the .22 ammo shortage, who are you?

[Glassman66]

This 22 shortage is what has driven me to finally quit reading about reloading and actually do it! My daughter ever saved up to buy her own rifle when she was 11 because "this is way more fun than video games"! We have about 2000 rounds because we have not shot much so we would not run out and getting lucky lately finding ammo. Price was decent too, but the shipping made it pricey from Midway so I bought a couple of mags for my 22/45 to help even it out.

30-06 is the only centerfire rifle I own right now, so that is what I am starting with. Hope to get a 357 mag barrel put on my H&R so I can start casting for it and really cut my cost of shooting.

I am not so sure it isn't just as fun to reload as it is to shoot. I think I might just be happy reloading for kids and watching them shoot!



Randy

[shooterbob]

Free enterprise is what makes America. Is it immoral? To some it is and to some it is not. That is what makes this country great is the ability to do whatever we want(within the law) and its not wrong, just immoral to some of us. I agree that I don't like it either, but it's been happening since the first days of commerce. Buy low sell high. You don't have to like it. But you either have to cave and buy em high or stand in line with the hoarders and scalpers. Or not shoot em I guess. Btw I do not buy them and sell. I haven't seen a brick in 3 yrs. Lucky to get 50 for 7.00 right now.

[CopperniX]

I buy .22 ammo whenever I can find it but I don't sell it because it is getting hard to find around here.

[Artful]

after it went over 35 per brick I quit buying - and I have heard the scalpers were at a gun show here in phoenix and no one was buying their stuff at $65 to 105 per brick asking price.

[Geraldo]

The Walmart price is the Walmart price, not "normal retail". Normal retail works like this: Winchester makes ammo and sells it to Ellett Bros or some other distributor. Ellett then resells it to retailers such as your local gun shop. Walmart on the other hand buys direct from the manufacturer and depending on the size of the company they're dealing with, they either negotiate or dictate the price. That's why Walmart's price is always lower than your LGS.

I've paid the new retail for .22, just the same as I pay retail for gasoline, whiskey, bacon, and banjo strings.

Oh, and I learned early not to sell ammo or dies because no matter how obscure the cartridge, odds are good I'll buy another gun chambered for it down the road.

[Petrol & Powder]

.................





until these people stop this ****, or others stop buying at these high prices, we are never
going to be free of this shortage!

I don't engage in the practice of buying merchandise at a retailer and then reselling that property for a profit. HOWEVER - I cannot find fault in those that do use that capitalistic process to make a profit.
Those people are entrepreneurs and they are making a profit by taking a risk. If people wouldn't buy that product at the inflated price they would not be able to make a profit. The retailer is making a profit, as are all of the suppliers that lead up to that retail sale. Furthermore, federal, state and local taxes are being collected on that process (often multiple times in the supply chain). The entrepreneur must make enough profit to cover all of his expenses and that couldn't happen unless someone was willing to pay the much higher price charged in that final sale. If you want to blame someone for that shortage, blame the idiots that are willing to pay those inflated prices because they are scared they will not be able to get ammunition. Fear is an extremely powerful motivator and a useful marketing tool when your customers are weak minded people.
If you think that it is wrong to make a profit by engaging in an enterprise in which you take a risk by buying property at a low price in the hopes of selling it at higher price; I can strongly suggest you go read the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx. You'll probably agree with Mr. Engels & Mr. Marx.

[tazman]

I just purchased my first box of 22lr in over 4 years. $30 for a bulk box of 325 count. This is the first I have seen in a retail store at any price for a year except for a few round at a pawn shop at unbelievable prices(they wanted $100 for a box like I just bought).
I still have some from years ago when I stocked up at $2 a hundred. Maybe 1000 rnds.
Wanted to make sure I had some new ammo on hand in case the old stuff doesn't work any more. I had it stored in army ammo cans so it should be all right but you never know.
I am not likely to be buying much at these prices until I run out. Then I will pay whatever the going price is to get what I need.

[runfiverun]

I'm just watching the whole thing....lmbo.

I do find it amusing that people will pay someone more for going to the walmart and buying what they wanted from walmart to begin with instead of waiting a week for the next shipment...
OH MY GOD A WHOLE WEEK!!!!! nope better pay triple the price and have it NOW!!!!

[ghh3rd]

I wish people would refuse to pay gougers prices -- that would be a big step toward alleviating the high prices and shortages. As far as having more on hand than I would shoot in a month, yes I do, finally. I have found that if I go out of my way to be at a store when they open on their ammo shipping day, I can get one (the limit) brick of .22 for $25, about every other week. I have to invest time and effort in order to 'stock up' on .22's.

Since I was so short for so long, I have managed to accumulate about 3,500 rounds, which includes a 1,400 round bucket of Golden Bullets that I paid $70 for. In the 'old' days, I would take one or more of my sons to the range and easily shoot 500 rounds in a sesson. I don't feel that having enough on hand for seven (or even ten) trips to the range with my now older sons, or my grandsons makes me feel like a hoarder.

If I ever did sell someone any of my .22's, I would never sell them for more that I paid, or whatever the normal going rate is at the time. Doing elsewise nowadays would make me fell like a dirt bag.

By the way, I have found that I do try to make every round of .22 count now more than ever, and that my groups have gotten better as a result

[tazman]

I'm just watching the whole thing....lmbo.

I do find it amusing that people will pay someone more for going to the walmart and buying what they wanted from walmart to begin with instead of waiting a week for the next shipment...
OH MY GOD A WHOLE WEEK!!!!! nope better pay triple the price and have it NOW!!!!

When you work for a living, quite often you can't get to the store in time to buy any. The scalpers have already taken it all while you were at work. Doesn't matter this week, next week, or a month from now they were standing in line when it came in while you were at work.
Every time I go to Walmart or any other store where they might charge the "reasonable" price, I check for availability. There never is any there. The clerk always says people were waiting when they stocked the shelves.
It's not a matter of "gotta have it now". It's a matter of what do I have to pay to get ANY.

[jcwit]

Wonder how much of the gougers profit is being reported.

[KohlerK91]

I'm just watching the whole thing....lmbo.

I do find it amusing that people will pay someone more for going to the walmart and buying what they wanted from walmart to begin with instead of waiting a week for the next shipment...
OH MY GOD A WHOLE WEEK!!!!! nope better pay triple the price and have it NOW!!!!

I don't think I could get time off so I could go to Walmart and wait in line for some 22's. And the difference between retail at Walmart and the flea market gouger price is not that much compared to the hours I would spend tracking down an incoming shipment and waiting in line.

"IF" I needed some I would just buy some and be done. However, I don't shoot 10,000 rounds a years and a brick of 500 lasts me a long time.

[runfiverun]

I work 15 straight day's at 17-18 hours a day.
I couldn't even tell you if there was a walmart within 200 miles of where I'm at most of the time, unless I happen to drive past one at 3:00 AM or on the way back at 9:00 pm.
still ain't worried about getting 22lr ammo.

[Down South]

I haven't even looked for any 22 ammo in the last 6 months or so. It's not worth my time. I've got a few K stashed back. I hardly ever shoot the stuff but the wife does. When it starts to cool down a bit here, she will start shooting again. She really likes her Ruger Mark III Hunter.
When she decides to start shooting again, I'll see if I can scrounge more ammo.
No, I have never sold any 22 rim fire ammo or any other ammo.

[shooterg]

If you figure the time those guys spend waiting in line to buy .22 for resale/gas they used to get to the line for 2 or 3 bricks...they ain't making that much. Maybe they have no job or they're just greedy. I don't care, it's still almost a free country.
Have noticed the flea market/gun show prices have dropped a little and it's not moving at their current $$ so maybe we're getting somewhere.

[DeanWinchester]

I don't even own a .22 so the answer is neither, but......I wish I had.
If I had it to do over, I'd have stocked up and sold the çrap out of them at super inflated prices.
Thats the entire premise of a free market capitalist society. Buy low, sell high, pocket the money.
Crying foul when people do this is pinko rubbish.

There's yet to be one reported case of anyone being strong armed into buying .22 ammo.

[CopperniX]

Was at the local Walmart today and the guy in sporting goods told me they had .22 ammo. They fully stocked the shelves (probably 45-50 bricks) and it all sold out in 20 minutes.

[WallyM3]

There is no such thing as pure Capitalism. Nor is there such a thing as pure Communism.

There is, however, such a thing as Character, which is admittedly subjective.

[Crash_Corrigan]

I don't have a dog in this hunt. When the price for a brick went past $8 I stopped shooting .22 lr's and I have not bought a brick in about 5 years. I only have one rifle in this caliber.

[fatelk]

When you work for a living, quite often you can't get to the store in time to buy any. The scalpers have already taken it all while you were at work. Doesn't matter this week, next week, or a month from now they were standing in line when it came in while you were at work.

I agree. I certainly don't have time to go early and wait in line multiple times just to buy a couple bricks of 22 ammo. I don't need to anyway, I don't shoot much and still have plenty from years ago. My only interest in this whole fiasco is in seeing how other people react to the situation, and in understanding what's causing it. Otherwise I'm just a casual observer. At the rate I shoot .22 ammo, I have many years worth saved up.

The Walmart price is the Walmart price, not "normal retail". Normal retail works like this: Winchester makes ammo and sells it to Ellett Bros or some other distributor. Ellett then resells it to retailers such as your local gun shop. Walmart on the other hand buys direct from the manufacturer and depending on the size of the company they're dealing with, they either negotiate or dictate the price. That's why Walmart's price is always lower than your LGS.

I guess Walmart isn't necessarily the best example. I only used that to illustrate that if Walmart can sell it for $20, then there is clearly profit to be made at that price, both for Walmart and the manufacturer. Most prices elsewhere are moderately higher during normal times because their costs are higher. But not double. When it's double that's a clear indication that there's plenty of profit cushion for all involved.

The reason you see such a huge disparity between big-box sellers like Walmart, Cabela's, and the like ($20 to $30 when the have it, disappears quick), and smaller retailers like your LGS, gun show, swap meet, and online ($50 to $75, plenty available), is that the big places follow a certain pricing structure based on their cost and overall competitiveness, whereas smaller retailers are more likely to charge "whatever the market will bear". The market will bear a lot right now.

Which of those two is the real normal retail price? Right now, both I suppose.

Which is likely to settle out as a realistic "normal retail" once demand subsides to more equal supply? Only what the market will bear. Once Walmart, et al, has stocks on their shelves for $20 available to anyone at any time, the market simply will not bear $65 at gun shows. $25 or $30 at your LGS? Sure, maybe, whatever. But not $50.