Another take on the 22 shortage with a mention of Appleseed:
The popular marksmanship program, Appleseed, even has a revised course of fire now that requires fewer rounds of ammo due to the "22 shortage".
Full article here FYI:
http://gunssavelives.net/blog/an-open-letter-to-22lr-buyers-and-seekers/
There is precious little 22 ammo to be found anywhere in NM. Much of it is being "re-sold" at gun shows in the Alb, Las Cruces, etc. area. It is the same brand(s) offered by Big 5 and Walmart and SW. At one gun show I said to my buddy, as I held up a box of the same brand that the box stores sell, "wow, remember when you could buy this at WW or Big 5 for $25 a box?. You should have seen the expression on the guys face, I am sure he was a re-seller.
You used to never see 22 bulk ammo at gun shows.
FYI, I got an email from the CMP about the .22 ammo order that I placed in November 2013. They said they are currently filling .22 ammo orders from May 2013.
UL
This article explains what I've suspected all along. The dust seemed to finally settle from the ammo scare a few months ago in my neck of the woods. But still no .22. I'll never forget when I went to a gun show earlier this year and noticed a long line of people waiting in front of a small table. I walked over to the table and saw a shelf stocked full of Winchester white box and Remington .22. A man and a woman were both running the booth and selling 550 rd boxes for $85 a box! And people were paying it! I'm a total believer in the free market but I had a lot of contempt for those people that day. I wish the patrons would've shunned and ignored that table completely.
An interesting effect from all this is seeing a lot more centerfires, especially AR-15's at Appleseed shoots this year. One student told me a couple weekends ago that he might as well just shoot his AR since .223 was just a little more expensive than .22LR but a lot easier to find.
Visited a gun show today (Cincinnati, OH) and there was a lot of .22LR for sale.... for ten cents a round.
It's looking like the availability is increasing and supply is starting to catch up with demand. Everything I've heard is the mark-up is coming from the retailers. Manufacturers and distributors have only raised prices in relation to supply cost. The end seller is the one responsible for the huge mark-up. Form your own opinions about that.
r
All the .22 ammo you could want was at the Shipshewana Indiana gun show last week....$55.00 to $62.00 a brick. 11 - 12 cents a round, A lot of bricks were still unsold at end of show.
People would buy smaller increments (50 round boxes) at a slightly higher per round cost just so they had some ammo.
I guess they bought what they could afford.
On the "auction" sites, a 550 rd brick averages about $80 shipped. So the gun shows seem a bargain. :)) %)
Hi TG,
I totally disagree with the article's premise. The new retail value of .22 rimfire is 10+ cents a round. The fact that there is NONE on retailers shelves is that they are afraid to raise their prices to meet the supply & demand equilibrium point for fear of offending customers. I am much more offended by NO PRODUCT TO BUY! A product is worth what someone is willing to pay for it at that moment. A lot of people are still making good money and are willing to pay $50+ a brick to feed that new super tacki-ti-cool $1000+ 10/22 they just built. If they had raised their prices but had ammo on the shelves their would be no perceived shortage. It is the stores failed economic sense that is at fault here not the resellers.
If you are willing to buy a case at a time Sportsmans Supply, Butler, Pennsylvania, on gunbroker has free shipping on their cases of ammo. They are local to me but I watch their auction to get a feel for the national market without having to calculate shipping. Most of it is around 10 cents a round. In the last few weeks I have seen a few auctions go below that rate. They are a long running business that buys their ammo by the tractor trailer load. They have a limits of a brick or two at a time at the store. If you want more than that you have to buy a case at a time at auction. This policy usually saves you money if you have time to be patient (the auction price is cheaper than retail.)
This is cheaper than almost any of the listed 22LR on gunbot.
Walmart still sells at around 5 cents a round for bulk and 7.5 for CCI mini-mags but hasn't had a reliable supply since the insanity started 20 months ago!
Hope this helps,
Stand
I was actually incredibly lucky and got 3 boxes of Remington 225 round bulk at Wally's for $11.17 a box.
BassPro let me buy 2 boxes of Thunderbolt 50 count for $2.49 each!
I have enough for a while anyway.
If I stumble on anymore I will pick it up and pass it on to someone at AS who can use it for my cost as I should have enough to last me till next time I need some.
Thanks to all for your service.