.22 LR Ammo: Is the situation any better?

[Gus]

Hello Everyone,

Just wanted to ask how the .22 LR availability situation is around the country.

Here in Alaska it is still somewhat low, but...

...Maybe it is getting better.  On black Friday all three of the big box sporting goods stores in Anchorage had Aguila .22 LR on the shelves all day-the 250 round bulk packs.  My son and I went to Sportsmans Warehouse, Cabelas, and Bass Pro Shop during the afternoon.  Bass Pro also had 100 packs of Herter's brand .22 LR (40 gr RN). All three stores had opened early in the morning and ammo was still available at 2 - 4 pm.

My hope is this is a sign supply is finally catching up with demand.

That or we were extraordinarily lucky.

Gus

PS: there was also quite a bit of .22 cal and .30 cal bullets for reloading at these stores.  No primers or powder though.

[Beavertail]

I'll bite, or that is I'll kick the hornets nest    I mostly purchase online, and therefore haven't seen too much of a "shortage".  What I see, or saw, was a bit higher prices.  All the same outlets are still selling, but I do see more of them get back in stock, and the online prices come down.  I believe AmmoSeek starts at about 8¢ each right now, which is lower than it was.  Locally is still hit or miss.  I think those places that rationed and kept prices down were the big winners in my book, and in my heart.  I have a shop near me that did just that.  You couldn't buy 50 bricks, but they stayed in stock and never really raised their prices.  They will forever get my business.  (They did the same for primers).

[Mahamotorworks]

I am seeing more in stocks at brick and mortar stores. Cabelas in El Paso and Albuquerque had some 22lr on shelf. I have been buying a little but not in the great bulk like I was before. Online is a great place to find it.

MAHA

[pennys dad]

Prescott Arizona is now no limit on everything except components.

[Don'tFix1776]

I'll consider things moving to normal when I can readily get 30-30 and maybe some primers.

[Pine Ridge Puma]

22LR is available at Walmart, the local ACE hardware store, and a farm/ranch store here in NW Nebraska, but the prices are 7cents for the least expensive to 16cents for the "better" stuff.  Powder, primers, and bullets for reloading are non-existent, at least when I checked a few days ago.  Sure glad that I have a supply of everything, with the exception of 9mm bullets.  All of these stores have factory ammo center-fire, but you had better mortgage the farm if you want to buy some.  Hope things get better in the future.  PRP

[GTEngineer]

Since IMC, a single box of ammo goes sooooo much farther than before....

[FiremanBob]

Since IMC, a single box of ammo goes sooooo much farther than before....

Back in 2017 when I managed a shop in Charlottesville, an angry customer came in saying his rifle was defective, he'd wasted an entire box of .243 ammo trying to sight it in. I asked him at what distance he was doing the zero - answer 100 yards. As I often did, I asked him to join me at the local club so that I could see what it was doing, so I could tell the factory tech. I even sprung for the box of Core-Lokt, same as he had bought. Later that day I set up a squares target at 25 and fired one round from the bench. We went to the target, I explained IMC, and then I adjusted the scope. Well, what do you know, the next shot was in the center of the center square. We had him shoot the third shot which was in the square.

I told him to expect it to be about 3" high at 100 yards, so if he wanted a 100 yard zero we should check that. Sure enough, after two shots (second after adjusting elevation) he was in the square at 100.

Gave him the rest of the box. The $13 it cost the shop to give away a box of shells was repaid many times over as he told all his friends about our afternoon at the range.

[Moy]

I'm still seeing prices 50%-100%++ higher than what I was paying pre-pandemic.  I think I was paying about 5cpr for cci standard velocity before, in a 5,000 round case.  Now when I can find it, I'm paying 10cpr, and can only buy like one 500 round brick at a time.

But there is at least ammo to buy, it is just much more expensive.  I don't see a lot of 5,000 round cases available.

I'm still shooting <50% of my previous monthly round count, looking to stretch my remaining supply.  I used to shoot like one and a half bricks or more every month, but that is not happening right now.

My range will sometimes sell me 100 rounds of cci sv at 8cpr, so I typically am not shooting more than 100 rounds a week now.

[Not Sure]

The CMP briefly had CCI SV.  I think they were about $355 for 5,000 case.  They had them listed as Federal with no picture for several weeks then they sent out an email with a picture and they sold better than 100 cases in 2 days.  I would have bought some but I had already used my annual limit buying 2 cases of Armscor 40gr SV for friends and family.

Problem with CMP ammo sales is that you might wait 3 months for delivery.

[Gus]

I'm still seeing prices 50%-100%++ higher than what I was paying pre-pandemic.  I think I was paying about 5cpr for cci standard velocity before, in a 5,000 round case.  Now when I can find it, I'm paying 10cpr, and can only buy like one 500 round brick at a time.

But there is at least ammo to buy, it is just much more expensive.  I don't see a lot of 5,000 round cases available.

For the last couple of years CCI SV and Mini-Mags have been going for $9-$10 here in Anchorage.  Can't find much CCI ammo these days. The Aguila Super Extra we bought last week came in 250 round bulk packs and I think we paid $14 a box, or 5.6 cents a round.  Aguila seems to be fairly decent in in my .22s. It isn't as good as CCI SV though, or the Mini-Mags.

Since IMC, a single box of ammo goes sooooo much farther than before....

Back in 2017 when I managed a shop in Charlottesville, an angry customer came in saying his rifle was defective, he'd wasted an entire box of .243 ammo trying to sight it in. I asked him at what distance he was doing the zero - answer 100 yards. As I often did, I asked him to join me at the local club so that I could see what it was doing, so I could tell the factory tech. I even sprung for the box of Core-Lokt, same as he had bought. Later that day I set up a squares target at 25 and fired one round from the bench. We went to the target, I explained IMC, and then I adjusted the scope. Well, what do you know, the next shot was in the center of the center square. We had him shoot the third shot which was in the square.

I told him to expect it to be about 3" high at 100 yards, so if he wanted a 100 yard zero we should check that. Sure enough, after two shots (second after adjusting elevation) he was in the square at 100.

Gave him the rest of the box. The $13 it cost the shop to give away a box of shells was repaid many times over as he told all his friends about our afternoon at the range.

Wow! that is the very definition of customer service, and, helping out a fellow shooter. If given a chance, IMC works wonders.

Gus

[Captain]

I've been getting most of my ammo online. For those few who may not know about it, AmmoSeek is awesome. CCI SV is available around 10 cents a round and 9mm range ammo is 34ish. Still higher than pre-COVID, but I don't think we'll ever see those prices again.

[Captain]

Opps, double post. 🙁

[The Wolfhound]

My local Walmart has sporadically had .22LR.  For the last 2 weeks it has had a SELECTION!!!!!!  Federal Automatch 325 bulk, Winchester SuperX bulk 325s and CCI Standard velocity 50s.  I remain in happy shock.
This store has usually had absolutely nothing that goes bang in any gauge or caliber at all, so for it to remain available for a 2 week stretch is amazing.

[Charles McKinley]

Rural Kink has had Aguila for 7 cpr.  The CCI bulk Blazer is there but really high 16 cpr I think.  They have 308, 5.56, 40 , 9 in assorted flavors from close the pre crazy prices to triple.

LGS is starting to get more in.  Deer calibers if available were $2+ a round.

[Gus]

Bit by bit I'm seeing improvement with ammo. Sportsmans warehouse had some CCI SV the other day for $5.99 for a box of 50. Five box limit. They also had a shelf of aguila .22 ammo. Still no primers or powder to speak of. That's in Alaska. A couple weeks ago in Texas I saw some CCI SV at Walmart for $5 (50).

[Charles McKinley]

Walmart in Grove City, PA has Federal Automatch for a little over 7 cents a round,  CCI SV for 10 cents a round, they have Win Super X and Remington Goldens for more, not my flavors so didn't pay much attention after looking at the price.  They HAD a limited supply of center fire hunting stuff come in about $30+ a box.  Win. White box 7.62x51 little over a dollar a round.

Limited amount of target shotgun ammo $8+ for 25, $30 for 100 pack.

[EZ3]

I've been getting most of my ammo online. For those few who may not know about it, AmmoSeek is awesome. CCI SV is available around 10 cents a round and 9mm range ammo is 34ish. Still higher than pre-COVID, but I don't think we'll ever see those prices again.

Yes, Olin and Vista Outdoors will make sure of that, with a little assist from the current administration:  https://www.zerohedge.com/political/what-great-ammunition-shortage-says-about-inflation

[Nashville Stage]

Got an email this morning that Norma has their Tac-22 on sale through Monday (3/7) for $47/brick, plus free shipping for orders over $150.

https://normashooting.com/shop/caliber/rimfire/22lr/22-lr-40-gr-lrn-tac-22/

[Chico]

Got an email this morning that Norma has their Tac-22 on sale through Monday (3/7) for $47/brick, plus free shipping for orders over $150.

https://normashooting.com/shop/caliber/rimfire/22lr/22-lr-40-gr-lrn-tac-22/

Normally $54/brick - already placed my order and have free shipping

[Eagle Keeper]

I picked up some CCI standard velocity at Academy Sports yesterday.
Seems to be getting better.