One unusual way I know the .22 rimfire shortage has largely ended.

[Solomonson]

One unusual way I know the .22 rimfire shortage has largely ended is by shooting .22 rimfire action pistol & rifle matches. I did today and picked-up about a hundred rounds from the ground at the different stages after shooters cleared their weapons and neglected to bend over and pick them up. Not a one had a strike on them.

Back when the ammo shortage was tight, people didn't bother to bend over and pick-up their cleared rounds.

 

[ontarget]

Shortage or not you wont catch me leaving perfectly good ammo on the ground.

 

[Hardtarget]

Even as a kid...when I could buy .22s for a dollar for 50 rnds...I would re try the misfires four times. I'd rotate the round to get a different strike position 'till it fired. It was a rare thing to actually throw a cartridge away. Just not in my DNA !

Mark

 

[armoredman]

I found about 4 perfectly good 22lr rounds on the ground today on the firing line. I won't take any ammo from the ground unless it's Judgement Day.

 

[Solomonson]

I found about 4 perfectly good 22lr rounds on the ground today on the firing line. I won't take any ammo from the ground unless it's Judgement Day.

Why? They're obviously not reloads.

 

[MedWheeler]

Another is that I'm not seeing all the used .22 caliber guns for good prices in the pawn and gun shops, like I was during the shortage. Kind of miss it for that reason; picked up a handful of nice guns then...

 

[drband]

My local Academy now has their complete .22 ammo stock out on regular shelves rather than behind the counter. And it's quite a varied list of manufacturers and types!

About time!!

 

[bannockburn]

drband

My local Academy now has their complete .22 ammo stock out on regular shelves rather than behind the counter. And it's quite a varied lis of manufacturers and types!

I'm seeing this too at a number of the big box stores. Plenty of .22 ammo out on the shelves with standard, high, and hyper velocity to choose from. And none of that "3 box limit" restriction they use to have.

About time!!

Yes sir, happy days are here again!

 

[Waveski]

Cleared rounds left lying on the ground? When we shoot steel plate at my club we even lay out tarps to collect the spent rimfire casings. I guess folks are more frugal in these parts.

 

[Meplat 308]

Waste not, want not. I tend to go home with more brass than I have fired. It'll get used sooner or later.

 

[FROGO207]

For a while a medium flat rate box of spent .22 casings were fetching $28 or so at the scrap yard. It IS worth picking them up if you are able IMHO.

 

[wally]

My "proof" the .22lr shortage is over will be when the bulk pack ammo is selling for ~1/4 the price of the cheapest 9mm ammo which currently would be ~$0.04 per round ($20 a brick). I picked up 5000 rounds at $0.05 per round a few weeks ago so we are getting closer.

This is based on the relative prices back in the good old days circa 2004-2008.

 

[OilyPablo]

Back when the ammo shortage was tight, people didn't bother to bend over and pick-up their cleared rounds.

? They probably did. ?

 

[Jesse H]

Ranges I shoot at are dusty and sandy and anything that touches the deck get covered in it. I'm not going to introduce sand and dirt into my mag and gun to save a few cents.

 

[Big7]

There is NO shortage.

Just keeping the cost up on the least expensive, most popular round
in history to produce.

Don't kid yourselves. Think of all the major manufactures here and other places (even Russia)
They could crank out BILLIONS of them if they WANTED to.

They won't because they are making money on keeping them hard to get.

Those that voted for bummer' can haul that blame.

I seen it coming. I bought so many in 07', I will never have to buy another box.
Probably have enough to last my nephews when my guns and ammo roll
over to them.

 

[Cannibul]

CCI has been running their rimfire lines 24/7 for a few years now. They can produce around 4 million rounds per day. The rimfire pipeline has always been short, usually about 30 days supply. Also rimfire rounds are the most labor intensive ammo to produce. It takes 2-3 years to bring a rimfire production line online and it takes 7-10 years to see a return on the investment. The companies don't make a lot of money on those little guys, it's all about volume.

The companies that make the stuff didn't raise the prices when the shortage hit It was the people selling it that did.

 

[Solomonson]

Ranges I shoot at are dusty and sandy and anything that touches the deck get covered in it. I'm not going to introduce sand and dirt into my mag and gun to save a few cents.

There are quick and simple ways to remove all semblances of dust, sand, etc...

 

[Solomonson]

There is NO shortage.

Just keeping the cost up on the least expensive, most popular round
in history to produce.

Don't kid yourselves. Think of all the major manufactures here and other places (even Russia)
They could crank out BILLIONS of them if they WANTED to.

They won't because they are making money on keeping them hard to get.

Those that voted for bummer' can haul that blame.

I seen it coming. I bought so many in 07', I will never have to buy another box.
Probably have enough to last my nephews when my guns and ammo roll
over to them.

No. That implies collusion among several manufacturers. I'm not saying that all manufactures are above collusion, just that collusion would require a reduction in output and that would be impossible to "coordinate" among the different manufacturers, each wanting to make a buck.

 

[Big7]

No. That implies collusion among several manufacturers. I'm not saying that all manufactures are above collusion, just that collusion would require a reduction in output and that would be impossible to "coordinate" among the different manufacturers, each wanting to make a buck.

That's exactly what's happening.

 

[.308 Norma]

Cleared rounds left lying on the ground? When we shoot steel plate at my club we even lay out tarps to collect the spent rimfire casings. I guess folks are more frugal in these parts.

Cleared rounds left lying on the ground probably means something, I'm just not sure it means the "ammo shortage" is over. Hardtarget mentioned that when he was a kid, he could buy .22s for a dollar for 50 rounds. I'm that old too. But that's not the whole story. The rest of the story is that when I was a kid and .22s were a dollar for 50 rounds, I was making minimum wage ($1.00 an hour) working in the fruit orchards. So a dollar for 50 rounds of .22s represented a hour's worth of pretty darned hard work.
What's minimum wage nowadays - eight or nine bucks an hour? I haven't priced .22s lately either - do they still represent an hour's worth of hard, minimum wage labor? I'm asking, not arguing.
What I am saying is the same thing ontarget said - "you won't catch me leaving perfectly good ammo on the ground." Obviously some people do though. Maybe those people never thinned peaches for an hour for a box of .22 shells or 3 gallons of gas. I did. I'm frugal, and proud of it!

 

[larryh1108]

I just ordered 5000 rounds of HV ammo from Target Sports USA for $0.05 each delivered. Hard to imagine finding it a lot cheaper than that any time soon.

Just keeping the cost up on the least expensive, most popular round
in history to produce.

You can believe what you want to. It's a free country.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Why? They're obviously not reloads.

How do you know what they are?.... I talked to a genius one time who admitted pulling the bullets out of two .22 lr shells, dumping the powder from one case into the other and pushing the bullet back in. He said he was hoping to make some long rifle magnums. He said he blew up a semi auto Winchester rifle instead.

 

[CraigC]

I'll consider it over when I can walk into any store and buy as much as I want. That still ain't happening.

I rarely pick up .22LR ammo that hits the ground because they are coated in lube and that tends to pick up dirt. I don't want to be grinding dirt into my rifling.

 

[Owen]

Why? They're obviously not reloads.

I don't want the grit in the wax going down my bore.

 

[akarguy]

Nope. Still a .22 bubble. This won't be over by any other indicator other than 550 packs of federal bulk readily available at any Walmart for under $19. That's what it was pre Newtown. Its almost as if Federal no longer makes these. That's the demand, and 5 years into this they never responded