the .22 ammo shortage, who are you?

[fatelk]

By the way, please don't think I'm knocking the small gun shops and retailers. I've heard that their costs have risen dramatically because wholesalers have increased their profit margin because they can, and a lot of the small shops can't get a lot to sell even then. If they priced it low when it did come in, then the scalpers would just clean them out too leaving nothing to sell.

High volume/low margin works, and low volume/high margin works, but low volume/low margin is a recipe for going out of business. I may not like their price and won't pay it, but I guess I can't blame someone for setting their price wherever the market will bear.

[butch2570]

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.

Maybe these scalpers you are speaking of should obtain a business license and collect sales taxes and consider being legitimate, instead of flying under the cover of the radar.

[6bg6ga]

Maybe these scalpers you are speaking of should obtain a business license and collect sales taxes and consider being legitimate, instead of flying under the cover of the radar.

I'll second this. I could see a legitimate business securing a bunch of 22 ammo for resale. I cannot see some queen purchasing all they are able to get their greedy little hands on just so they can beat someone else out of a legitimate purchase. This why the 22 ammo is at an all time high. I have two 100 ct boxes of 25+ year old 22's and I'm certainly not going to purchase a box at $8.00 or whatever their going for now. Unfortunately some of the offenders are here right on this site. Thanks guys.

[762 shooter]

I tried my best to cause a shortage in the summer of 2012. I was unsuccessful.

I would never sell a commodity that I couldn't guarantee that I could replace.

No one is forcing anyone to buy 22LR. No one needs 22, you just want 22. There's a difference. It's not food or water.

762

[dtknowles]

Maybe these scalpers you are speaking of should obtain a business license and collect sales taxes and consider being legitimate, instead of flying under the cover of the radar.

Not only should they collect sales taxes they should pay income tax. Has anyone purchased ammo from one of those sellers, Scalpers or fleamarket sellers. Do they give you a receipt? I paid Scalper price for some thru Gunbroker with a credit card, I think this guy was a real business. At the local gunshow, I got a receipt and had to pay sales tax.

I have not tried the get to Walmart on ammo day thing. I am not much on getting up before the sun come up.

Even at 12 cents a round, .22 LR is the cheapest ammo I can find. I know that some people have plenty of time to Cast and Load ammo but I can shoot all I can Cast and Load each week. I am not talking about plinking ammo loaded on a progressive press, I mean Match Ammo. I guess that is another reason I don't get up early and look for ammo at Walmart. They rarely have Match Ammo.

Tim

[FergusonTO35]

The more I think about the more disgusted I am with both scalpers and hoarders. Yes it's perfectly legal and just an extreme example of how supply and demand works, I would never argue otherwise. But it is nothing more than pure selfishness, greed, and total lack of real concern about the future of shooting and hunting on the part of both. One side holds a fanatical, nearly religious conviction that hunting and shooting in the USA will soon come to an end. Without even offering nominal support to efforts to prevent that from happening they are going to just ensure they have their own supply, everybody else and future generations be damned. The scalpers recognize this and squeeze every last drop of profit out of these fools. They feed the hoarders' mania by hyping up every little bit of anti-gun news they can find as evidence that guns and shooting will soon be banned and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it, so give me the 500% markup that I so richly deserve.

I have no sympathy whatsoever for any of these people, they are only making everything worse for all of us who are members of gun rights organizations, vote, and are trying to get more people and future generations involved in hunting and shooting. The hoarders and scalpers really ought to reconsider their actions in light of the parable of the wealthy fool in Luke 12:16-21.

[ghh3rd]

She really likes her Ruger Mark III Hunter.

I like mine, too! And my SR22...

[Petrol & Powder]

Maybe these scalpers you are speaking of should obtain a business license and collect sales taxes and consider being legitimate, instead of flying under the cover of the radar.

Or maybe we should admire them for their initiative and boldness of execution........

[ghh3rd]

Stop buying from them - problem solved!

[GhostHawk]

If price continues to rise having .22lr in storage is a hedge against inflation.

Perhaps not quite as good as gold, but depending how where we go from here still quite valuable.

Unlike Gold, worst case scenario if the price drops you can still use it to put supper on the table.

Just common sense to me.

[mtnman31]

FergusonTO35, I think you are spot on.
I am all about a free market and capitalism. I'm just sick of the leeches in the shooting community who only look at the short term and what's-in-it-for-me side of things. They aren't helping the sport as a whole, they are only helping themselves. Unfortunately, not everyone has a stash of .22 ammo that they can pull from for the next five years. As long as people are buying, people will be selling at the large mark-up. It's just unfortunate that the shooting community can't find stability in prices and availability.

[Bob Busetti]

I'm finally up on CMP's 22 list. I ordered the minimum 1 case 14 months ago so I don't do the wally world thing.

[abqcaster]

the key to the solution is in the second half of yer statement. this will keep on until people quit payin' gouger prices. when they hafta start eatin' their hoarded stash for supper it'll come down.

+1 Agreed. It'll happen soon enough. until then I have small reloadble calibers i can shoot for less. The downside is, I can't really take my kids shooting with any centerfires, and I have no wish to start reloading .25acp, nor let my kids shoot any of the .25 **** guns that are available.

[kopperl]

Visited a small town on the Texas coast this past weekend. Three gun stores. #1 22 ammo for use on their range only. Most pistol ammo was the same.
#2 $4.99 a box no limit until it is gone.
#3 12.99 a 50 round box, $23.99 a hundred and $119 a brick.
Guess who had no people in the store.

[shooterg]

I've received 5 cases of .22 from CMP in the last year for our Club and passed it all out to members at cost. The current CLUB cost with shipping works out to $30.55 or $43.44 a brick for the 2 types of Aquila when available. And the guys are glad to get it.

[Duckiller]

SWMBO took me shopping at Wally World this afternoon. I found out why there is no 22LR. Clerk in his early 20s informed me that the "Government decides who get 22ammo". He wasn't wearing a tinfoil hat but sure should have been. Should be noted that Wally World had to give up their FFL for all stores in California because they couldn't hire people that could be trained in Federal and State firearms laws. Evidently their hiring standards haven't been raised.

[trapper9260]

I have pick up some boxes of 50 for someone that ask me if I see in the store for a some how normal cost to get some for him He is a gunsmith and he have people that needs some but he dose not gouge anyone.I just ask hm for what i paid for it and he return me my money that i put into it.otherwise I have stock up on 22lr way before any of this was think of .i did it because for how things was going the hand writtien was on the wall.I use my mainly for when I run my trap line.If I start to get low on them and the price is too high in the store i will just use my 327 and shoot 32 S&W in them and keep reloading .It will be cheaper in the long end.That is why I got that gun in the first place beside shoot many other different rounds in it.As for the ones that pay the high prices ,the way i see it there is alot of new gun owners out there an some do not know really what the normal is anymore or did know so they pay the price that there is.and some can not waite so they ay the high price.

[Garyshome]

I'm the guy that caused the shortage. But thanks for asking!

[flounderman]

There are a certain type of people that you see trolling the flea markets, yard sales, salvation army, resale shops, that show up at these places like buzzards on a dead cow, and you will probably see these same people, or same type, camping out waiting for the .22s to go on the shelf. These people are not buying much they intend to keep, just looking for something they can sell for more than they paid for it.

[rhead]

I'm the guy that caused the shortage. But thanks for asking!

Not alone you aren't i helped too. I started buying by the case in 1992 and quit it it got to be what i no longer considered to be a bargain ($150) per case. Now I am a hoarder because I choose to keep something that I do not want to sell, even at the current free market price, I am told that I should sell it at the price I paid.

I do not understand why they adhere to that economic theory. The ones who had access to the same data chose to delay stocking up for the coming shortage are now demanding to be taken care of by the ones who did.

Should i also be required to sell the Wal Mart stock that i bought in the late seventies or the Apple stock from the early eighties for the original purchase price?

What about the timberland I bought in 1968. should i have to sell for $60 per acre to satisfy you? I have made other purchases that are now worth less than what I paid. who should take care of me on them?

Perhaps they were not paying attention during story time and the teacher covered the ones about the aunt and the grasshopper or the little red hen and the grains of wheat.