Well the drought s offically over!

[KCSO]

Went into Wal Mart the other day and they had cartons and cartons of 22's one sale 325 rounds for $14.95 and a little bird said they will still drop some form there.

[djgoings]

I also noticed that Walmart had the 325 boxes of Federal Automatch on Rollback for $14.84 each. They also removed the limits.

[18Bravo]

Looking on line, the cheapest I have seen is Aguila 22LR standard velocity from Ammomen at 4 cents per round or $1.89 for a box of 50. Prices are finally on the decline. It was a sad state of affairs when you could reload 9mm for less than you could buy 22's.

[Ozark Howler]

Looks like the Hoarders got screwed......they paid the highest prices when supplies were limited......enjoy your over priced ammo

[marlin39a]

Looks like the Hoarders got screwed......they paid the highest prices when supplies were limited......enjoy your over priced ammo

Far from it. I hoarded my lifetime supply of 550 packs in 2007, when it was still going for $9.99 and up to $11.99. I've never had to go without.

[pill bug]

Yeah, gotta admit, I still look with disbelief when I see those federal automatch 325 rd boxes sitting on the shelf all day, everyday at Walmart. Not long ago I never expected to see that again.

[Hardcast416taylor]

Up until the first Bush was Prez i always seemed to be buying bricks and value packs of .22`s. I actually had the top 3 drawers of an card index file cabinet filled. When the `drought` hit I had plenty to play with and was very `popular` with people wanting some ammo. Today I am down to about 1/2 of the last drawer of ammo, maybe I should be stocking up again?Robert

[rking22]

Had to happen at some point, production overshot demand. Been waiting to restock myself. I've been buying 500 when I needed 50 since I got out of college in 81. Haven't bought 22s in any quality since 2012, time to start replenishing. Thing is I need to do some lot testing again. The Fed 550 was real good for the money in 1990, last I got wouldn't hold a squirrels head at 50!

[mozeppa]

heh.... i still have 22's in their pack of 50 boxes that are labeled 49 cents.[smilie=w:

[KCSO]

A box of Remington Hi Speed Kleenbore 22 longs from my Grandfather....63 cents.

[DerekP Houston]

Shrug I never consider my stockpiles to be a "waste"....rather have and not need or so the saying goes. I am happy my wife can take her 22 pistol out again without feeling bad when she chews through a bulk pack in no time flat. Terry had some expensive eley and other target 22lr that got flooded, I might take a box out to see how it functions after being underwater.

[fatelk]

Wait, wait, wait. You guys have it all wrong. Eight to ten cents per is the new normal, don't you know?! At least that's what I heard for the longest time, quite loudly at times.

I found some of that $14.82 Fed Automatch at Walmart recently too. Good to see supply finally catching up with demand.

I had a really basic, over simplified discussion about economics with an acquaintance a while back, who said that "now that the ammo companies see we'll pay that much, they'll NEVER lower the price again."

Basic supply and demand: when demand outstrips supply, prices will rise to the highest that the most desperate will pay. When supply catches up and overtakes demand, prices have to drop or nobody will buy.

They can't drop below the cost of production of course, so all one has to do to get an idea of what they'll be going for once the shelves are fully stocked is to get some rough idea of cost of production. That's not terribly hard to do when you figure in some data like historical prices when the shelves are full, inflation, and prices of metals.

Based on that, I've been thinking for years that that price will probably be somewhere in the ballpark of $20/brick for the cheaper stuff. That's just my opinion, for all that's worth.

I remember my grandfather telling me that he used to pay 29 cents per box for .22 shorts back in the day. If you plug that 29 cents into an inflation calculator for 1948, for example, it's $3.00 in 2017 dollars. It's fun to talk about how cheap things were way back when, but in reality 1960 dollars are about as relevant to 2017 dollars as Pesos or Rubles. You really have to do the conversion before you have any idea what kind of money you're talking about.

On the other hand, I sure wish I could go back ten or fifteen years and stock up on that cheap surplus ammo. 8mm Mauser for a nickel per round shipped, anyone?

[dverna]

My "hoard" supply was at less than $18/500. Most at about $10. Yes, I stock piled a long time ago. Sold about half of it at $50/500 when the grasshoppers needed ammo. I really upset one guy. I had forgotten to remove the price at about $8.xx. I was gouging him. I told him I was under market at the time and someone would gladly pay it He wound up buying two bricks.

I will buy more when it gets to $20/brick and sit on it for a decade or so. I still have about 20k rounds but shoot CF more so it will last a while.

[Gewehr-Guy]

fatelk, I don't remember the 5cent 8mm, mine cost a bit over 7 cents delivered! I 'm not sure how much lower .22's will go, but I think I'll start stocking up again, as I sold about half my .22's at a gun show for $45 a bulk pack, when everyone else was charging $90-100. My plan was to wait until I could buy back two boxes for every one I sold. Some of the bulk packs were purchased for $7.99 up to $14.99, so I learned to not be afraid of stocking up when its cheap and AVAILABLE.

[fatelk]

I remember buying $400 worth of '50s Yugoslavian 8mm, on clips in boxes from Century for 5 cents per round delivered, probably around 2005 or so. My wife couldn't believe I'd spent that much money on ammo, since we'd just bought our first house and had our first kid. It was the most I'd ever spent on ammo at one time by far, before or since. I wish I'd have bought a pallet load, and knew it at the time. I even told my wife that at the time, when she protested.

An FFL dealer friend later sold most of it for me, for four times what it cost me, after his commission. I never bought it to resale. It just became worth more than I figured I could afford to shoot. I can't play that game; I just buy ammo to shoot, and don't even shoot much anymore.

In retrospect I wish I'd have spent a little extra and bought '70s Yugo- much better ammo. I bought a couple cans of '70 Indian 7.62x51 for 11 cents per delivered and should have bought a pallet. The '90s Indian ammo was junk, but the '70 ammo was really good.

I should have bought a bunch of other surplus too, but if I could go back I wouldn't spend a penny on ammo. I'd buy Google stock. I remember the day it went public. My wife and I talked about investing $2,000 but decided not to because money was just too tight. If I calculate right that 2k would be worth around $35k now. I could sure use that right about now. Instead I'm in the process of slowly selling off all my extra ammo and guns just to make things work.

[Hardcast416taylor]

I was digging around in a safe and found in a container with a gel pac against moisture 5 of the 50 count boxes of the old 2 tone color of black and yellow Winchester .22`s. The boxes look so clean it is almost as if I took them out of a new brick! Think I`ll hang onto these a bit longer.Robert

[GhostHawk]

I noticed that Budsgunshop had my favorite .22lr for 5 cents a round.
Told the wife, but decided for now we are stacked high enough.

[Jeffjmr]

Feel badly for the guys at gun shows still pricing bricks at $69 and up. Guess they're hoping for a rebound.

[GONRA]

fatek - GONRA got 5000 rds. Portuguese 8mm Mauser 196 grain FMJ bullet ammo.
Noncorrosive Berdan Primers, powder shakes loose and smells sweet.
Maybe 11 cents/rd. back in the day. Shoots great: semiauto's - rifles, MG's.

[fatelk]

I almost forgot about about the Portuguese 8mm. That stuff was really good surplus. That and the Canadian.

I just went to a show last weekend. I saw a few $50 .22lr bricks but the most common price was around $35. I can't imagine too many were selling though since Walmart has plenty at $25.

[fatelk]

Regarding the gun show guys still trying to sell their $69 .22lr bricks; years ago I would occasionally help an FFL dealer friend with his tables at gun shows. He explained why he thought so many gun show people have the same old overpriced stuff show after show, year after year. Some people get caught up in how much money they "have into" something. "I can't sell it for less, I have more than that into it."

He explained what is obvious to most but beyond the grasp of some people: what you have "into" something you have to sell is completely irrelevant. It's only worth what someone is willing to pay so if you have too much into it, you're better off just selling it for what you can get and using that money to buy something you can sell and make a profit on.

Should be basic business 101, but so many of us often end up married to what we "have into" something.

[Traffer]

I started shooting again in 2015. Hadn't shot a gun before that since the early 80's. Just wanted to do some plinking. Tried to find a cheap 22 rifle for the fun (this is in 2015 now mind you) Everybody tried to talk me out of buying a 22. I got one anyway at Wallmart for $99. A Mossberg 702 Plinkster. Then my brother gave me his old Remington 514 bolt action single shot (which I prefer to the semi auto) When I couldn't find ammo my brother gave me 3 or 4 old boxes of 50. They still had the $.99 price tags on them. So I figured that I would just reload my own. That started my quest. And now about 2.5 years later, I can load my own for less than a penny per. (maybe a little over a penny, I forget) And not those kind that require buying a kit for $100. I made all my own tools. Plus I have discovered some pretty nice little secrets about getting performance from these little rimfire puppies. I am now working on a case modification that will handle higher pressures. I started getting case blow outs at 1600 fps on a 40 grain bullet. I want cases that will hold that kind of performance. Oh and they are powder coated to boot. So there. They can charge what ever price they want and I don't mind.

[fatelk]

I just picked up a 550 round box of Federal .22lr at Walmart for $22.78. The shelf was full of them. That comes to 4.1 cents per. If I wasn't pinching pennies tight right now I'd be thinking about stocking up for the future.

[Traffer]

Yup, several places have em less than a nickel a round around here now. Makes me feel so bad for those poor hoarders who are trying to unload their hoards for 10 cents a round now. bwaaahahaahahahaa

[mold maker]

Yep ! They got caught trying to stick it to us, and got stuck themselves. My Grandpaw always said, "What goes around comes around".

[old woody]

heh.... i still have 22's in their pack of 50 boxes that are labeled 49 cents.[smilie=w: GOSH, you must be as "old as I am" :)