I still love .22's

[mjwcaster]

Not a rant on lack of 22 availabilty, but a remembrance of how much fun they are.

So I finally took my daughter to an Appleseed event (my first also) today.
She used my 10/22 with a cut down stock and I borrowed another one.
Hadn't shot the 10/22 in a couple of years, basically since I put Tech-Sights on it and then 22's disappeared.

I took mine to the range yesterday just to function test it and site it in.
Man it was a blast, I remember how much fun it used to be.
Load up a few mags and break pieces of clays on the berm.
Low noise, no recoil, just a grin from ear to ear.

Will probably finish off a brick by the end of tomorrow, I have a few thousand left, been saving them for my daughter and other children, but they will go quick if the girl child shoots much this year.

I am officially back on the hunt for more 22's. Had given up on them, forgot how much fun they are.
If I can ever get more I will be shooting them too.

So much fun, it is a real shame that so many people are being deprived of such a wonderful past time.

Matt

[osteodoc08]

They're showing up online with regularity. Pay your dues and enjoy.

[texaswoodworker]

The Academy here has been getting them in regularly. They usually have at least a few thousand rounds of various brands in 50rd boxes for $3-$4 each. I love shooting my old Mossberg bolt action and my Ruger Mark III Standard. :D

[mjwcaster]

I haven't even looked much for them in the last year, just never see any at the local Wally world or Farm supply place.
Hear of some available, but 1 box limits, box not brick.

Today we shot Winchester M-22's that I stumbled into 2000 of a year or more ago.

Not impressed, in less than 2-300 rounds had 2 or 3 failure to fires, even with multiple good primer strikes.

My go to brand used to be CCI blazer, just as cheap as anything else and reliable as could be, at least for me, except for one batch a friend got with a gun, was 20%+ duds, figured they had cooked in a texas truck for years or something.
My batch of blazers fired at the same time worked great.

Will start looking seriously.

Matt

[oldred]

A couple of years ago when this thing first started I felt like I was pretty much set to weather the drought having stocked up before the insanity hit. During that time I have even passed on buying some more when I was lucky enough to be at WallyWorld at the right time, two box limit or one brick but I felt I really didn't need them and left them for someone else, now however I am about to start sweating since my stash is starting to dwindle. I really thought something would give before now but I'm not so sure anymore, it looks as if it may be years before any semblance of normal returns and if another "incident" occurs we may never see unregulated stocks anymore!

[Plate plinker]

Im hoping a republican president is the key to normal supplies.? I just do not understand why this continues.

[tdoyka]

my 22 rf has been put on the back burner ever since the supplies have run out or a box of 50 costs $10 or more. i have 3 or 4 bricks that i can shoot($16 a brick, remmies and federals), but i don't. instead i load up the 20 vartarg and shoot with it.

[texaswoodworker]

Im hoping a republican president is the key to normal supplies.? I just do not understand why this continues.

Not if they nominate a third RINO.

[SteveS]

As long as it's a Republican president thing will be better. This doesn't mean things will be great, just better than if we end up with a Democrat in the white house.

.22lr availability is getting better in my area. Not great but better.

We're still in the situation where it's prudent to buy what you can when you can and lay in a supply. I don't see that changing for quite some time, regardless of politics.

[WILCO]

So much fun, it is a real shame that so many people are being deprived of such a wonderful past time.

Matt

http://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2014/12/3/americas-top-5-handgun-cartridges/

.22 Long Rifle
I was somewhat justifiably pilloried for not including this perennial cartridge in the original piece. There is no denying the .22 LR (http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/keefe-report-ok-really-whats-going-on-with-22-rimfire) is the most popular sporting cartridge in the United States, perhaps even the world. The .22 LR is the result of the marriage of the .22 Long case developed in 1871 and the 40-grain, .22 Extra Long bullet. This marriage came about in 1887, and it rendered both parent cartridges obsolete nearly immediately. More than a billion rounds are produced worldwide annually, and until recently here in the U.S., it has been readily available and dirt cheap.
Small-game hunters and plinkers love the cartridge because of its lack of recoil and noise. The .22 LR is used regularly for short-range pest and varmint shooting on animals as small as ground squirrels and up to coyote in size, though coyote may be stretching it a bit. It is as equally at home in a revolver or a semi-automatic pistol. And accuracy in either platform is superb. I have a pair each of revolvers and semi-autos in this rimfire wonder cartridge, and each sees regular use throughout the year.


Hi Matt!

Seems like rimfire and .177 pellets receive all of my range attention these days.
Just love those short range victories with iron sights.

[FISH4BUGS]

Just bought a brick of subsonic 22's for $65. Got the Ruger with a supressor and tested in the back yard. very quiet! 22's are a lot of fun.
The sad thing is that I can shoot cast in a 38/357,45 and 44 cheaper than the 22's!
Man the world is upside down.

[375supermag]

Hi...

I to am aware of the shortages of .22LR ammunition, but it has been constantly available at some of the LGS I frequent ever since the shortages began.
I have been able to find some whether 50rd boxes or 500rd bulk packs at least monthly...there have been limits on how much one can purchase and the prices have been high, but it has been available pretty consistently. Some shops have had none whatsoever and I have seen none at Wal-Mart in over two years.
My son and I do a LGS circuit just about every week and even at the height of the shortages, we were able to find .22LR, primers and some handgun powders at one shop or another. Sometimes we paid a "premium" for what we bought, but at least we were able to get it.

I have actually been able to expand my reserves of powder, primers and .22LR ammo, while still shooting at a pretty constant rate the last couple years. Somewhere north of 6 thousand centerfire handgun rounds each of the last two years, plus a couple thousand I load for a friend. My major stumbling block has not been availability of components, but time to reload. If I had more free time, I could load and shoot more.

There was a rumor at the gun club that one of the LGS was not putting .22LR on the shelf, but keeping it for "regular" customers...whoever they are. I have not been in that shop regularly for some time, but he never has any .22LR on the shelf when I did stop in.

I have been able to continually shoot .22LR and even bought two rifles for my son and a Dan Wesson revolver for myself during the last two years.

My son and I have shot several thousand rounds of .22LR each in the last two years or so and I still have 5-6 thousand rounds.

We haven't shot much .22Mag lately...but we are constantly seeing that on the shelf at our LGS the last few months and have stocked up a couple thousand rounds.
I now feel confident that the .22Mags can be replenished as needed, so our next range trip will include my two .22Mag firearms as well for the first time in a year or two.

[Skunk1]

My daughter and I have a blast shooting the old single shot bolt 22's I have. We can shoot all afternoon on a couple hundred rounds but with the prices at 10 cents a round I fear that may come to an end soon. I can shoot reloads in other guns for that but the single shot 22s have a special place in my heart as they are what I always took out when I was a kid.

[Artful]

http://www.cdnnsports.com/email-specials/remington-thunderbolt-22lr-40gr-500rds-hi-velocity-10237.html#.VTPA8NJVhBc

22LR 40GR THUNDERBOLT 500RD BRICK REMINGTON

LIMIT 10 PER ORDER



Manufacturer: REMINGTON
Caliber: 22 LR
SKU: REMTB22A
UPC: 047700002514
In Stock $49.88
​NOTE - An Adult Signature Fee of $4.75 Will Be Added To Each Order of Ammunition - Multiple Cases Require Multiple Adult Signature Fees!

[mjwcaster]

Ok, maybe I should also amend it to DECENT 22 ammo, at a somewhat normal price.

The Winchester M-22 that I have the most of would not be shot by me normally.
After today I am up to 4-5 (maybe more, lost count) failure to fires, most tried multiple times and my first confirmed squib, in less than half a brick.
A small poof, a lot of smoke and I swear I saw the bullet barely fall out of the barrel.
Action did not cycle fully, bolt barely moved back.
Checked barrel and it was clear.
Shooting over grass and couldn't find the bullet in the couple of minutes that the range was cold.

This batch is from the time that Winchester had a recall on this ammo, but this lot was not part of it. I need to check again to see if there was another recall.

Never used it before.

I have kept all my 22 ammo for teaching kids to shoot, and I do not want them to have substandard or even dangerous ammo.

If I am paying 10 cents plus shipping and additional charges for junk 22 (sorry remington, but I gave up on you long ago), I am moving up to match grade ammo.
Or picking up a 9mm carbine.

[Bad Water Bill]

How did Gracie do yesterday?

Have to check my fridge to see if I can help her out.

Now if you want real entertainment try the many 22 CF rounds where you can cast your own.

[oldred]

Im hoping a republican president is the key to normal supplies.? I just do not understand why this continues.


We simply can't blame this continuation of the shortage on politics and a Republican in office is not going to magically change things, WE are the problem not the politicians! This shortage will continue as long as people continue to "lay in a stock while I can get it", it's as simple as that! Right now there are many thousands, probably millions, of people who will buy up every round they can find because of this "better get it while you can" attitude and until that stops then shortages and high prices will continue. It's a vicious cycle, the shortage is sustained because people think there is a shortage so if they find ammo they will buy it whether they need it or not which creates the shortage in the first place! There are thousands upon thousands of people who have huge "stashes" stored away yet will still buy every round they can find, most of these folks would not keep more than a few boxes on hand before the panic started but now not only are there these thousands, probably millions, of people trying to add to their stocks but there are thousands of new shooters who bought rifles/pistols during the first phase of the panic. This will continue until the market becomes so saturated that people lose interest in adding to their supplies and a change in the white house is not going to do much to alleviate that, 22 ammo production has more than doubled but demand has increased by many times that and still remains far higher than production rates.

We buy up every round we can find because it's in short supply and it's in short supply because we buy up every round we can find! Until that vicious cycle is broken we are stuck with the situation we have.


It's up to us to solve the problem not the politicians!

[minmax]

I'm Glad to see you took you daughter to the Appleseed event. Yes the rant on .22's. I've have not bought any for the last two years. I don't have much, but last year I sold two bricks to some guy at the LGS. So he could take his kids shooting for the first time. I sold him both for $50 as I did't feel right gouging him.
Also I want to encourage new shooters. I guess the days of $20 bricks is gone for ever. I'm still in the process of adjusting to $50 a brick. It may still be a while.

[Wis. Tom]

The people that "stock up" use dollars to buy it. I can't think of anything else, besides food, in this political climate, to buy with your hard earned dollars, than guns and ammo. Seems smart to me, to stock if you can afford it. Of course, you can always buy a CD from your bank with your extra money, and get paid .012% interest, or just enough for the stamp that they send your quarterly report. If prices go down( yea right) then they shoot expensive ammo, like now.

[Friends call me Pac]

After retiring in 2005 I went to the LGS and saw that a brick that I usually bought for $9.99 had jumped to $16.99. Granted it had been a year or two since I had bought a brick but the writing was on the wall. I mean $16 a brick was crazy. With some of the money from my monthly retirement check I greedily decided to buy at least one brick a month and sometimes even two! My thoughts were maybe I should stock up before the prices get even crazier than $16 a brick. This went on for about 2 years. Sorry I caused this huge problem of no .22 ammo. Don't worry, I don't plan to buy anymore. I managed to put away enough in 2005 and 2006 to last the rest of my life.

I'm also to blame for lack of powder and primers. I'm still shooting some I stocked up on back in 1994.

[John Allen]

Midway, quite regularly has 22 showing up. I just put myself in the notification area. I have gotten 6 bricks of CCI quiet this way. It took three orders but I got them.

[mjwcaster]

Checked Winchester, still only one recall on the M-22 ammo, my batch is not affected.

George she did Ok shooting, but had trouble handling all the information and was still exhausted from a long week.
We only shot a little on Sunday, then the group moved into timed firing and she was overwhelmed.
So we took a break and then left early.

I blame myself, she hadn't shot much before and none last year.
So she had to learn how to load the rifle, manipulate it, still has trouble seating a mag fully and working the bolt smartly, the basics.
And then add in ammo issues, every one else firing, it was just too much.

Plus I made a mistake that I know better than- I was trying to shoot also.
I knew better from our beginning fishing days, if you take the kids out, it is for them only. If you want to fish (or whatever) do it on another day by yourself, until they get proficient.

I had hoped she could get more help from the instructors, but with only 3-4 instructors for the entire line (20-30 people) it didn't work out that way.
I really wanted her to work with someone other than me, many times people do better learning from others than their own family (see it all the time in my classes, I have even had to separate husbands from the wifes a time or two).

Her last relays she got 17 out of 20 on paper, several hits on target, and did everything herself.
If I can get her to slow down, she will do much better.
I think we will be loading single shots for a while in our own training.

She also got very frustrated since she wanted to do everything that the others were doing. She unfortunately is like her parents, stubborn with no patience, a bad combination.

And she has trouble taking pleasure in her accomplishments, even though she was improving, if she did a little worse on one relay she was upset and down on herself.
She is like this with sports also, except for soccer for some reason, probably because she has been playing that for so long.

She just started softball, is doing great for someone who has never played before, but thinks she stinks anytime she makes a mistake.

And unfortunately I am not the most compassionate person at times, a little more understanding on my part in general would go a long way.

But she was upset that we were leaving early, and the only way I could calm her down was by promising her that we would work on everything we learned together, spend some time at the range and then come back again.

Then she was happy.
We stopped at the Kankakee State park on way home, watched some smallies doing the mating dance, walked the river, she played at play ground (I stayed in my car and called my folks so I did not have to disarm, IL residents will know what I am talking about).
I also shared plenty of stories that she did not remember from when she was little, we used to go the park and some other spots on rock creek a lot when she was younger, like the first time she fell and really hurt herself, or the time we were supposed to be grocery shopping, but stopped at Rock creek and I took her wading for the first time, little girl that just learned how to walk running around the creek in nothing but her diaper.
She loved that story.
She loves stories, and I enjoy the memories.
And as she gets older and better at shooting, especially after she qualifies in an appleseed as Rifleman, I am sure we will look back at this weekend and laugh at just how rough it was.
So we had a real nice end to the weekend, we just wish we had packed some rods, the smallies were schooled up in rock creek and hitting, watched one get landed.

Also they did not have a Saturday only option for this shoot (or any at bonfield it looks like), which would have been much better for her.

Overall we did learn a lot, had some fun in between all the drama and are looking forward to going back someday.

But we have a lot of work to do before that.
We will be better prepared next time.

She did like the little bit of history she learned about the beginning of the Revolutionary War, and the battle at the North Bridge, even if she took a nap during it.

Was funny Saturday night when we were talking about it, she got so upset that she hadn't learned any of it in school and we talked again about how little school will actually teach.

I also learned that her teacher adds information to the history lessons, not just what little is in the books and my respect for this teacher grew a little more.

I can highly recommend an Appleseed event for anyone looking to improve their rifle marksmanship.
Just know that it is information overload, even I found myself working on one step and forgetting several other.
I was rushed after helping her and then trying to shoot for myself, concentrating on position and breathing that I noticed my sight picture was off.
How in the heck do I rush so much that I mess up such a simple thing.

Even thought I know the basics, I need lots of practice with a rifle.
Hadn't even gotten in the prone position in a year or two.

We will be heading out for some fishing and camping at the range and if we feel like it some shooting also.
But we really need a fishing trip, maybe head back down to the state park next.

Well just checked online and the local walmart supposedly has some federal 22lr in stock, so I am heading out to get some.
The wife has told me to get some better ammo for us, so the hunt has begun again.

[SteveS]

Right now there are many thousands, probably millions, of people who will buy up every round they can find because of this "better get it while you can" attitude and until that stops then shortages and high prices will continue.

That's true and I think the reason we are seeing more and more .22lr on the store shelves is that even the hoarders are finding they have enough, probably even more than enough, and are slowing down.

I really like to squirrel hunt and .22lr is my caliber of choice. Last year I was down to well under 100 rounds left and was saving them for hunting only. Fortunately, I was able to slowly increase my supply to 2000 and felt good. The gun stores near me have .22 on the shelves every time I go in but I don't buy them. I have enough for my purposes.

Everyone has a number that reads 'OK, I have enough'.

More and more people are reaching their limit and I think that's why we are seeing it more and more at the gun shops.

[mjwcaster]

Well I struck out at the local walmart yesterday, guy said they had 6 boxes of the federals.
Things are looking much better (though still bleak).
Searching online I have found more 22 ammo than I have in a long time.
There have even been some sightings of mini mags, a walmart 40 miles from me supposedly has some in stock.
I have hit this store before, when things first got bad and I started classes I had a cruise I would make, after searching online. Took me past several walmarts, cabelas and bass pro shops.
Looks like I may have to start that again for 22, but at least there is some decent 22 ammo making it's way to the shelves.