the .22 ammo shortage, who are you?

[mozeppa]

most of all my 22's are in little 50 round boxes that have a 69 cent sticker on them.

(at least some do, as the stickers have not fallen off yet!)

[clodhopper]

A wise man told me to "buy it cheap, stack it deep"
So I went to wall mart every pay day and bought two bricks.
probably have enough ammo to wait untill there are pallets of it sitting on the floor in the store with an orange sign that says SALE while people walk by an yawn.
Yah, I sold a case to the local hunter saftey program, I took bricks of stuff that was not so good to the gunshow hidden in a canvas bag and sold it at very resonable prices when gunshow prices were headed up past 65 dollars a 500 round brick. The buyers were very happy.
Several kids with no ammo had some after meeting me. I
wish to restate the advice given to me years back.
Buy quality cheap, stack it deep.
Yep I caused it, in a way that if the manafactures were watching, they could have upped production sooner.

[Bob Busetti]

I too bought it when it was cheap. I don't sell it, didn't buy it to resell. Seeing the various resellers offer stuff 4x what they gave for it sucks.
Even the LGS offers 22 ammo for $100 per brick. Me being a long time customer at that store was offered a discount price of $90 per brick. Haven't been back. When I tell these people I can shoot cast boolits cheaper than that, they say "but your not shooting a 22, which is more fun". Really?

[shooterg]

"These people are not buying much they intend to keep, just looking for something they can sell for more than they paid for it."

This statement for sure is true about almost all of us in re almost anything !

We can wish they'd settle for a smaller profit margin, but hey, that's the USA way.

[dwb0804]

Backordered for nearly a year. Finally delivered today.

[Surculus]

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.

No, WM chose to give up selling firearms in all their PRK stores because they deemed it not worth the hassle from CA DOJ to maintain that dept. within the stores in an area increasingly hostile to firearms ownership. It had nothing to do with training, & everything to do with making the largest profit with the least legal exposure.

[salvadore]

I have always had a stash of .22 rimfires and have never been caught wanting, if I come across a box of 22s now I buy it. You can blame hoarders and capitalists for your short sightedness or you can pay attention and be prepared.

[Tristan]

hi, this has been troubling me as i`m sure it has all of you for some time now.
this shortage is about as bad as it gets. but, i`m asking all that reply to this post to be honest!

how many of you that found bricks of walmart 525`s or 550`s or other good bulk ammo
bought thousands & thousands of rounds, more than you can use in a few months and then
when out and sold them at the extremely high going rate on the web? and still continue to
find them at store price ( when available) and keep selling them at these high prices?

people can say what they want about manufacturers not keeping up but if prices are to come down
these horders and sellers are going to have to stop!

i know people who wait at the counter when they off load trucks at my local walmart, buy them all
at their price and then go auction them off on web sites. ( i know this to be fact because one of the fellows
is a friend of mine and he says he has done this for the past year now). he said he makes enough profit
to get his for free. until these people stop this ****, or others stop buying at these high prices, we are never
going to be free of this shortage!

People will always, always, try to profit opportunities available to them. The .22 ammo scalpers are only going to stop when this one condition is met: people quit buying it from them. When there's no more profit from the scalping, they'll go back to trading baseball cards or something...

BTW, I haven't scalped a single round of .22, ever. Given some away to someone in need, but never scalped a big price due to the shortage.

Maybe I'm the fool.

[Love Life]

I have bought from scalpers. Sure was nice to be shooting on the range instead of sitting on a gun forum griping about people engaging in capitalism.

[Rattlesnake Charlie]

Sportsman's Warehouse in Albuquerque had bulk boxes of 500 Winchester .22 LR, loose packed, for $32 last week. I still never see any at WalMart. I suspect it is picked clean early the morning it is delivered. Glad I kept picking up a box or two of 325 - 550 every month before The Great Gun Salesman took office.

[plmitch]

My LGS has bricks everyday,plenty in stock, no waiting for long lines and at $50.00 its dirt cheap. Just pick one or two up when I need some for range time. It amazes me that anyone would shop at a walmart for anything. Crazy.......

[mike daniels]

nothing here in the dayton area like loads of 22s

[jcwit]

My LGS has bricks everyday,plenty in stock, no waiting for long lines and at $50.00 its dirt cheap. Just pick one or two up when I need some for range time. It amazes me that anyone would shop at a walmart for anything. Crazy.......

Some wish to save money.

After all "A penny saved is a penny earned", Or also by the same,

Benjamin Franklin, If you would be wealthy, think of saving as well as getting

[kcajeel]

I found a case of CCI sv that I'd stored and forgotten about out in the barn. Lately I'd been running a little closer than I want on target ammo so when I discovered the 5000 rounds it felt like Christmas. I'm still looking for a couple of 8# cans of certain powders that I might need in the next year or two.

[lx2008]

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.

hey, the whole point of this post was find out the % of all the repliers to it, to the repliers who saw nothing wrong with "scalping".
as a shooting enthusiast, instructor, & 2nd Am. champion, i find that the people who most claim to love the shooting sport
& do all to keep the sport growing, ought to know that shooting at a young age( and w/ .22`s) i might add, is what makes the sport grow & for a long time. at the 4 ranges i attend, it is nothing to see dads ( and moms )w/ the kids shoot a "few" .22`s then call it a day.

i `ve asked most of these parents that i come across why they leave so soon. top answer, no more .22`s. and the kids seem sorely disappointed. this is the kind of thing that would keep a young shooter from ever wanting to take a whole hearted interest because
they have no trigger time to speak of and become bored. at least in this sport, when we need all the young folks we can get to begin shooting, and 22 being the ammo of choice for kids starting out, we all should think about this instead of profit.

[375supermag]

Hi...

I have a fair amount of .22LR stashed away and have only bought a few boxes (50 and 100rd) in the last couple of years.

My son and I have both acquired new .22 firearms this year...my son received an H&K semi-auto carbine for Christmas and I bought a Dan Wesson .22 revolver at a gun show a month or so ago.

We have been running quite a few rounds through them, so my stash is starting to get down toward the 3,000 round level. I hope I can find some bulk packs soon...I can usually find some 50 or 100 rd boxes within a week or two of prowling the gun shops, so I pick up the usual two box limit to try and maintain my inventory.

I don't ever sell ammunition or reloading components...everything I buy is for personal use. And with a 20-year old son...boy, does it get used!!!

[rking22]

20 year olds can burn thru some 22s ! My 20 year old and a buddy burnt a 550 pac yesterday. I flinched at first ,then thought "I'm glad he likes shootin and I got more ammo". Just gotta keep them outta my good stuff
I'm waiting for the "new" hoarders to get distracted with something else and start dumping their stash at yard sales ect. Or the inevitable overshoot of production vs demand. I will restock then ,and only then. I have lots of 22 firearms and dearly love o shoot them, but when ammo is as unreasonable as now I can pass. I am confident that things will get reasonable again ,enough so that I have bought another K22.

[fatelk]

"My LGS has bricks ... at $50.00 its dirt cheap."

Maybe you should have put a smiley next to that.


Don't know about you all, but I sure can't afford to let my kids blow through .22 ammo that costs a dime a round. Even if I didn't already have plenty, I just wouldn't buy it.

Brings up another discussion here- lots of different folks from all walks of life and economic means here. Some among us are well-off with the means to drop a hundred bucks for a little plinkin-ammo. Other of us either live on fixed incomes or stretch a paycheck pretty tight raising a family, and just can't.

Reminds me of the guys who say gunpowder is easy to find- you just have to be ready to put $500 for some 8 pound kegs on the credit card the minute it comes in stock. Yea right- five hundred bucks on the credit card, for gunpowder?!? Not in my household, on my paycheck, raising a family.

Nothing against you all who have reached a point in life where you have some disposable income. That's great if you can do that. Just remember that not everyone can.

[fatelk]

You all heard the story about the Texan who died and went to hell? The old Devil saw him walking around whistling a tune.

"What, it ain't hot enough for you?" he growls.
The Texan replies "Oh, no. This is fine weather by Texas standards"

The Devil turns up the thermostat a bit. Things really start smoking.
"How about now? You burning now?"
"Not bad" replies Tex, "like a nice Texas summer day, but without the humidity."

The temperature goes all the way to the top. The lake of fire is boiling. The Devil himself is dripping sweat.

"I got you now, for sure. This has to be too hot for you!" he says with an evil chuckle.
"Gettin' warmish, for sure, but I grew up in West Texas and this aint nothin' new. I can take it." says the Texan.

Satan gets mad. Furious actually. He goes over and turns the underworld thermostat all the way down. The whirr of giant hellish AC units powering up is heard in the distance. Cold air roars through like an arctic blast. The lake of fire freezes solid and ice crystals form on the devil's pointy red beard.

"Gotcha now!" he laughs, as Tex starts to shiver.
"Wow, amazing! You know what this means, don't you?" Tex asks the Devil.

"What, What does this mean?"
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"Fatelk just paid $50 for a brick of .22 ammo!"

[Jack Stanley]

I think I heard that joke before ........ only the punch line was from a couple of yoopers saying ' Da lions won da super bowl !!"

Jack