... & people keep buying 22's

[Magnum Wheel Man]

I keep seeing these threads about all the new 22's being bought...

I guess I have a different point of view...

I had a Henry Lever Action on the top of my to buy list for this year... my disgust with lack of 22 ammo has bumped the rifle from the top of the list... I may still buy one later, if / when 22 ammo goes back to sitting on the shelf, & buying new 22 LR ammo isn't more expensive than buying 223

perhaps if more of us quit buying guns chambered in a cartridge where no ammo is available, someone somewhere would put more pressure ( if that's the answer ) or more new guns would be bought in other calibers, & may ease the demand if not temporarily

I keep seeing these threads, & thinking to myself... great, another new demand for 22's...

like I said... I'll buy one later, when / if ammo is back to normal, but I refuse to buy a new gun that is only going to add to my stress of looking for ammo, when there are so many other nice guns to buy...

thoughts ???

 

[Dragline45]

I am of the same line of thought, I was really wanting an SP101 in .22lr but considering I can barely feed the .22's I currently own I see no point in it. I am down to 770rds of .22lr, 100 of which are CCI minimags which are in my don't shoot stash along with a 500 rd bulk pack. That leaves me 170rds to shoot at the range until I can find more to replenish it. I used to burn through 500rd bulk packs in a single shooting session, being left with 170rds to shoot is just depressing. The thing that irks me to the most is that the majority of people who are buying up all the .22lr are stashing it away for their Mad Max fantasies.

 

[chipchip]

Sold my 22's and bought a Ruger 204

 

[Damon555]

I was just thinking the same thing the other day....What's the point of buying one if you're going to have a hard time finding ammo for it? Or when you do find ammo it's $7 for a box of 50?.....No thanks......

 

[Waspinator]

I dont know. .22lr still can be had for cheaper than any other round out there, you just have to look for it. Sure you might pay 10-13 cents per round if you buy online.. but that is still cheaper than centerfire ammunition. If all you are doing is putting holes in paper or shooting some cans somewhere, then you can still have more shots per dollar with .22lr than anything else.

It is a good day when you walk into a LGS and there is a newly delivered crate of .22lr for 4 cents a round.. you just have to take advantage of it when it happens and buy as much as you can afford or buy the limit they allow these days.

A few weeks ago I bought a couple of 325 round Federal Champion cans at the LGS for $15 a piece. So for $15 I got 325 rounds to shoot down range with my 22lr SP101. Meanwhile, it costs me $16 to put 50 rounds of factory .38 special down range with my .357 SP101. I don't know about you.. but my math makes the .22lr round a much cheaper day at the range.

 

[Targa]

I think its the SHTF people out there that our stockpiling, who knows, maybe there on to something. Could also be the people out there that are just a tad bit to into the walking dead and an impending zombie apocalypse.

 

[603Country]

Went to the Waco Cabela's this morning. They had plenty of the Federal 525 round value packs. I bought 23 of them. No I didn't. I bought just one. They had lots of ammo and reloading stuff. I didn't check what powder's they had.

 

[g.willikers]

.22 ammo is available, if the price isn't a concern.
Kind of defeats the idea of rimfire, though.
I switched to airguns for inexpensive ways to practice.
Reloading center fire makes more sense, these days, than buying .22s.

 

[9x19]

I just completed an auction for another 10/22 project.. I have ammo and the local WM gets it on fairly regular basis. I see no reason to deprive myself based on limited supply of ammo.

 

[KMAX]

Buying a centerfire rifle kinda defeats the purpose if what you want is a 22lr. Because ammo is or was cheap doesn't necessarily mean you have to go out and blow off a thousand rounds in one range trip. I remember a time when a 50 round box could last me a month or more.

 

[Captain H]

I've just bought two new .22lr rifles. I don't shoot as much as you on an outing though. I will go thru 50 or so rounds. I use it to offset the shooting I do with the bigger calibers I bring with me to the range. I don't think it is the shooters that is causing all this. It is the hoarders and slow production by the companies to fulfill orders of the AKA police and military calibers.....9mm, .45acp...etc. An example is .22 wmr. Those rifles are hardly flying off the shelves and are not nearly as common as .22lr but yet it is even harder to find the ammo for them. I used to think it was the gunshow vendors buying up all the cheap Walmart and Academy ammo and resaling it for a huge mark up at the shows, but I'm not seeing much sold at the shows. I go to every gunshow in my area. I think the end is nearing. Now .223 and .308 is easy to find so I think the manufacturers will start redirecting the manpower and materials back to the rimfires.

 

[Jimro]

Back when 22 ammo was available, I tried to buy a brick every payday.

I've sold some of my stockpile to friends just so they can go shoot, and now I'm down to just an ammo can of Federal Automatch and a rubbermaid tub of miscellanious (mostly Federal Champion).

Eventually the rimfire market will settle down, and I can go back to buying a brick every payday...

Until then, I recommend air rifles.

Jimro

 

[taylorce1]

I haven't given up on .22 lr yet, but have pretty much abandoned .22 WMR. I've been thinking of possibly purchasing a .17 HMR, since I can still find ammunition most places. I have a little over 5K rounds of .22 lr still, but I'm rationing it to my daughter which sucks as I don't get to shoot my Anschutz rifle much anymore. I did pick up some .22 longs and shorts that won't work in the daughters Sig Sauer Mosquito so at least I can still plink.

.223 and 6X47 Rem have replaced much of my plinking rounds.

 

[KMAX]

I don't shoot as much as you on an outing though. I will go thru 50 or so rounds.

If I take a 22 at all, I usually take a 100 round box and shoot about half of it. I don't shoot any more rimfire than I would centerfire. I can't see wasting ammo. I like to make my shots, not spray lead like I see some "kids" doing.

 

[Sierra280]

Even at the inflated scalper prices (if you are stupid enough to pay them) 22lr is still, by far, the cheapest ammo available.

And it's readily available in most places aga

 

[Blindstitch]

Gotta love the 22 conundrum. Yeah I got sucked into it too. Only bought two last month. It has been a while since I bought 22 ammo but I was finding it regularly and not buying all on the shelf like others have been trying to do.

I'm not sure if Henry offers it but what about .17hmr. Nobody seems to shoot that. I could probably go to several stores and max out all I could buy with no effort. Someone must own one of these but I don't know them.

You could also try picking up something in pistol caliber and reload the ammo to keep it cheap.

 

[Fugit1ve Wizard]

For every thread about new .22s there is a thread about the depressing lack of .22 ammunition. My feeling is that it varies greatly depending on your area and individual score at the time. For example I am only a novice shooter but have several connections for any kind of ammunition that I shoot, including reasonably priced .22lr

 

[surveyor]

shortage will not be forever..

Because there is not the supply of 22 that there used to be, I won't let it stop me from getting something I want in 22.. that would be unfair

If I suscribed to that belief I would have passed up some fine choices I really enjoy.
The 10/22 has been taken over by the wife along with a 77/22 in 22 mag.
And she enjoys them, myself I enjoy my savage mk 2, and my ria mig 22.

I don't go through a lot of ammo as I shoot for groups at 50 yds,but that does not take the enjoyment factor out of it.

We have been down this road before in 2008, and it took a while to recover.
I will only buy ammo that is reasonably priced that I know functions well in what I shoot.

I have taken to shooting more pistol than rimfire as I can reload cheap enough.

It won't be forever....when it turns around and stabilizes, slowly build up a supply over time.

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

I guess my point, being a reloader, is I can shoot something else for less, by reloading... & there are lots of other nice guns out there... I have 5-6 guns on my "to buy" list... I just moved the Henry to the bottom of the list, until / when 22 LR ammo is back available at reasonable prices...

I guess I've adopted the attitude that... I have some of everything on hand, & I refuse to shoot myself out of anything... I did not shoot cowboy at all last year, because of the lack of primers... I had a couple 1000 sitting on the shelf, but a summer of cowboy shooting uses up a couple 1000 rounds, if I shoot alone, but I had just gotten my wife set up to shoot as well, so that could have been close to 4000 rounds over the summer months, so I opted not to shoot cowboy at all, & just spent time doing load development on my personal range ( which used up much less components ) so unless I have the components sitting there to replace what I shoot, I'm not going to shoot them...

BTW... I have several 22's that for the most part, are sitting idle right now... I used to make it a point to hit a lot of the shops 1st thing in the morning, looking for primers... if I found 22 ammo, I'd buy it for friends, with less flexible work schedules, as I was focused on primers at that time... however I do have a job, & was feeling like a drug addict hitting any shop I could get to & back on my morning breaks in search of a fix... it did get my primer supply restocked, but unfortunately I'm now short of Trailboss powder ( that I use for cowboy shooting ) I have all my brass loaded though, so I may shoot half of that up while I continue to search for powder...

it was a long boring summer last year, I don't think I fired more than a couple 100 rounds all last summer

 

[Art Eatman]

Count up the NICS numbers for the last half-dozen years or so. Not all of them are buying additional guns; lotsa newbies coming in. If half are newbies during recent years, we're looking at well above twenty million. That's lots of ammo of all sorts. Overloaded the manufacturing capabilities.

But with new plants coming on line, or existing plants being expanded, it's just a matter of time.

So if I run across a good deal on a .22 that I'd like to own, I'm not going to worry about the ammo. I'll find a store with a 3-box limit at a reasonable price and be happy.