View Full Version : .22lr ammo
The last time I bought .22lr was just before Newtown. All this year I saw it in multiple ads bought up and resold on Armslist at double, triple or more than it was purchased for. Now I see one or two ads that have been up for several days not selling. I am not actively hunting for .22 but when I do look for it there is none to be found. If it is still flying of the shelves faster that it can be produced where is it going? Any thoughts?
I just bought a box of 525 Remington Golden Bullets last week for around $22.00. The limit was 1 per customer, and they were going fast. Another store in the area had some that I saw yesterday for $45.00 for the exact same item. Those weren't going so fast. I think plenty are being produced but they are selling immediately if reasonably priced, probably because people are afraid they won't get them any more at a reasonable price. Hopefully this panic buying will end soon.
On a side note, I am noticing that 223/556 ammo is sitting on the shelves in great numbers, unless the price is .40 cents per round. based on that, I think, and I hope, that 223/556 ammo will go down in price soon. These stores will want to move the ammo.
It's mellowing out a bit, I've bought a couple thousand rounds in the last year, haven't paid more than .08 a round and haven't bought junk like the GB's either. You just have to pay attention and be Johnny on the spot....O.L.
What is the cost per round up to now? The last time I bought it I was paying 3.5 cents a round for 50 rnd boxes of Federal. I remember most of the bulk packs going for $17(Rem. bulk)to $24(Win M22).
superstratjunky
12-13-13, 21:49
Sucks, cause I saw three pallets of boxes of CCI match for $44 at F&S. Two boxes per customer & didn't have the cash. It was gone that day I heard.
A bucket of bullets of Remington had an expected in-stock date of June 2014. :(
Have picked up some .22lr since last year. Have maybe shot 300 rounds of .22lr since last year, considering for a while the cheapest ammo for me to shoot was 5.56 should tell you all you need to know. Anyway, have picked up a little bit of .22lr at none insanity prices, mostly CCI maybe a dollar more than I would have paid before the scare for a 100 round box. Did have one joker who offered me a brick of Remington Golden Bullets for a windowed OD Pmag, did take that one.
A bucket of bullets of Remington had an expected in-stock date of June 2014. :(
Odd...Our LGS had R buckets on the shelf last week, didn't look at the price since I won't buy Remington bulk at any price....O.L.
Odd...Our LGS had R buckets on the shelf last week, didn't look at the price since I won't buy Remington bulk at any price....O.L.
With the exception of Thunderbolt I haven't had any major issues with Remington .22lr. At least no issues more than other bulk .22lr. Of course looking back in hindsight I should have bought a pallet of Aquila .22lr when I could have bought it for $104 for a 5K case.
I am still kicking myself for not stopping and cleaning out Walmart of all of the .22 ammo about a week before the frenzy started. I thought it will be there next week and that next week it was all gone...
I have never had any trouble with the Remington Golden Bullet. I have gone through well over 1500.
I have never had any trouble with the Remington Golden Bullet. I have gone through well over 1500.
I've never had any problems either. In fact Golden bullets work much better than any Federal I've tried in my 10/22.
I have exteremely good luck with the Remington GB. Actually shoots very well in most of my .22's be they pistols or rifles. I do hav a couple of Walther P-22's that don't seem to work well with ANY brand of .22. POS is what they are!!!
What I have had issues with are the Federal Auto Match bulk 325 rnd. cartons. Not sure I have ever had so many misfires from one brand of .22 in 45 years of shooting this caliber. My son and I USE to shoot 500-1,000 a week, before the Great ammo shortage of 2012-13. Federal AM is all I have been able to buy since last fall. I was able to get 3 cartons at a Wal-Mart one day and have been shooting it very sparingly. I was getting a misfire nearly 25-30 shots and this was out of several different firearms. Must have gotten a bad lot, The QC guy was sleeping or checking out the lady next to him on the line! ;)
HackerF15E
12-15-13, 14:38
I wish I'd triple-downed on the surplus 5,000-round 22LR cases that CMP was selling in '12 for about $0.025/round delivered.
As is, I have not had to worry about finding 22LR for the last year due to that stash, but as for the future...
I've not fired a single round of it in months now. I guess it's just being spoiled by prior supply and pricing, but I have a hard time buying it for the prices that I can find it at, when I can buy pistol rounds for pretty much the same price. Shoulda, coulda, woulda...
I scored 3 Federal 22lr bulk packs for $23.97 each at Walmart this morning. About .04 per round up a penny from Dec. 2012 when I last bought some. I am on vacation in 2 weeks so I will be looking to get more.
I don't even get the rimfire shortage. I just don't get that much thrill from shooting 22 rimfire. I guess it's all part of the panic mentality.
SurplusShooter
02-18-14, 10:23
I don't even get the rimfire shortage. I just don't get that much thrill from shooting 22 rimfire.
It's just a way to shoot alot more for cheaper. Even if you reload pistol/rifle (I do), Rimfire is still cheaper by a bit, also considering your time to make those reloads is worth something also. For rifle, shooting a Rimfire rifle at 100 or 200 is quite a challenge and gives you the ability to simulate long-range shooting when you don't have a long range (200 yards Is the max I have in my area).
Also good for cheap "family time" at the range. I have a Rimfire dueling-tree and there's a plate-rack at the range, great fun.
Last year I burned about 1K rounds of .22lr per month, between practice, plinking, and competition. Everything from cheap bulk ammo for Steel Challenge to Eley Edge for long-range rifle.
I used to burn a 500 round brick or a complete bulk pack each weekend. We'd be standing on Brass carpet, I'd joke. Just kinda got out of it I guess.
Was at a gun show this weekend and they apparently haven't gotten the message. Federal 525 boxes were $65 and M22 500rd box was $85. I was lucky to buy 8,000 rds before the panic so I just choose to vote with my wallet and walk away. As a poster mentioned earlier, when .22 is going near the same price as other ammo, I prefer to shoot the other ammo, especially since it's becoming much more common and available now.
SurplusShooter
02-18-14, 11:43
Around here I see some places with prices pretty-high and hardly anybody buying a that price. We are lucky to have several good stores so occasionally can buy It at a "decent price" instead. People who live in areas where they cannot mail-order must be really hurting bad.
I don't even get the rimfire shortage. I just don't get that much thrill from shooting 22 rimfire. I guess it's all part of the panic mentality.
it's high on the survivalist/hoarding list. I like it because my kids can run through a lot of ammo in just a short session with either pistol or rifle.
I used to start them out on .22, let them move up to centerfire, then when that runs out, let them blast .22 till it's gone.
now with the shortage, I've gone into the back of the safe and pulled out the single shot rifle and got them working on their "Sniper" skills... ;)
Failure2Stop
02-18-14, 15:41
I don't even get the rimfire shortage. I just don't get that much thrill from shooting 22 rimfire. I guess it's all part of the panic mentality.
Nothing suppresses like .22 ;)
I scored 3 Federal 22lr bulk packs for $23.97 each at Walmart this morning. About .04 per round up a penny from Dec. 2012 when I last bought some. I am on vacation in 2 weeks so I will be looking to get more.
Whenever I am in a place that historically sold .22 LR, I ask about availability.
The other day the clerk at WalMart told me that I would have to show up between 6 and 7, as that's when people line up to buy them out of what was just shipped in.
Nothing suppresses like .22 ;)
Whenever I am in a place that historically sold .22 LR, I ask about availability.
The other day the clerk at WalMart told me that I would have to show up between 6 and 7, as that's when people line up to buy them out of what was just shipped in.
It's a shame they can't turn those people away. I've talked to several Walmart clerks who man the ammo counters and they are constantly complaining about the same 3-5 people who show up and buy everything. They know they're likely re-selling it and those are the exact people who are contributing to the shortage. They said they would love to be able to turn them away to make sure other people got a chance to get some and also it would discourage them if they knew there was a chance that they'd show up early and just waste their time. It would help bring about an end to this whole fiasco. It's funny watching them turn red with disdain when talking about them too.
Failure2Stop
02-18-14, 16:45
The worst part of it all is that we are essentially doing it to ourselves.
Leaveammoforme
02-18-14, 17:32
I noticed 22 lr started being in short supply when the proposed 5 cent tax per round talk was going on. Which would have made 22 lr 'expensive'. But now people are paying more than it would have been with the tax at pre-freakout pricing. Makes since to me that since it was the first caliber in high demand so it will also be the last caliber to be back in high supply. If people simply stopped buying from price gougers, then the gougers would stop buying it all up IMO. But then again I dont need any so my opinion is biased.
Your opinions accurate though. When people won't pay $85 for a box of 500, the gouges will stop buying more ammo they can't sell. The price will lower to a point where sales resume... That will be the new market price.
Around here I have seen the main contributors to the 22lr as attributable to the following causal factors:
1.) A group of retirees who arrive at all local vendors, that still sell 22lr at reasonable prices anyway, and supplement their retirement incomes by selling them online.
2.) People bought 22lr guns before the mass panic to save money and are now trying to put them to use. It was surprising to me how many 22lr guns were leaving local shelves prior to the panic.
3.) Since we live in a unpredictable time those who feel they are depraved of ammo and unwilling to bet the future will buy everything they see every time they see it as a hedge against future assaults on the supply.
Since number three seems to be true across the land, number one will continue and the whole damning cycle will go on like the dry heaves of a incurable flu. Locally 22lr that is in stock is 7.50 and up for a box of 50. What was said about 223/5.56 is true as Walmart is at 7.43 a box for American Eagle and can't keep it in stock and Academy is a 9.99 a box and can't sell a box.
.22s are as rare as dinosaur teeth around here, and just as expensive.
I agree, with the rising cost of ammunition, even as things have settled, it will be one of the more economical calibers to shoot in quantity. Ammunition prices are not going to fall to where they were a year or two ago. The low cost of .22lr allows most people to stock up on thousands if they buy it at normal retail prices. Many active shooters, or those with children shooting, are going to continue to buy a brick when they can find it at normal retail. Plinking with a .05 cent round out of a MP 15/22 is a lot less painful than an ar15 at .38 cents a round. I have gotten lucky at some stores that were off the beaten path. Anything extra I have, I like to barter with. My brick of .22lr for a lb of rifle powder I cant find, ect. Walmarts around here have ammunition sitting on shelves for several days now in all calibers with the exception on 22lr.
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