.22lr MEGATHREAD

[DeepSouth]

I haven't seen 22lr on a shelf for sale in several years.

 

[BSA1]

There is not any reason for ammo manufacturers to increase production.

Before the Banic scores of 22 ammo sat on store shelves and stores frequently ran them on sale as loss leaders to bring customers in.

Now by simply not increasing production they are fueling demand while making three times the profit. The rapid turnover is ideal for manufacturers and retailers. Manufacturers don't have unsold inventory sitting in warehouses and retailers have customers making more visits to their stores looking for ammo.

I have not seen any 22 WMR for over six months and I have shopped in two States. Both my 22 L.R. and WMR sit unused due to the very real fact that I can not resupply what I shoot. I know some folks claim ammo is available but it isn't here. Internet stores sell out in the matter of a few minutes when they get it in stock.

The only way I see supply improving is when the Big 3 gun makers put pressure on ammo manufacturers due to their 22 firearms not selling due to lack of ammo.

 

[CoalTrain49]

 

[Ed Ames]

I bought 500rds of .22lr this afternoon. The store had half a dozen 550 packs of rem golden bullet .22lr for about $35/each and a pile of 500rd packs of Eley match .22lr for $85/each. I bought the Eley because I already have thousands of rds of Rem G.B. at home and I wanted to see if any of my guns are more accurate with the match grade ammo.

 

[susieqz]

i'm shooting 1000 rounds/month. buying more than that just to have,
none at all available locally, but i can get all i need online, by paying three times what it's worth.

sometimes, i find 9mm cheaper, but i don't enjoy shooting 9mm.

 

[Olympus]

I just had an order of 10k rounds of Remington Thunderbolt come in from a back order. I sold them for $35/500 and it only lasted 12 hours. But at least my local customers won't call me a "gouger" like the other dealers and I did make a little profit.

 

[Wishoot]

I don't bother with Walmart anymore. At least when it comes to hunting for .22 ammo. Still diddly-squat on the shelves around here.

There's a decent supply of other calibers however.

 

[Furncliff]

http://ammoseek.com/ammo/22lr

547 items on ten pages at Ammo Seek. Rim fire ammo is not in short supply, it's just not free (nearly) as it used to be.

 

[old fart]

there's a shop near me that has the remington lead nose 22lr at $44.95 for 500. seems lead round nose is all that's around here. but we do have ammo so i guess we are in better shape than some.

 

[C0untZer0]

Walmart has a fairly good online inventory - if someone at a local store tells you that the online inventory is not accurate, - get their name, call Walmart headquarters and give them the name of the Walmart employee who said the online inventory is inaccurate and they will set that person straight.

They work very hard to make sure the online inventory is accurate.

You can go online and search for 5 or 6 different brands of 22LR ammo and see the availability at all Walmart stores within a 50 mile radius.

In my experience, the inventory will show that it is in the store even when it hasn't been unloaded yet from the truck, and it takes them a few hours to unload a truck. So sometimes you can get a head start on the ammo shipment, and wait at the Sporting Goods department for them to stock the ammo. I have even asked managers before if they could just unload the ammo so I can but it. Sometimes its not possible because the ammo is behind a lot of other merchandise, sometimes it is possible and they will bring me out a few boxes of ammo.

 

[Dan-O]

What rock have you been hiding under for the last 5 years?

 

[Hondo 60]

I've found .22lr ammo in spurts.
Right now there's none to be had at Wally.
They have .22 shotshells that aren't selling - had 'em for two+ weeks.

About 2 months ago a local hardware store had Winchester 100 rd boxes & 222 packs.
They allowed each customer to buy one of each.
The next week they had 333 rd boxes. Again, only one box per customer.
My girlfriend & I bought, so that was 1300 total.

 

[SuperNaut]

deleted

 

[redneck2]

If you want .22 ammo, NW Indiana

I was at the Cabelas in Hammond yesterday. They have a LOT. I got 400 rounds of American Eagle for $26. They have Remington in 525's, SK Match, CCI, Winchester.

Limit one box, at least of the bigger boxes.

I also got a 525 of Remington at the Walmart in LaPorte two weeks ago. Sold them to a friend.

Gander Mountain in Merrillville says they're getting shipments about every Friday

 

[mboylan]

Yeah, but does anyone know why? Was it in fear of the Obama administration doing something? And what's driving the continuing problem, greed? Is production down? Will a Republican in the White House change things or is this going to keep feeding on itself?

Why don't some of these companies increase production or outside companies begin production? Clearly there's a market for rimfire ammo. The prices of centerfire ammo are up, but at least you can get it. I'd hate to see this continue, as I suspect the people making most of the profit are the middle men who are jacking up prices. I've always felt that if more people could be persuaded to use .22WMR, that the prices of that ammo would drop and we'd end up with a better round to shoot. Things are so bad now that I'm buying WMR ammo for my Ruger Single-Six.

Easy answer on production. Companies are running at full capacity. Startup costs for a new rimfire line are well into 8 figures and only a few ammo companies in the world can afford that. Labor costs are high and margins are really thin. Also there is far more ammo being stockpiled than ammo being shot. It's too risky to raise that much capital for a demand spike that could be over in a couple years.
It is common for one of the few rimfire production lines in the world to make multiple brands. I know ATK in the US makes Federal, CCI, Gemtech and Hornady in two factories. RWS makes about 6 brands in one factory. The only other rimfire lines I can think of in the world are two owned by Olin, one in the US and one in Australia. Remington has one. SK Jagd has one. Eley has one. Aguila has one. I think Lapua has one in addition to the SK Jagd plant and that's it for the entire world.

If it were as easy as you think to raise capacity, someone would have done it.

 

[orionengnr]

Meh - just check Walmart whenever you go in and you'll score some here and there.

I visit a Walmart maybe once every other week (I do my grocery shopping elsewhere), but I check the ammo counter every single time. In the last 2 years or so I've found .22 in stock about 7 or 8 times - about 3 of those times I found large bricks. Actually found some in there at midday last week.

Really?
I haven't seen any...and I mean any at all...
Not in three or four years.
And I hit a WM once every week or two.

 

[OilyPablo]

I have not seen 22LR in any Walmart for over 2 years.

I have bought quite a lot of 22LR on line.

Draw your own conclusion, but Walmart's supply does thin as it goes west, particularly in WA state.

 

[j1]

I think we bought Alaska for less than some of these prices.

 

[jrdolall]

I got six boxes of Stingers at Walmart in Panama City Beach two weeks ago. I got 3 one day and was back the next day and got 3 more and there were still several boxes.
First 22LR I have seen at Wally World in three years and I look all over the country.

 

[basicblur]

Folks, there ARE insiders at work at Walmart!
Those of you that claim to have found 22LR are lucky enough to live near a Walmart that does not have insiders at work.

In my area, the same fellow is alerted when 22LR arrives, and drags his wife and all his buddies in to clean them out whenever it goes on the shelf.
How he is accomplishing this is beyond me - I don't know if these folks are voluntarily giving him a "heads up", or if there is some money involved.
He sucks up all the 22LR, then hits the local gun shows / flea markets and sells at highly inflated prices, often putting 50 rds. in a snack bag at ridiculous prices.
Remember when Winchester had the M*22 ammo recall a while back?
After seeing the notice at Walmart, I heard him tell one of his buddies he had already mixed it in with the rest of his ammo (I guess you take your chances buying stuff in snack bags at gun shows & flea markets)!

I learned a few tricks over a year ago, and beat him at his own game until I got all the 22LR both my and my buddies needed. I also tried to saturate the local market in order to deny this fellow inflated profits, and provide ammo to shooters that were being denied ammo by his tactics.

He does have a mouth on him - he's told me more than he should, and I've overheard conversations with his buddies while waiting for the ammo to roll out. A local gun shop owner said he came in his shop the other day and told him how he had a lock on 'bout all the 22LR ammo coming in a number of area Walmarts.

Fortunately, 22LR ammo has been arriving at our local gun dealer for quite some time now. It's a hodgepodge of brands / loads, but he is getting it in on a regular basis - not at Walmart prices, but he's definitely not gouging.
Fer example - a brick of something going for $25 at Walmart he's probably selling for $35, etc.

As for where all the ammo is going, there are a LOT of folks like myself that never shot 22LR until the glut of AR style rifles (and 1911's, etc) flooded the market over the last few years.

I and friends all have 22 AR's, and regularly shoot quite a number of rounds (we ain't your father's single shot squirrel hunters)!

 

[thegunpunch]

My local Sportsman's Warehouse has availability frequently and does not allow associates any priority for purchasing any rimfire

 

[nipprdog]

Saw something shocking at the local gun show yesterday. Vendor selling CCI AR tactical 22lr for $25/300rds tax included. I can't remember seeing CCI ammo for roughly 8 cents a round at a gun show. He would have sold me 10 if I wanted, but I just bought 3 to replace the 800 rounds we put through my M&P 15-22 yesterday. (slide fire kit)

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

Well, for all the griping I've seen people do on "gouging at gunshows" for .22LR, the one thing I haven't seen at them for the last couple years is .22LR ammo flying off the tables at $50 or more a brick.

People who really needed it would buy a box, but the end result at the end of a weekend was pretty much a table still full of .22LR.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

I've bought a few hundred lately at Wally World, but they've been few and far between.

I've had better luck at Academy and Bass Pro personally.

 

[Lord Teapot]

I don't bother with Walmart anymore. At least when it comes to hunting for .22 ammo. Still diddly-squat on the shelves around here.

There's a decent supply of other calibers however.

check every day, i've seen .22 start to come back on the shelves sporadically, particularly cci.