I broke open my last .50cal ammo box of .22LR ammunition.....

[Harry O]

Back in the early 1990's there was a local store selling out and I bought 10,000 .22LR rounds of Winchester white box economy ammo. 5,000 rounds can be packed into a .50cal military ammo box and it keeps them well protected. In fact, I still have some .22LR Federal ammo that my father bought for me in 1963. Every once in a while I take out a box and shoot some of them to see if they will still fire. So far, there have been no failures to fire. Same way with the ones from the 1990's.

The bricks still have $9.99 price tags on them, but they were marked down to $8.70 per brick at checkout. My father also bought 5,000 rounds. A few years later, I inherited his 5,000, untouched. That was three .50cal ammo boxes. I just opened the third one. I got away from the .22LR for several years, but have been getting back to it in recent years.

I was just at Cabela's today and saw that they have an assortment of .22LR on the shelf now. However, the bricks were $75 to $85 each. Boxes of 100 rounds cost $9.99, same as what it cost for an entire brick back in the 1990's. I shudder to think when I have to start buying .22LR again.

[Mica_Hiebert]

You can find bricks online for 50 plus shipping and I find them locally for about 30-40 a brick but the days of 10 or even 20 dollar bricks I fear are gone.

[tejano]

You did very well, grasshopper.

[RP]

It kind of funny how people are still buying up 22s as fast as they hit the shelves the local gun shop has them in stock price is not near the prices quoted here. But the walmarts in my area are still sold out as soon as it hits the shelf I am still waiting until the crazy buyers get their fill before I start picking up any for myself.

[mcdaniel.mac]

I sprung for 15,000 rounds in the summer of 2012. There was a decent sale on Eley Sport standard velocity. The following centerfire drought turned me into something of a crack shot with a 10/22!

[LUCKYDAWG13]

Walmart had federal bricks this week 525 rounds $20.

[randyrat]

Browning is making 22 ammo now, I tried some and was surprised becaused they grouped as good as CCI standard velocity. Cost was up there though. I don't care about quantity, just quality.

[Thumbcocker]

Boolits in .32 long and magnum as well as 9mm with free brass have obviated the need for .22 at our place.

[B. Lumpkin]

Ever since the drought hit, I only buy match 22 ammo. No way I'd pay the high price for plinking fodder when it is so close to the price of premium ammo.

[Bzcraig]

Back in the early 1990's there was a local store selling out and I bought 10,000 .22LR rounds of Winchester white box economy ammo. 5,000 rounds can be packed into a .50cal military ammo box and it keeps them well protected. In fact, I still have some .22LR Federal ammo that my father bought for me in 1963. Every once in a while I take out a box and shoot some of them to see if they will still fire. So far, there have been no failures to fire. Same way with the ones from the 1990's.

The bricks still have $9.99 price tags on them, but they were marked down to $8.70 per brick at checkout. My father also bought 5,000 rounds. A few years later, I inherited his 5,000, untouched. That was three .50cal ammo boxes. I just opened the third one. I got away from the .22LR for several years, but have been getting back to it in recent years.

I was just at Cabela's today and saw that they have an assortment of .22LR on the shelf now. However, the bricks were $75 to $85 each. Boxes of 100 rounds cost $9.99, same as what it cost for an entire brick back in the 1990's. I shudder to think when I have to start buying .22LR again.

That was a significant investment in 1990 dollars given there was no real need to do so. Great investment Harry!

[Harry O]

> "That was a significant investment in 1990 dollars given there was no real need to do so. Great investment Harry!"

I just happened to have some overtime money at the same time that the store closed out. Just dumb luck. It was long before the first Clinton shortage.

Actually, it is now a family tradition. I started shooting a .22LR when I was about 12. A box cost about as much as my allowance. I was shooting off one box a week because it was all I could afford. On my 14th birthday, my father bought 10,000 rounds of Federal .22LR Hi-velocity ammunition for me (yes, the store was holding quite a sale at the time). After that, I shot two boxes per week, one from my stash and one I bought. When I went to college, I put the remaining 2,000 or so I had left in a .30cal ammo box and put it on a shelf in my parents house. I forgot about it. About 20-25 years later, my mother found it and returned it to me during a Christmas get-together. I started shooting them up, but then I decided it would be a good test of how long well stored .22LR ammo would last. I put it in a different box and pulled out a box once a year at about my birthday to shoot them. Never had a problem. I am down to my last half-dozen or dozen boxes now. I no longer pull out a box every year, but every once in a while, I shoot a few cylinder fulls. No misfires or failure to fires yet. It has been 53 years now.

[dverna]

Like Thumbcocker, I have reverted to "cheap" centerfires for fun shooting. 9mm in the pistols and .38 spl in both pistol and lever action carbines. I will not buy .22's until they drop to under $30 a brick as I still have 20k at the old prices ($9-18/brick).

It is sad that a whole generation of youngsters will not get to shoot much. 22's made it cheap and easy but many people do not reload and even fewer cast. So the average family is unable to afford to shoot.

[FergusonTO35]

During the first Obama panic in 2008-09, centerfire ammo, powder, and primers vanished here but .22's just sat on the shelf. I started buying .22's as I figured I would just practice with them to save my centerfire supplies. I would just buy some every time I went to the store. Now, centerfire stuff has almost returned to normal and rimfires are hard to find. I still have probably 5000 rounds left, gonna start feeding my Henry H001T and Single Six again.

[victorfox]

Here in brazil ammo cost was always prohibitive, but I remember going to the LGS in 1995-98 and buying a box for R$ 8 (today's dollar about US$ 2,50). Today it's about R$ 45/50rd (US$ 15), so I'm not shooting that much. Everytime I take the .22 to the range I shoot about 1/2 a box, just to see if I still can hit and the ammo fires and save the other 1/2 for next time. Then I try to buy one or two boxes every month, or a can of 300, if I get extra cash...

At least I have some stashed.

[9.3X62AL]

The 22 LR situation is ridiculous. I've ranted here and elsewhere about it, no need to re-visit that diatribe. It is utterly ludicrous that I have not seen a box of CCI 22 LR ammo on a store shelf in 5 years+.

[rintinglen]

The 22 LR situation is ridiculous. I've ranted here and elsewhere about it, no need to re-visit that diatribe. It is utterly ludicrous that I have not seen a box of CCI 22 LR ammo on a store shelf in 5 years+.

It's funny how that works. The ONLY 22 lr I have found locally in the last three years is CCI. I have managed to buy 300 rounds of standard velocity, 300 rounds of "Auto", and about 350 rounds of Quiet 22 LR. Not much for 2 1/2 years.

[Hardcast416taylor]

I`m down to my last 1 1/2 full .50 cans from buying ammo back before things got `squirrely`.Robert

[9.3X62AL]

It's funny how that works. The ONLY 22 lr I have found locally in the last three years is CCI. I have managed to buy 300 rounds of standard velocity, 300 rounds of "Auto", and about 350 rounds of Quiet 22 LR. Not much for 2 1/2 years.

And we don't live that far apart--HB vs. Redlands. Things are really screwy in the distribution network, at minimum. The underlying irritant in all this--I have a couple 22 LR self-loaders that only function on CCI ammo. Blazer, Mini-Mag, SGB all run well--but only CCI works in those Steak & Lobster Debutante Rimfires. The Rugers and S&Ws eat everything......literally. CCI rimfire ammo has been top-drawer stuff since forever, I really miss having it available.

[Iron Whittler]

I too have some bricks left from the 6.95 / 9.95 era. 22LR shooting for me is on hold. All rim fire weapons were well cleaned and coated with preserving lube for long term storage. Shooting the 22 Hornet with cast bullets is cheaper and quite accurate for limb rats, rabbits, and other small varmints. Just as quite, no recoil, so grand kids have a ball shooting them. I must admit that I miss shooting my 22's, but I will not be robbed by scalpers or profiteers.

[FergusonTO35]

Lately, I've been having lots of fun shooting the Lee 358-125-RF out of my Marlin 1894. Using range scrap boolits, shotgun powder, and whatever cheap primers I can find it costs less than the better CCI and Winchester .22 LR ammo.