.

 

[Dog Soldier]

Being able to read and understand the post makes these forums more interesting. Where in those 2 sentences does it say no one is using the .22. It says the rounds are being hoarded and the sale of .22 handguns is down. How do you judge the Nations "Stats" from your local range?

 

[22-rimfire]

I don't know about you Dog Soldier, but I'm not hoarding any. On the other hand, you might consider my stash a "hoard". Until a couple weeks ago, I haven't added a box of rimfire ammo in a couple years. I purchased 4 boxes of 22 WMR (Regular 40 gr CCI) because my stash was a bit low in that caliber.

 

[berettaprofessor]

I don't know how this fits, but I can only conclude the military is not shooting as much because tonight my local Walmart had some Winchester 100 round boxes of 22lr just sitting there. First time I've seen it in 4 years.

 

[entropy]

In past the "military" did use some .22 lr. Local city had indoor range, conversion kits for m16. So they could fire inside. Boy Scouts, others allowed at certain times to shoot as well. Locked in semi only. This was back in 2000 area.
Guy who was on military pistol team shot .22 as well as 1911.

So they do shoot some. Or used to. Likely not near enough to matter.

Yup, when I was in ROTC, (1981) we shot Winchester 52D's and M16A1's with Atchisson devices, in the basement of the U of M ROTC Armory. But probably a total of 100 rounds each, total of 100 cadets, all branches. So, 10,000 rounds once a year.

At the Wal-Marts in my area, including the one I work at, we have been getting it in more steadily. My best friend, the Sporting Goods manager at our store, explained that they released the contracts they had, and are free to buy where they may (at the corporate level) and are able to ironically get more .22's in, but they aren't steadily the same brand. One week it's CCI , the next Remington, etc. We usually can keep it in the store a few days now.

 

[susieqz]

i also would like to know about sales of 22lr guns being down, please.
i'm buying my share.