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Thread: Anyone else move away from .22s because of the shortage?

  1. #81
    Boolit Master

    FLINTNFIRE's Avatar
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    I will not get rid of all of them , but some I will as for the 50,000 dollar truck ,well I am driving a 94 toyota I bought in 99 and plan on driving it till it or I am done , meal for $30 , well thats on way up to the dept. of natural resource land which is about all thats left open to shoot on and thats food for the kids and myself , I still belong to the local range but do not shoot there often and see nowhere near the same amount of fired 22lr brass on the ground.

    Yes it is true that as shooters and especially as reloaders who cast we tend to look for better deals to save some money , which we spend on another firearm or mold or press and dies , powder and primers , loved the tula and wolf primers when they were cheap and available , surplus powder was great shoot more for less per shot , like to cast and reload and molds will last a long time , yes we spend the money , but overall it cuts the cost and during the shortage I was not without .

    I could go to the range or up in the woods to shoot and there was few to no one else up there shooting , gi brass had or may still have wc844 for $99 a 8lb jug that is a good buy and makes the 223 so much cheaper to shoot , early 90's when 7.62x39 chinese ammo was 69-79 for 1200 rounds that was fun.

    Shoot what you want collect what you want , so moving on from 22lr what about 22 win. mag always thought that was to expensive as I could not reload it , prices of ar15 rifles have came back to about the cheapest they have been , I know people who reload who will not load 9mm as they say its so cheap to buy , I think thats funny but to each their own .

  2. #82
    Boolit Master Shawlerbrook's Avatar
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    No way ! I have a good supply and this may a good time to increase it.

  3. #83
    Boolit Master

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    Quote Originally Posted by FLINTNFIRE View Post
    I will not get rid of all of them , but some I will as for the 50,000 dollar truck ,well I am driving a 94 toyota I bought in 99 and plan on driving it till it or I am done , meal for $30 , well thats on way up to the dept. of natural resource land which is about all thats left open to shoot on and thats food for the kids and myself , I still belong to the local range but do not shoot there often and see nowhere near the same amount of fired 22lr brass on the ground.

    Yes it is true that as shooters and especially as reloaders who cast we tend to look for better deals to save some money , which we spend on another firearm or mold or press and dies , powder and primers , loved the tula and wolf primers when they were cheap and available , surplus powder was great shoot more for less per shot , like to cast and reload and molds will last a long time , yes we spend the money , but overall it cuts the cost and during the shortage I was not without .

    I could go to the range or up in the woods to shoot and there was few to no one else up there shooting , gi brass had or may still have wc844 for $99 a 8lb jug that is a good buy and makes the 223 so much cheaper to shoot , early 90's when 7.62x39 chinese ammo was 69-79 for 1200 rounds that was fun.

    Shoot what you want collect what you want , so moving on from 22lr what about 22 win. mag always thought that was to expensive as I could not reload it , prices of ar15 rifles have came back to about the cheapest they have been , I know people who reload who will not load 9mm as they say its so cheap to buy , I think thats funny but to each their own .
    Just to clarify, I wasn't knocking the frugality of the average reloader. You and I probably have a lot in common. My Toyota is a '97 that I bought in '01, and I'm nowhere near done with it yet! I wasn't knocking the $30 meal either. Feeding the family at McDonald's cost almost that much.

    As to .22 Win Mag, I just bought my very first firearm that will shoot it, last week. It's a Rough Rider revolver. I'll probably buy one box of 22 mag ammo, and rarely ever use the magnum cylinder. I have to admit, I never saw much of a use for it either, as ammo cost as much as or more than reloading .223 ammo. To each their own, though.

    I sure miss the cheap surplus powder and Chinese ammo. It was early 2000's sometime when I bought $400 worth of surplus Yugoslavian 8mm Mauser for 5 cents per round, delivered. My wife about had a fit, but I was unapologetic, said I wish I could have bought ten times as much.

  4. #84
    Boolit Master
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    I haven't fired my .22 in many years. I've been casting and handloading for 9 mm as of late, with a few .30 caliber rounds every now and then. I was loading for my .45, but no longer have them.
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  5. #85
    Boolit Buddy
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    I replaced it with cast 9mm during the shortage and have never went back to shooting them.

  6. #86
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    Getting rid of a gun just because ammo was temporarily a little hard to find seems short-sighted to me. Especially when it's the most popular and used rifle caliber ever produced.

    Of course, if people always made good decisions there wouldn't be pawn shops or rehab clinics.
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  7. #87
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    Reloads won't fit in my Anschutz 54 match.

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  8. #88
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    Quote Originally Posted by Elkins45 View Post
    Getting rid of a gun just because ammo was temporarily a little hard to find seems short-sighted to me. Especially when it's the most popular and used rifle caliber ever produced.

    Of course, if people always made good decisions there wouldn't be pawn shops or rehab clinics.
    There was a stretch there where a lot of pawn shops wouldn't take in .22 rifles and the ones they had could be bought cheap. Seems a guy could have made some smoking deals if he was looking for one.

  9. #89
    Boolit Grand Master GhostHawk's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by lefty o View Post
    rimfire machinery is entirely separate from centerfire machines, zero interchangeability between them. i was working in an ammo factory during that time period, and the problem wasnt the manufacturers.

    Yes sir, and I know that. But, what feeds that machinery? Takes powder.

    Even if the problem was not the manufacturers, just the rumor of a problem could be enough to set it off. True?

  10. #90
    Boolit Master

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    just paranoid people.

  11. #91
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    Quote Originally Posted by fatelk View Post
    Now I feel like I was missing out on something back then. Anyone else buy $5.95 bricks of 22 ammo anytime in the last 30 years? I know for a fact that the Walmarts that I frequented were probably double that price in that same time period. Maybe it's a regional thing.
    Yes bought many at Wally world for $5.95, 6.95 etc. Stopped buying when they went above $10.00. I would get a case or 2 per month at the $5.95 cost.

  12. #92
    Boolit Master

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    Wow, I really was missing out. I remember them being around $10 here, but the only time I recall buying them for less was sometime in the mid 90’s. There must be substantial profit now in rimfire ammo, if they could afford to manufacture, distribute, and retail them for that.

    It’s especially funny because a couple years ago people all over the gun forums were saying that $35+ was the new normal for 22 ammo; it would Never be cheaper because the greedy ammo companies found out we’d pay it, cost of metals, cost of manufacturing, Doe Run, etc...

    Now that it’s down to about half that, it’s still too much for some of us, because we remember it being cheaper.

  13. #93
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by fatelk View Post
    Wow, I really was missing out. I remember them being around $10 here, but the only time I recall buying them for less was sometime in the mid 90’s. There must be substantial profit now in rimfire ammo, if they could afford to manufacture, distribute, and retail them for that.

    It’s especially funny because a couple years ago people all over the gun forums were saying that $35+ was the new normal for 22 ammo; it would Never be cheaper because the greedy ammo companies found out we’d pay it, cost of metals, cost of manufacturing, Doe Run, etc...

    Now that it’s down to about half that, it’s still too much for some of us, because we remember it being cheaper.
    I remember it cheaper...less than $5.00 a carton. Mid to late 60's. I didn't have a job at the time so I could never afford it. My dad, who did have a job couldn't afford to buy it in the quantity that would keep his 5 boys shooting. When I started buying my own ammo it was about $7.00 a carton and I couldn't afford to buy enough to keep me and my son shooting all we wanted. In the 60's I doubt my dad made more than 5 or 6 bucks an hour. When I retired a few years ago I was making about $50 an hour. 22 ammo was about $40 a carton when you could find it at the time. It was no more then than it was in the 60's, and it's cheaper now at $18 a carton than I have ever seen it when you factor in inflation.

    What caused the last shortage (in my opinion) is the surge in gun ownership before the past 3 elections. I'd venture a guess that the majority of guns purchased were 22 rimfire. Add millions of new shooters and you can see where there would be a shortage of ammo. Add hoarders and profiteers to the mix and the price went way up and supply was almost non existent. Other than cost increases to produce it, I don't think the "greedy ammo company's" had much to do with the price increase.

  14. #94
    Boolit Master

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    That was the point that I was making: that when you factor inflation, today's prices are well within the historical norm.

    FLINTNFIRE and Geezer kind of blew me out of the water with the $5.95 bricks in the early 2000's, though. I have to apologize to FLINTNFIRE, by the way; I shouldn't have doubted you. I just don't remember seeing it that cheap at that time. That was definitely a historical aberration, but I wonder why? It seems like that would have been below the cost of production.

    I know there was some incredibly cheap surplus ammo on the market around that same time. Maybe that was a factor. I remember I was buying 8mm Mauser for 5 cents per round in the early/mid 2000's, 7.62x25, 7.62x54R and fresh Russian 7.62x39 for 7 or 8 cents each, even 7.62x51 and 30-06 for around 10 cents. Those were the days for cheap ammo.

  15. #95
    Boolit Master
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    I shot my 22 Glock conversion quite a lot. Still do, but when the time came when I could reload centerfire 9 mm for less per round than buying any 22 LR (if I could find any at all, and only a few brands would run in my conversion) I cut back. When I started casting my own, my cost for 9mm just about halved, so I expect even less 22 shooting. I will definitely put by some 22 though.

  16. #96
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    When I had a manufactures license [07] Wally World sold 22's cheaper than I could buy from any supplier unless I wanted to order a million rounds or so.

    Before OB got elected I had 20K rounds in my own basement. I believe the 22 is the best ammo for storage. Cost and use is tops. It is not for protection from attack but it will get you arms to do so.

    Compared to ammo costs today disregard any reloads it still is the buy now ammo. Yes we shot lots more 9mm during the shortage but I do like shooting suppressed in the yard again without spending hours casting and reloading.

    All the primers I am still using cost me less than $5.00 per K. Bought them on auction from some of the bigger auction houses in New England. Not small amounts. They got bought because the cost of Hazmat and shipping vs. picking them up in my truck. Stores closed their loss my gain.

    What primers do I like = CHEAP!!!!!!!!

  17. #97
    Boolit Grand Master Tripplebeards's Avatar
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    I haven't shot my 22 pistol since the mid 90's and got rid of all my 22 rifles. Bigger was better. Last fall I decided that I needed rimfire said again. I bought a cz452 ultralux super exclusive 22 lr and a ruger American 22 wmr. After getting the wmr my CZ collets dust. My American can shoot smaller groups at a 100yds than my CZ can at 50 and squirrels stopped crawling off with the win mag. Almost too destructive. Both fun to shoot. You don't need muffs for the CZ.

  18. #98
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    Quote Originally Posted by Elkins45 View Post
    Getting rid of a gun just because ammo was temporarily a little hard to find seems short-sighted to me. Especially when it's the most popular and used rifle caliber ever produced.

    Of course, if people always made good decisions there wouldn't be pawn shops or rehab clinics.

  19. #99
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Quote Originally Posted by Geezer in NH View Post
    22's are avail now at reasonable prices "buy it cheap, stack it deep" is an old theme.
    This is my strategy too! Buy it when it's cheap!

    I was fortunate enough to have enough stashed back to be able to continue to shoot despite the shortages and price gouging. I use the same strategy with lead, powder, primers and brass.

  20. #100
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    Saw a ton at Wal Mart a few minutes ago. Cheap too.
    You can miss fast & you can miss a lot, but only hits count.

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