SO you want to know where all the .22 ammo is

[spectra]

I found a receipt tonight from 08 CCI Blazer bulk packs 13.99 I think I still have them stashed away somewhere

 

[pdx lefty]

Please forgive me, I have been out of the mix for the last four months. But, according to the OP people are willing to pay $50 to $70+ for 500 or so rounds of 22lr?!?! Wow! Kinda reminds me of a saying........A fool and his money?

Lefty.

 

[rick benjamin]

I sneak into my local Bimart weekly to survey the scene.
The sporting goods manager always asks "What can I help you find?"
I always answer "Key to ze BUNKER, Please"
"What could you possibly need in there?"
"Eleventeen cases of 22 booletts!"
We lean on the glass case and discuss all the evil Bimart employees upstream that must be siphoning product.
Then the Mgr from housewares joins in and says
"No, I've got it all hidden in my barn"
Then the store manager joins in and retorts "I thought I got all of it!"

And that's the whole truth, almost every week!

 

[Misternt]

I ask the Bimart employees if they have 22LR more to get a reaction than as a serious question.

That said it seems like more ammo is showing up online and the prices in the secondary gouger market are going down. Only a matter of time before the hoarders get done hoarding.

 

[sapper77]

I've had pretty good luck getting it every couple weeks or so at Bimart. It's still kind of hit and miss but not horrible. I always by a box when it is available with the thought in the back of my head that it might not be available again in the future. I have to young boys who are not quite old enough to shoot yet and a afraid that stuff mught not be available when they are. It's hard to say what will happen in the future but I'm going to "stock up" either way. Call it hoarding, or panic buying, or anything else but I'm not going to be without and explain to my boys what it used to be like in the good ol days when you could shoot. Maybe a little paranoid but I'm going to continue to "stock up" for their sake.

 

[Jammer Six]

If I had seen it coming, you would all be paying me.

.22 sells for pennies, a few more pennies doesn't make any difference.

 

[tanzuki]

So I remember a year ago it was pretty bad. You'd be lucky to walk in to any random store and find 22lr or virtually any other common caliber on the shelf. then about 4-5 mos ago I thought things were getting back to normal. Hand gun ammo started to appear and I saw 22lr on the shelf quite often. Now 22 is hard to find again along with 9mm, the rest being pretty easy to track down for the most part. I have a feeling that when it started to reappear the gougers got a second wind and started buying all they can find again.

 

[SOrez]

I went to the Medford Armory gun show yesterday,one guy was selling remington golden 525 bulk packs for $65 and one guy bought 2.

 

[sapper77]

I went to the Medford Armory gun show yesterday,one guy was selling remington golden 525 bulk packs for $65 and one guy bought 2.

When people stop buying at stupid prices peopel will stop selling at stupid prices.

 

[Papa Jon]

When people stop buying at stupid prices peopel will stop selling at stupid prices.

So we have to wait until the stupid people run out of money??

I figure when it finally settles $25 to $30 a brick will be the norm.

Just as a few others have, I bought the bricks on-sale at bi-mart and still have 4,000 rnds to hold me until then.

If I could get 22magnum for $50 a brick I would do the "happy Dance"

 

[RVTECH]

I am with the 'Worse than a year ago' crowd. Up until a few months ago Sportsman's Warehouse in Bend was getting fairly large shipments on a weekly basis but that stopped suddenly and they have not had any since then. No problem with other calibers, including common but zero .22. They had some high priced stuff that sat on the shelves for a while, Eley match grade I think but it finally sold. I think it was something like $17.00 for the 50 round box.

 

[The Heretic]

If I had seen it coming, you would all be paying me.

.22 sells for pennies, a few more pennies doesn't make any difference.

when it becomes a dime or more per shot, it is no longer pennies, but dimes and nickels, and with 22 rimfire it adds up because most people shoot a lot of it, ostensibly because it is so cheap to do so.

 

[coctailer]

I reload my .22.




Doesn't work as well.

 

[Mikej]

I reload my .22.




Doesn't work as well.

Have you tried indexing the shells in the chamber so the firing pin hits opposite of the first hit?

 

[308]

Have you tried indexing the shells in the chamber so the firing pin hits opposite of the first hit?

Whaaaat?

 

[The Heretic]

So we have to wait until the stupid people run out of money??

Pretty much.

This has happened over many years before with other items; any kind of firearm that might get banned, magazines, the housing market. It is called a "bubble" and for whatever reason prices are at a level above actual value because people are willing to pay the price. Eventually people will either run out of money, or they will fill up their stock and stop buying.

I personally bought when prices were a lot more reasonable (between $10 and $15 per 500), and I bought some whether I needed it or not, on a periodic basis. I also don't get out to shoot much unfortunately, so at worst I maybe use 500 rounds per year out of thousands that I have, so I feel no real need to do any panic buying at this point.

If I get low, then I will just stop shooting .22 rimfire just in case I need it for SHTF scenarios. But I doubt that SHTF will happen or that the market won't eventually adjust. I've seen this a number of times before - the AWB, Y2K, Obama, etc. - panic buying in general. After people stop buying you see what they bought at high prices being sold at a loss in gun shows.

They never learn - I do, I snap it up when it is sold low. If I were more ambitious and wanted to waste my time sitting at a gun show table, I might do alright selling stuff I bought at low prices, but it would be boring and the cycles last for years.

 

[Trailboss]

Six months ago I believed we'd be through the madness and back to a slightly inflated new normal price level. It hasn't happened. I've also seen a Gougers dominate the secondary resale market. Now I've come to believe that we are in a new normal state that will persist for a while (year or longer). People will fall into one of these categories generally.

1. Won't be buying because they stocked up either before the madness or since and can afford to shoot with out depleting their stock.
2. Won't be buying because they stocked up either before the madness or since and they won't be shooting the precious.
3. May or may not have a stash saved up but need to buy to increase the stash or to maintain the stash because they're shooting regularly.
4. May or may not have a stash saved up but need to buy to increase the stash or to maintain the stash because they're selling regularly at greatly marked up prices (gougers).

If you find yourself in group 1 or 2, then I say congratulations! You're in a good place 22 ammo wise.

If you're in group 4, I say to you, your behavior is hurting our hobby. You are selling out fellow shooters for a few pieces of silver. Judas comes to mind.

If you are in group 3, you may be hurting the hobby or not. Let me explain. If you are spending the time to find your own 22 ammo at retailers, then the gougers are not directly profiting from your purchases. However, if you're too busy to find your own ammo and if you are not relying on the help of fellow shooters to locate non gouger priced ammo then you are supporting and encouraging gougers to profit from their monopoly on buying.

 

[salmonriverjohn]

Oh hell, just call me a fool. I gave for Christmas a few thousand rounds of .22's to a few folks that appreciated what they received, they have kids that shoot, and or just were short in general. I ain't short on the stuff and I'm pretty sure it will come back in many ways, but hopefully not aimed at me!
I absolutely detest the profiteers that have gained on others being ill prepared, yet know exactly why their making bank on those that weren't, that's just the way it is with supply and demand. Just remember next time those merchants that truly tried to pass on a good price and those that should almost see the short end of a rope.

 

[RVTECH]

An up side to all this is I rarely (if ever anymore) hear someone emptying a mag as fast as they can in the area around where I live. It used to be common but not anymore.

 

[mancat]

I never thought that when I had to urge to go do some cheap shooting I would be grabbing a 7.62x39 AK rather than one of my .22s. 7.62x39 is back to reasonable prices and I can find it in bulk or by the box everywhere I've looked.

I've sat on the few bricks I own for months now, not shooting any of it. I figure I'll start shopping again pretty soon.