Rimfire 22WMR ammo - the price per round is INSANE!

[Land Owner]

I (may) have an option from a private seller for a KelTec 22 PMR pistol in 22WMR caliber. It feels nice in the hand, comes with 100 rounds, and I could (ordinarily) afford 2,500 additional rounds (retail online).

The cheapest prices of Armscor (not recommended by KelTec), CCI, Reminton, Winchester, that I find in stock (they say), online today are: $0.27, $0.28, $0.29, $0.30, $0.31 through and including $0.70 PER ROUND retail!!

What is wrong with the RETAILER's? Rimfire ammo price, which I cannot control through reloading, is INSANE.

[dale2242]

17 HMR ammo has gone through the roof as well.

[fastdadio]

22wmr has in my opinion, always been disproportionately higher priced when compared to 22lr. Not sure why. volume of sales maybe? I really like the cartridge but have never owned one because of this.

[ShooterAZ]

It's been that way for years. Fortunately, I have enough on hand to last a long time.

[M-Tecs]

$0.27 x 50 is $13.50 a box. That is not that much more than three years ago. I shoot a lot of 17 HMR and that was always cheaper than 22 Mag but currently it is significantly more. When I could find sales for $8.99 a box I would by a couple of cases of 17 HMR. I don't remember what the lowest 22 Mag prices were, but I've never seen it be less than 17 HMR until now.

[cwlongshot]

Hello My Friend!!

I just was soaked for two boxes of Federal Punch as Federal wont sell to me at this location.

Love my PMR - 30!! But it takes much massaging and smoothing to make it a reliable runner.

CW

[Jack Stanley]

When I took the plunge to the magnum I bought enough ammo to smack woodchucks for a long time . I just wish I would have bought more to practice with .

Jack

[MrWolf]

I went back and checked mine from March 2020 and they were $0.124 each delivered for 5,000.

[M-Tecs]

I went back and checked mine from March 2020 and they were $0.124 each delivered for 5,000.

Wow! Where did you find that good of price? None of my sources in early 2020 came close to $6.20 per 50.

I purchase by the case also but 2,000 round cases are all I've found except for Armscor and they don't have the bullets I want.

I use 30 grain V-Max or 33 grain Remington AccuTip's for prairie dogs.

[Gtek]

Stay out of the big "sports" stores, seen 19.99/50 for CCI at Academy last night.

[Winger Ed.]

I guess it's all relative.

Compared to .22LR, when you can catch it on sale---- its always been higher than giraffe lips.

[GhostHawk]

Actually .22mag ammo is down considerably from where it was a few months back.

Before this madness I was paying 20 to 24 cents per round. Now if you use ammo seek you can find it for 28 to 30 cents for the bullet weight and brand you prefer. Not all that bad. That 70 cents a round is what it was up to for a while in most places. Those stores likely have not sold much, so have not reordered and received fresh shipments at lower prices. And with current prices elsewhere, they are not likely to sell much.

Considering that to reload centerfire is going to cost you 15 cents a primer and more for powder, lead, brass. It does not seem as bad as it could.
But if you have not been pricing ammo, wait till you see the prices on centerfire rifle ammo! Even .30-30 ammo that was available anywhere a year ago for 50 cents a round or less is now 2 or 3 dollars per round. 50$ for a box of 20, now that to me is greed pure and simple.

[dverna]

.22 Mag never made much sense to me. Cheaper to reload .223 to whatever power level desired in the rifles.

In a pistol, I never had the need...but can see others that want it.

[Winger Ed.]

.22 Mag never made much sense to me. Cheaper to reload .223 to whatever power level desired in the rifles.



For a couple reasons, that was how I got into casting for .38Spec.
Since my time (according to an ex-wife) is worth about 4 cents an hour, I figured out
I could cast and shoot .38Spec. for almost the same price as buying premium .22s like CCI Stingers.

[dtknowles]

I posted a thread here on how I make .22 Mag from .22 LR that equals .22 Mag performance in my Ruger Single Six. I don't have a .22 Mag rifle since I have a .22 Hornet.

I did that development and testing just because I am an experimenter and it seemed possible. I was disappointed in .22 Mag in a pistol as it was barely better than the best .22 LR ammo. I think factory .22 Mag is tuned to rifle length barrels. I could post test data both mine and published that demonstrates this.
Tim

[downzero]

22wmr has in my opinion, always been disproportionately higher priced when compared to 22lr. Not sure why. volume of sales maybe? I really like the cartridge but have never owned one because of this.

22 WMR uses "j words" and they're a lot more expensive than simple swaged lead bullets.

[cwlongshot]

Down loading CF calibers to RF preformance is just great unless you LEGALLY LIMITED TO RIM FIRE!

CW

[kerplode]

What is wrong with the RETAILER's? Rimfire ammo price, which I cannot control through reloading, is INSANE.

What exactly do you think is happening here? You think that vendors are buying 22WMR at $0.02/rd and then selling it to you at a 20x markup in some vast conspiracy to force you to pay more than grandpappy paid so that they can smoke stogies and swim in a huge vault of gold coins like Scrooge McDuck? Maybe they learned it from the gas station and grocery store owners. Filthy price gougers making us pay more than grandpappy paid! Who do they think they are.

It's not the retailers. It's economics. And opportunity cost.

And 22WMR has always been relatively expensive...And shooting is an expensive hobby.

[dtknowles]

22 WMR uses "j words" and they're a lot more expensive than simple swaged lead bullets.

Looking at some CCI WMR rounds on my shelf, the bullets are not jacketed they are plated.

Yes, others do use jacketed bullets.

TEK

[Winger Ed.]

What is wrong with the RETAILER's?

Overall, some things are more profitable than others,
but they all work on a straight, fixed percentage of mark up over what they pay for it.

If they get word a price on something will go from 10 cents on something they sell for 15 cents
will now cost 15 cents on their next shipment, and then they'll need to sell it for 20 cents----
they have to mark up everything in stock to the new price of 20 cents to be able to pay for their next shipment at 15 cents.

[Pereira]

Actually .22mag ammo is down considerably from where it was a few months back.

Before this madness I was paying 20 to 24 cents per round. Now if you use ammo seek you can find it for 28 to 30 cents for the bullet weight and brand you prefer. Not all that bad. That 70 cents a round is what it was up to for a while in most places. Those stores likely have not sold much, so have not reordered and received fresh shipments at lower prices. And with current prices elsewhere, they are not likely to sell much.

Considering that to reload centerfire is going to cost you 15 cents a primer and more for powder, lead, brass. It does not seem as bad as it could.
But if you have not been pricing ammo, wait till you see the prices on centerfire rifle ammo! Even .30-30 ammo that was available anywhere a year ago for 50 cents a round or less is now 2 or 3 dollars per round. 50$ for a box of 20, now that to me is greed pure and simple.

I've seen Fed. 30-30 ammo recently for $24.99 a box of 20, about a month ago.
In fact I bought one box just to compare in a couple Marlins to my reloads.
They were neck and neck with my own.
I've seen some 22 mag at Academy last time or two but I didn't really check it.

RP

[kens]

22mag was never cheap. it always seems to be comparable to .38spl
to try to compare 22mag to the cost of .22lr cannot be done

[uscra112]

.22 Mag never made much sense to me. Cheaper to reload .223 to whatever power level desired in the rifles..

That's what I did, to upgrade my garden defense from plain ol' .22LR. 35 grain V-max and 6 grains of Red Dot = WMR load, but for pennies, and it shoots the same zero at 80 yards as my full-house coyote load does at 150, so I don't even touch the scope settings.

[Land Owner]

It's not the retailers. It's economics. And opportunity cost.

And 22WMR has always been relatively expensive...And shooting is an expensive hobby.

What makes 22WMR so expensive, compared to 22LR? And it isn't the state of the Economy. Through one-half century of arithmetically expanding gun and component purchase, reloading, and shooting centerfire and 22LR cartridges, I have saved so much that I can afford to ask stoopid questions.

[M-Tecs]

What makes 22WMR so expensive, compared to 22LR? And it isn't the state of the Economy. Through one-half century of arithmetically expanding gun and component purchase, reloading, and shooting centerfire and 22LR cartridges, I have saved so much that I can afford to ask stoopid questions.

Lower volume. That's why 410 is more expensive than 12 gauge.

[MrWolf]

Wow! Where did you find that good of price? None of my sources in early 2020 came close to $6.20 per 50.

I purchase by the case also but 2,000 round cases are all I've found except for Armscor and they don't have the bullets I want.

I use 30 grain V-Max or 33 grain Remington AccuTip's for prairie dogs.

I had seen an add from Cheaper even though I refused to buy from them due to their gouging. Saw the price on a case of 5,000 Armscor 40 gr jhp and couldn't resist. Figured they didn't make much on that deal or they had a misprint but jumped on it.

[Randy Bohannon]

I bought a CZ 452 Mannlicher in .22 WMR about 10 years ago when I was updating my rimfire rifles. Mounted a 2X7 Leupold rimfire scope and it shot so well I was buying nice big lots of .22WMR in all manufactures until I settled on Winchester and Federal ,the heaviest ones I can find.
Winchester did some subsonic 40 gr. that @ 200 yards 3”4” groups which I was surprised and pleased I bought several thousand. As others have said .22WMR has always been at a premium,accuracy not always but is better now than ever before.

[kerplode]

What makes 22WMR so expensive, compared to 22LR? And it isn't the state of the Economy. Through one-half century of arithmetically expanding gun and component purchase, reloading, and shooting centerfire and 22LR cartridges, I have saved so much that I can afford to ask stoopid questions.

22WMR has never been as inexpensive as 22LR and it never will be. It's a significantly lower volume round than 22LR, so there is less economics of scale in its production. Lines making 22LR need to be brought down and reconfigured to make 22WMR which takes time and money. There is also the opportunity cost of not making the 22LR they would have been making on that line while it's producing 22WMR. 22WMR also has higher component costs. More brass for the case and the bullets are generally a cup and core FMJ or some kind of a ballistic tip rather than just a waxed or plated swaged lead bullet. There are opportunity costs here as well as those raw materials could have been used for higher-volume, better margin, calibers like 22LR, 9mm, 223, etc.

Also, there are currently supply chain issues which are making raw materials harder to get and much more expensive. Labor is also more expensive. Oh, and the worst inflation in 50 years which makes everything more expensive. So yeah, the economy is involved as well. Maybe you haven't noticed, but 22LR isn't $10/brick anymore either.

But yeah, you're probably right...It likely is just the retailers screwing you.

[kerplode]

Sorry...I'm not trying to be a jerk. I get it. Things are expensive and it sucks.

But I have a bit of an immune reaction to people blaming retailers and crying gouging when that is almost never the case. So that's where the attitude is coming from.

Anyway, 22WMR is a pretty neat little cartridge and the PMR30 looks like a fun little pistol. If you get it, I think you'll enjoy it. Just know it's not going to be a blast-a-brick-on-sundays kind of proposition like you could do with a Mk-III or whatever. But a box here and there like a centerfire handgun won't bust the bank.

Oh, and wear good earpro. 22WMR fired from a pistol is LOUD.

[uscra112]

My understanding of Sillynoise law is that you'd have to have a Sillynoise FOID to buy them, which lets out any potential out-of-state buyers.

[RogerDat]

When more people wish to purchase a good than the supply available of that good prices rise. Simple as that. Several stores are selling primers of half or less of the $15 a hundred I saw at last gun show. Some retailers are charging closer to the $100 price, some are down around $65 - $75 per thousand.

My guess is that primers yield a larger profit when placed into a finished cartridge than when sold as a reloading component by the 1000 pack. I would also guess that the ammo manufacturers are the "bread and butter" market of primer sales making them a more important customer for primer manufacturers than the reloading market.

What I find annoying is those who work to snag as many as they can at all possible locations in order to mark up and sell the primers. They in effect distort the market. Lurking online and buying up primers when they come in stock in order to double the price and sell them online or at shows is no different than scalpers creating a shortage of tickets to an event by purchasing hundreds of seats in order to re-sell them at a massive markup.

It may be how capitalism and free markets work. If you can gain a supply of scarce good you can mark it up as high as the market will pay. It is the way things work but it can be pretty annoying when you see primers for $65 at retail outlets but all gone and then have the chance to buy them for $150 that weekend. Heard at Jay's a rookie clerk didn't know there was a limit of 500 cnt of two types and a buyer came in and cleaned them out in one shot. Now maybe they needed all those primers in all those sizes or.... yeah maybe not.

Best advice is always buy it cheap and stack it deep. Only thing not making .22 rim fire an issue is I stocked up enough for my needs back when, added to my Y2K stash :-) For primers I'm a little short due to plans to load a couple of calibers that were not on my radar when I determined what was a suitable supply to keep on hand. I tend to work off of a supply on hand that gets replaced as it gets used. So use a pound out of 8 and replace it. Use a box of primers, replace that box. Amount on hand stays fairly stable.

I thought about reloading RF and decided it wasn't worth the hassle for me although it did sound interesting. I'm more with the load something else to do the job suggestion. Although the venerable .22 is a lot of fun and is missed when it is being rationed.

[mobilemail]

I was advised by a moderator that my earlier post was inappropriate. Apologies all, won't happen again.
Carry on!

[Pereira]

Went by the local Academy and they had these today. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220707/5e9b10e9ea2e321512872523cffa1751.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220707/21024947559b4020157fb3ea29138e38.jpg

Sent from my SM-A102U using Tapatalk

[Tripplebeards]

Do yourself a favor and pass on the PMR. I bought one going on three years ago now. It was brand new. The pistol went back to Kel-tec 4 times in 2 months for fail to feed issues. They refunded me directly. I wouldn’t take one of it were free after that. Tons of the same issues with the PMR30 I had posted all over the net. I bought a Walther WMP over a month ago. It’s about the only reliable semi auto 22WMR in existence. When I picked it up at Cabelas they had 30 grain vmax in stock for the first time in years. Cheapest I ever found it was $10.99 at Ace hardware about 3 to 4 years ago. I bought 3 boxes for $15.99 each the other day. They price matched farm and fleets Internet price. I don’t think I’ve seen 22 WMR in the last 10 years for under $10.99 per 50. Twenty five years it was $6.99 to $8.99 a box on average. It’s always been about 3 times as much as 22lr on average imo. I just make sure to sight in what ever I’m using and keep the rest of my ammo for hunting and varmints.

I found this deal at Walmart last summer…

https://i.imgur.com/gijVMSy.jpg


Same boxes are currently at Cabelas for $46.99 each.

[Tripplebeards]

I had to make a grocery run to Walmart today and spotted these….

https://i.imgur.com/4DZqawX.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/1Xeby5M.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/m2XygdD.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/OGVtICd.jpg

Needless to say they went home with me! Figured I’d kick myself if i didn't buy them. They took a $7 price hike. I know they got a batch in last year for $29 right after I bought mine for $22 and disappeared pretty fast. I haven’t seen any since. Figured it was still a good deal vs $46.98 at Cabelas and since I just bought a Walther WMR I needed some plinking ammo.

[Tripplebeards]

I stopped in the other local Walmart today and they had one carton of the same ammo. I figured five boxes will hold me over for awhile so I left it there for someone else.

[uscra112]

Each Big Box store runs computer algorithms that keep meticulous track of what sells, and conversely won't restock anything that doesn't. Turnover and ROI per square foot of shelf space are their mantras. A Walmart in an area with few .22 Mag shooters will be very thin on that ammo, while another one a few counties away is just the opposite.

[Digital Dan]

Had a 9422M for quite awhile and it was a good one that shot quite well. Good supply of ammo as well. Problem was that I also had a .22 Hornet, so the levermatic collected dust. It went down the road a few months back w/o hurting my wallet.

[FergusonTO35]

.22 Mag never made much sense to me. Cheaper to reload .223 to whatever power level desired in the rifles.

In a pistol, I never had the need...but can see others that want it.

.22 Magnum made sense before I started reloading and there really was nothing else to choose from between .22 LR and .223 which had readily available and reasonable cost factory ammo. Classic cartridges that once filled this gap like .32-20 and .22 Hornet actually cost more than .223 per round back then and today, and you aren't going to find either one on the shelf at Cheap Mart. I also don't have to remind anyone that rifles in these cartridges are neither cheap nor plentiful.

Now that I cast and reload, the .22 Magnum no longer serves any purpose.But for those who don't, the .22 mag might just make sense.

[almar]

whatever you do, don't throw away your rimfire brass or primers. There is a market for them now or at least there could be soon. I and others i know reload EVERYTHING.

[cwlongshot]

Some folks are LIMITED TO RIMFIRE!!!

State laws do not allow CENTERFIRE in some locations.

YES, a CF duplication loads are option for duplicating POWER
LEVEL. BUT its not always the only option!!

CW

[uscra112]

I hear that about Connecticut, but is there any other jurisdiction that prohibits centerfire for hunting?

[kenton]

Illinois doesn't allow center fires other than shotguns for small game. I would love to hunt squirrels with 38 wadcutters out of my ruger 77/357, but not an option in this state.

Edit: A quick google search shows that it is a relatively common restriction.

[farmbif]

Had a 9422M for quite awhile and it was a good one that shot quite well. Good supply of ammo as well. Problem was that I also had a .22 Hornet, so the levermatic collected dust. It went down the road a few months back w/o hurting my wallet.
just to clarify a bit. did you have a marlin 1894 in 22 mag? very desirable and extremely hard to find gun. or do you mean a winchester 9422m
marlin made models 56 and 57 and 57m which are also known as levermatics. the model 56 has removable magazine and the model 57 has tube magazine. but both are short stroke lever actions that were given name "levermatic"

[barnetmill]

I had to make a grocery run to Walmart today and spotted these….



https://i.imgur.com/1Xeby5M.jpg



https://i.imgur.com/OGVtICd.jpg

Needless to say they went home with me! Figured I’d kick myself if i didn't buy them. They took a $7 price hike. I know they got a batch in last year for $29 right after I bought mine for $22 and disappeared pretty fast. I haven’t seen any since. Figured it was still a good deal vs $46.98 at Cabelas and since I just bought a Walther WMR I needed some plinking ammo. That is exactly what I purchased, but my local wally world only sells but one box of .22 mag. I do not shoot much of it so a box of it or so is enough.

[Tripplebeards]

In WI it's illegal to hunt small game with center fire rifles as well.

[rbuck351]

Those kind of laws are part of why I have lived in Ak and MT since 1983. I am not at all fond of the 22mag because of the cost of the ammo. If a 22 lr won't get the job done, I go to the 22H and then move up the line to what ever it takes.

[Milky Duck]

for years its been cheaper to reload .223 than buy .22 magnum here in NZ..... and as we cant use .22magnum on public land for anything bigger than hares n rabbits...and even then we need a special small game permit.... so using the .223 has just made more sence..... and no we arent allowed to use handguns...

[Tripplebeards]

I wish we could use centerline. I'd down load one of my 223's.

[Milky Duck]

hmmmmm seeing the thread on reloading PRIMERS...... and then reading here you cant use a centrefire.......wonder how the .44 rimfire would be able to be resserected from the dead???? or indeed any of the early rimfire rounds???
does that centrefire exclusion allow a muzzle loader to be used???the rebel in me seems to be l
searching for a LEGAL way to do things differently or more efficently....
one of the blocks I hunt has access onto another hunting block through farmland but that access strictly forbids firearms to be carried across it...and I have found quite a few arrows with broadheads in the area..... not something I have picked up in any other public hunting area and yet have found three arrows, three different sorts up there,so would guess thats three different people all with same idea.

[uscra112]

Technology certainly exists in the marketplace to reload any rimfire. Coming up with 44 rimfire brass would be the sticking point. I don't think it's beyond the abilities of an advanced home machinist to make the tooling necessary to form it, but no matter how it gets done it will be restricted to low pressures or the rims will burst.

Quaere: Would a machined-from-solid rimfire adaptor using a magnum RF blank as the primer be allowed under these laws? The .17 WSM rimfire cases I reform into .25 Stevens are capable of standing 20,000 psi, which is well above the blackpowder pressure that the old rimfires were limited to. That in theory could get you a .44 capable of over 2000 fps from a rifle barrel.

[cwlongshot]

Those kind of laws are part of why I have lived in Ak and MT since 1983. I am not at all fond of the 22mag because of the cost of the ammo. If a 22 lr won't get the job done, I go to the 22H and then move up the line to what ever it takes.

I guess ya dont smoke or drink alcohol either then? Do ya go to sports events or music concerts? ALL these things are FAR FAR FAR more then expensive in comparison. A hi priced box of maggies is 20/50pcs but its NOT a fair comparison as mag ammo is all
Premium or higher quality then better then 1/2 of the LR offerings. There is no budget bulk. So a better fair comparison is hi end LR but even then you are not getting the same bullet. LR are plated or just lead lubed. Maggies are JACKETED.

CW

[Travisbishop]

I bought my stockpile of 22 mag back in the 80's. Not sure exactly how many I have, but I picked them up anywhere they presented themselves. My last buy was at K Mart. They were clearancing all their ammo. I picked up 10 cases of 5000 Winchester 22 mag.In the paper box. Remember those? 15 cases of 5000 of Remington 22 Lr. A few cases of CCI Stingers. Among several cases of centerfire fodder they had stashed back there. If I recall correctly, I picked the 22 mag up for 2 cents. When my wife found out I had ran up that Visa bill, she became somewhat creative in describing my future state of affairs.

[Travisbishop]

What's the deal with the Marlin 94 M? I've got one from my dad, NIB, he bought me back in 1983 for a wedding gift. I've kept it in the safe, only took it out to wipe it down with an Outers silicone rag once or so a year. My go to 22 mags are a Winchester 9422 and an H&R Model 700. They both are accurate to the extreme.