Have the hoarders bought up all of the 22LR???

[Lead Fred]

My bud watches the on-line supplies, says within 2 minutes of 22 rimfire being posted by the big ammo sites, its all gone. Week after week, he gets the e-mail notifications, within minutes they are sold out.

At this rate it will never hit the store shelves

[jcwit]

If not the young upcoming generation is going to be squeezed out.

May that not be the whole idea behind what is happening.

[Swamp Man]

I'm lucky I had stocked up before this shortage but when stock returns I'm going to buy up to 10 cases of 22lr. My plan is to buy for price control for years to come then any shortages to come will not effect me on stock or price.

[VintageRifle]

Bricks of 22lr were marked $75.00 at the Lima, Ohio gumshow Saturday. Same ammo that is $29.99 per 525 rounds at Dunham's. How do I know... These guys still have the old Dunham's sticker on them. The same sticker that was on them last week when Dunham's priced the box. Threw one guy had 5 on his table. These are the people buying the ammo at retail stores and buying it all when it comes in. Never mind the 3 box limit, a family of 4 can clean house. A group of friends will do the same. Seen it last month myself at my local Dunham's.

[Swamp Man]

Bricks of 22lr were marked $75.00 at the Lima, Ohio gumshow Saturday. Same ammo that is $29.99 per 525 rounds at Dunham's. How do I know... These guys still have the old Dunham's sticker on them. The same sticker that was on them last week when Dunham's priced the box. Threw one guy had 5 on his table. These are the people buying the ammo at retail stores and buying it all when it comes in. Never mind the 3 box limit, a family of 4 can clean house. A group of friends will do the same. Seen it last month myself at my local Dunham's.

Yep that's the kind of scum that's causing a lot of the problems.

[starmac]

Yep that's the kind of scum that's causing a lot of the problems.

In my mind, it is the ones buying it at those prices that is causing the problems. They are for sure causing some long term price changes.

[dnotarianni]

There is a lot of comfort to be had in a supply of primers and a nice stack of ingots.

Add some powder and you can sleep quite well
Dave

[I'll Make Mine]

Its time for someone to flood the market with cheap imported plinking rimfire ammo. Maybe somebody like a ammo Harbor Freight.

By the time you meet BATF license and compliance to import, store, distribute, and sell ammunition, you couldn't get Prvi Partizan into this country for any less than Remingon or CCI semi-premium rounds -- i.e. it wouldn't compete with bulk ammo like Blazers or the big-box 325 or 500+ round loose packs. There's already PPU and Wolf .22 at some of the main import ammo outlets (same places that sell NATO surplus 9 mm and 5.56 or Russian and ex-ComBloc 7.62x39 or 7.62x54R), and it's just as sold out, or just as overpriced, as the small-box "made in USA" brands. Aguila is in the same category; the only rounds I see in that brand are either off the shelf in minutes or are the specialty stuff (Colibri, Super Colibri) that won't work in most semi-autos (or, at best, makes your 10/22 into a straight pull bolt action).

I have to presume, based on business practices and just good sense, that Prvi, Aguila, Wolf, and anyone else offshore with a rimfire line is, just like Federal, Remington, Winchester, and CCI, already running at capacity 24/7 trying to catch up on pre-orders for rounds they won't make for another three or four months.

[jbc]

Sportsmans warehouse was my favorite store. I used to drive an hour and a half to get there but they closed down several years ago. Their website shows no stores in the burgh. What am I missing???

The only 22lr I have seen in the Pittsburgh area has been at Sportsmans warehouse. They are well stocked and asking highly inflated prices. Most of their ammo inventory is auctioned online in case lots and is not for sale to walk in customers.

I see posts where people have found 22 at Walmart in our area but I have never been in the right place at the right time. My opinion is that in the future we will be accepting a new normal for prices when the shelves are all restocked. In my life I recall sugar shortages, gas shortages, coffee shortages, etc. and have never seen prices return to pre-shortage levels after inventories returned to normal. I don't see 22lr being any different.

[James6406]

My bad - I meant sportsman supply. They have a store in butler and east Brady.

[jbc]

My bad - I meant sportsman supply. They have a store in butler and east Brady.

gotcha, thanks!

[Lawyerman]

99% of the time 22lr ammunition is cheap and plentiful. Why anyone who enjoys shooting it does not keep at least 20k on hand is really incomprehensible to me. If you get caught wanting 22lr ammunition, you deserve it. Stop griping about hoarders. It is not their fault. It is your fault. You screwed up.

That's where I come down as well. Many of the people who are whining DID get caught short. This is not the first time we have seen shortages and there is simply no excuse for not being prepared. I saw it in '94, 00, 08 and now again- get a clue, if you like shooting, you better put as much ammo away as you have room for.

If you are saying "Well, I'm not short but I worry about others"...then sell them what you have, you obviously stocked up with that in mind- because we KNOW you stocked up, right? Problem solved. You might even make a buck, not TWO because that would be GOUGING....but a buck for your fuel and time would be reasonable right?

I'm shooting .22 ammo I bought in 1998 right now. Paid $7 a brick for it. It shoots fine. So, I have plenty of ammo AND I'm shooting cheaper than most folks....is there any reason NOT to store ammo? I've bought a brick EVERY week since 1994...yea, I've shot some and when I found a really good deal I bought more than a brick--for example- Just last fall CMP had cases of Remington Match Ammo, 5000 rounds for $95 plus shipping. That wasn't that long ago....I bought 5 cases of that alone. Shooting it up now as I don't know how it was stored vs. what I have on hand already....With conservative shooting- brick a month or less, I could go 20 years and still have ammo to shoot.

[preparehandbook]

I like to have a few thousand rounds on hand because it's so easy to burn through a bunch.

Being a cautious guy I am buying any reasonably priced rimfire I find at stores.

I find the profiteering distasteful so when a co worker complained he could not find any ammo to take his wife shooting her new rifle I gave him a couple hundred rounds of federal bulk free of charge.

[9.3X62AL]

The whole ammo supply sitch is just plain perverse, your view of the issue notwithstanding. What I derive from the speed with which the store shelves get swept clean by the combined efforts of hoarders/flippers/Chicken Littles is that the supply chain was never very deep, and maybe the ammo makers need to adjust for a "New Normal". I DO know that I have no need for 22 LR bricks at $65-$75 per copy. Most of my centerfire calibers with cast boolits can be loaded & fired for less money per shot. So BLEEP OFF, ya barracudas.

[Lawyerman]

The whole ammo supply sitch is just plain perverse, your view of the issue notwithstanding. What I derive from the speed with which the store shelves get swept clean by the combined efforts of hoarders/flippers/Chicken Littles is that the supply chain was never very deep, and maybe the ammo makers need to adjust for a "New Normal". I DO know that I have no need for 22 LR bricks at $65-$75 per copy. Most of my centerfire calibers with cast boolits can be loaded & fired for less money per shot. So BLEEP OFF, ya barracudas.

Of course it isn't very deep. Nobody pays to warehouse merchandise anymore- everything is JIT. Here's a rather sobering little thought......What if instead of ammo....we were talking about something really important....like FOOD?....The supply chain is almost no different. The $1 can of corn last week-- now $50.....interesting...."Let them eat Cake", the lady said.....Go Google "Food Shortages and Arab Spring" and see what you get for search returns. Again, history may not truly repeat itself but anyone with a brain can see that things like this happen with some regularity- and preparation is in order.

[preparehandbook]

whatever the causes and reactions it will be a long time, if ever, that the US ammo (and firearm) market returns to "normal".

So many billions of rounds of ammo bought up and stored. I have seen some calculations and it is staggering, the numbers bought each day are so large...

New shooters coming into the sport with a "shortage mentality" which will forever mold how they purchase.

Manufacturers struggling with triple shifts only to be hopelessly behind.

[Swamp Man]

Now that the gun ban bill has been shot down I think a lot of people will relax and slow down on buying.

[9.3X62AL]

I surely do hope you are correct, sir.

[fryboy]

my fav small local LGS just got a case ( 100- 50 round boxes ) of ten-x in , no cheap blasting fodder but is currently listed at old pre-craze prices

[shooterg]

Gun Show Salem, VA yesterday - plenty of .22 - at $10 a box of 50 ! Bulk pack Federal $85. One guy had a 555 rd. Winchester, $130 ! And others in between...