Supply, Demand, Pricing and the future of rimfire shooting

[JAB]

As I have said in other threads, before the current 'craze' started I suspected that .22LR would be included in the nonsense, this time.  To that end I bought a few, extra bulk packs before it all disappeared.  That said, I had no idea how long the .22 drought would last or how ridiculously high some places would be pricing them.  If I had, I would have bought a lot more when it was still available.

 

Even with the small amount I have on hand, I have all but stopped shooting .22LR.  Oh, I still shoot it some but now it is more like I go through 50 rounds or so every couple of months where before I could kill a bulk pack in less time than that.  As .22 LR had become the bulk of my shooting, as prices for centerfire ammo have gone up, as well and as I really only reload for .38 Special at the current time, I have not been shooting nearly as much.

 

The last .22LR I bought was at Gouger Mountain on Black Friday of last year.  They had a couple of pallets of CCI that they were selling for $5.00 a piece.  That was really too high so I only bought a couple of boxes (I think the limit was ten but I didn't get anywhere near that.)  Mostly, I think I just wanted to be able to say that I had seen - and bought - some .22LR in a retail establishment.  Thing is, those two pallets, piled high, gave me hope (now I know it was false hope) that supplies might actually be returning.  I thought we'd see some normalcy return by this summer.  Man, I guess I got fooled.

Edited May 14, 2014 by JAB

[JAB]

I just read a story that CCI is adding capital equipment.

 

That is good news.  Remington is also supposedly adding a building to one of their ammo factories that they say will double that factory's output.  It is supposed to go online sometime in June or July, I think, according to the last that I heard.  Maybe we will see some relief by 2015.