Nine months later.... .22LR

[battleop]

So DJT has been in office for roughly nine months.   In that time .22LR has made it's way back on to the shelves just about everywhere.    I've been places and seen cases and cases of .22LR on display for sale.   Clearly the shortage is no longer there.    That being said the price of a brick of cheep plinking .22LR is still above $25-30 in most places.   I know that seeing $15 bricks is a thing of the past but what's keeping the price so high?   Is it the manufactures, the wholesalers, or retailers?   

[RED333]

Because some will pay the price.

[nightrunner]

Because the shooting community as a whole proved that they will pay the high prices for it when demand outpaced supply.

Its likely everyone who touches it, from the manufacturer to the end sale to the consumer, is charging more to the next guy in the supply line.

[MP5_Rizzo]

It is abundant in my area everywhere except Wally World.  For some reason it still gets sucked up as soon as it hits the shelf even though their price is not that good and can be found cheaper in a few of the places I frequent.  Until we see boxes of .22 stacked up with dust on them the retail price will not go down.

[bersaguy]

I would think it is the manufacturers that is keeping the prices up as they have learned people will still purchase it at the higher prices and it does allow them to make more profit. I'm sure there was not a lot of profit in the 22 ammo prior to the panick buying and when they saw people will buy it why not make more profit. I don't look for it to come down any time soon and I really don't need any so does not make me much difference I have an ammo safe the size of a camper size refridgerator and no more space in it for another 50 round box of 22lr. I had 90% of mine bought before the panic and the rest after the panic. I know most of it will get passed down to my son and grandsons.

[Grayfox54]

Several manufacturers  added new production lines and expanded factories in order to catch up with .22  production during the shortage. That ain't cheap. I seriously doubt we'll see any reduction in prices as they have to pay for their expansion. And, as mentioned, we will pay their price. The days of cheap .22s is gone. 

On the other side, I believe that current .22 ammo isn't as good as it used to be.  In their hurry to catch up,  I believe that quality control has suffered. I'm seeing many more misfires and random flyers out of current production ammo than I used to. It appears that we now pay more for less. 

[bersaguy]

2 minutes ago, Grayfox54 said:

Several manufacturers  added new production lines and expanded factories in order to catch up with .22  production during the shortage. That ain't cheap. I seriously doubt we'll see any reduction in prices as they have to pay for their expansion. And, as mentioned, we will pay their price. The days of cheap .22s is gone. 

On the other side, I believe that current .22 ammo isn't as good as it used to be.  In their hurry to catch up,  I believe that quality control has suffered. I'm seeing many more misfires and random flyers out of current production ammo than I used to. It appears that we now pay more for less. 

That is one reason I am glad I bought all I have before the shortage was created. I thnk about 95% of what I have I got before it got scarce so pretty much have the older ammo.......

[tacops]

I recently shot the last of the .22 ammo I originally bought 45 years ago.  Now I have to start working on all that I bought the last 45 years   Rotation of stock is important you know.

[battleop]

I'm still not hurting for 22LR but I would like to resume my buying habits I had years ago.    Around here it's plentiful and if you are willing to pay a high price you can have all you want.   

[Hozzie]

I would like to buy many things for what I used to pay.  Fact is, costs for everything (tooling, resources, materials) is up, including lead (thanks to the EPA).   Keep waiting for it to go down and you will be out of it again when the next shortage hits.  It's all relative.  IF you like shooting 22's, buy what you can now, it isn't going to get significantly better.

 

[hipower]

57 minutes ago, Hozzie said:

I would like to buy many things for what I used to pay.  Fact is, costs for everything (tooling, resources, materials) is up, including lead (thanks to the EPA).   Keep waiting for it to go down and you will be out of it again when the next shortage hits.  It's all relative.  IF you like shooting 22's, buy what you can now, it isn't going to get significantly better.

 

Well said Hozzie. I don't have a large supply of any one caliber, but what I do have; I continue to purchase as money permits. A bit at a time, although I really prefer to buy case lots, is the least painful way to go about it.

That being said, ammo prices right now are really great. IMO, anyway. When I can buy some of my preferred ammo brands at less than 200 a case shipped for 9mm, I can't complain. And S&B 45 is at the lowest I've seen since I got into 1911s. 556 is also pretty low now and doesn't seem to have bottomed out yet.

But buy when you can...don't wait and then have to lament your poor judgement.

[bersaguy]

I have about quit buying any more ammo until I can buy another ammo safe. I have 2 ammo safes full of ammo for all calibers I shoot and now when I buy ammo it is because I am going to the range and burn some powder and I will either shoot stock and replace it or just buy new and shoot that.................

[JAB]

I have seen .22LR pretty regularly at a few, local Walmart locations.  The prices don't seem all that bad, either, comparatively speaking.  Of course, to those of us who can remember buying a box of 50 for something like $1.97 not too many years ago (and some on here probably remember much cheaper than that) paying a bit over $3 for a box of that 'same' ammo (same brand and type, that is) can stick in our craw.  Then, again, when I first started driving 29 years ago regular unleaded gasoline went for .89 a gallon.  Yep, eighty-nine cents a gallon.  Now - even when prices aren't being gouged, er, increased because of natural disasters we are paying more than twice that.  In some ways, I have to wonder if the price of .22 was probably not as high as it 'should' have been before the shortage (not that I am complaining.)  Also, we have to keep in mind that .22LR ammo was difficult to find for around four years or so and that the price would have increased some amount in that four years, anyhow.  I'm considering that, in most places I saw, 500 round packs had already increased in price to around $18 or $19 a box for most brands a year or so before the shortage.  Because the ammo basically went away for four years I think part of the problem is that we didn't experience a gradual increase in price over that time.  Instead, we got hit with four years' worth of what would otherwise have been steady, gradual price increases all at once on top of the increase in price that came about for reasons others have already mentioned.

All that said, it chaps my hide as much as anyone to pay the 'new normal' price for .22LR ammo.  The thing is, though, that .22 ammo is still a lot less expensive than pretty much any, other factory ammo.  For instance, at the price mentioned in the OP one could buy 500 .22LR rounds or roughly one box of 50 .357 Magnum rounds.  Heck, for the price of a box of 50 run of the mill .44 Magnum rounds one could pretty much pick up 1,000 .22LR.  I know that I, personally, have not been shooting nearly as much since .22LR became scarce - and it has shown in my shooting ability across the board.  Funny thing, I was telling people six months before the shortage that I had a feeling .22LR would get scarce when the (then) next shortage hit so I actually bought a little more than normal leading up to that time but I still didn't have enough on hand that I felt comfortable burning through a few hundred rounds every weekend or every other weekend the way I did before the shortage.  Hopefully now I can at least start getting back into my habit of shooting more regularly.

I have also noticed how much the price of a box of .22 WMR has increased now that it is starting to show up, again.  The same stuff - such as CCI Maxi-Mag (not my favorite WMR ammo but one I have seen actually in stores recently) - that went for $10 a box (yes, at Wally) before the shortage is priced at $15 or so, now.

Edited September 13, 2017 by JAB

[JAB]

38 minutes ago, hipower said:

Well said Hozzie. I don't have a large supply of any one caliber, but what I do have; I continue to purchase as money permits. A bit at a time, although I really prefer to buy case lots, is the least painful way to go about it.

That being said, ammo prices right now are really great. IMO, anyway. When I can buy some of my preferred ammo brands at less than 200 a case shipped for 9mm, I can't complain. And S&B 45 is at the lowest I've seen since I got into 1911s. 556 is also pretty low now and doesn't seem to have bottomed out yet.

But buy when you can...don't wait and then have to lament your poor judgement.

I actually have noticed - yes, at Wally World - that the price of 9mm range ammo has actually come down by a few dollars per box of 50 lately.  In fact, some brands are almost back down to the price they were before Obutthead was elected.

Edited September 13, 2017 by JAB

[Hozzie]

I didn't really need it, but went ahead and bought another case of CCI SV to add to the pile for good measure.  I like it for my general suppressor shooting.  I just paid $343 delivered for a case.  Back in 2012 when I bought my last case, I paid $290 which was a good price then.  For 6 years later and what we have been through, 25% more doesn't seem too bad.

 

 

[gregintenn]

Lead and brass prices are up. Fuel prices are up. Labor is more expensive. Land and building prices are up. Why would you think ammunition would get cheaper?

[DWARREN123]

A few things keep the prices up. One is price of raw materials, paying for new(er) machinery some companies brought and then as said the ammo companies saw people will pay more.

[Garufa]

I just picked up several boxes of Federal Automatch at Walmart for $14.84/box before taxes.  If I recall correctly, they were selling for $13.97 about 8 years ago before slowly creeping up in price before the great famine. 

[Omega]

11 minutes ago, Garufa said:

I just picked up several boxes of Federal Automatch at Walmart for $14.84/box before taxes.  If I recall correctly, they were selling for $13.97 about 8 years ago before slowly creeping up in price before the great famine. 

What was the round count?  Before the shortage, a box of 550 was going for around $14, a few weeks ago I got a 320 or 350 round count box for $19.  I think even the 500 rem thunderbolts are about $25.

[Garufa]

13 minutes ago, Omega said:

What was the round count?  Before the shortage, a box of 550 was going for around $14, a few weeks ago I got a 320 or 350 round count box for $19.  I think even the 500 rem thunderbolts are about $25.

Automatch only comes in 325 round boxes.  You'd have to go back several years before 2013 when the shortage begin in earnest to find a box of Federal "Red" 550 for $14, like maybe 2009/10.

Edited September 15, 2017 by Garufa