Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires So now that 22's are back on the shelves -

1) I hope to see some 17HM2 show up.

2) Hoarders are kind of screwed price wise -

2) Good.

Now that decent ammo can be found at reasonable prices, who's gonna want Thunderduds that have been stored who-knows-where for a year?

Hope the gougers that sucked all the ammo out of the marketplace are screwed worse than the hoarders.

Dont count your chickens before they hatch...

22 isn't on the shelves in my metro area or rural out state MN...

And the recent Oregon shooting and more gun control talk will urge more hoarding.

+1 on the Oregon shooting screwing things up just when they were beginning to show some sign of improving.

Scattered availability around here, at best

humdinger - same situation on .22LR in SoFlo. Finding any is slim to none. Agree with you on Oregon tragedy causing more hoarding and making a bad situation worse. "DaPrez', in his TV statement, makes no mention of the 1000's of laws already on the books YET he'll be seeking more of them. Funny, he also 'forgot' to mention his bud, Rahm Emanual, his ex-chief of staff now Chicago mayor, having 15 shootings in about 15 days despite that city's numerous 'gun violence' prevention regs/laws etc. For an educated man Mr. Obama is still wearing those rose colored glasses.
Homesteader

Actually, I was thinking about gougers. Horders, up to a point, I can understand.

You don't honestly believe he actually believes what he's preaching, do you?

I don't see how the "hoarders" will be getting screwed on the ammo availability ... they wanted to hoard .. they did ... and still will. They don't hoard to re-sell ... so please someone a lot smarter than me explain this rationale.

Gougers on the other hand, will eventually take it in the shorts and I will not feel bad for them. Free market gives and it takes away too.

I think that with Odumba on his final leg of the presidency and the major presidential contenders (except for Hellery Clinton) being pro-gun it should help. We have .22 ammo consistently at the local gun shops in Austin, TX but pricey and selection is limited. Walmart gets some here and there but 99% of the time Wally world is out, or hiding the .22's.

Would be nice to know the percentage of the hoarders/gougers who still have their inventory that they got at 6 a.m. waiting in line at the local sporting goods store?

Local guy has been getting dribs and drabs of CCI bulk Stinger 325 packs for $19.99 per, CCI Maxi-Mag at $4.99 per 50, Winchester power points $3.99 per 50. Usually has a few boxes every time I stop in and I usually grab one of the 325 packs each time as the twin grandsons can sure shoot it up with their single shots.

Wally mart has not had any for a couple of years in any of the four stores in the area.

I kinda doubt rimfire will be back on store shelves like it used to be for a long time. The Internet ammo/reloading retailers like Grafs, Midsouth, Midway, etc. can buy bigger batches than many sporting goods stores can afford, and can actually make some money sellinmg rimfire now, when before most people bought a local stores. Consequently I suspect the Internet is going to be where most rimfire is sold, just like a lot of other shooting stuff.

I see it. I buy it. The kids and I shoot it. 22 LR is finally priced at what it is worth, at least to me. Last purchases have been 800 box of Win from Gouger for $60 and a brick of Thuds from Hunter's Outlet in Thief River Falls, MN for $40.

Hell, it's still cheaper than centerfire and I REALLY like my 22/45 and M63 Smith ...

GE

Don't know about all hoarders but some have accumulated more than they can shoot in a lifetime. The auctioneer at their estate sale will probably sell it for much less than they paid. I know they'll be dead and it won't matter to them, it'll be the survivors that'll miss out. Maybe it won't matter to them either.

True Believer hoarders are planning on using the surplus to trade for gasoline, food, liquor, or women, not necessarily in that order.

ahhhhhh scheet ... now the hording is gonna start all over again knowing we can get wimmins and booze for boolits

Rimfire ammo is not commonly back on the shelf in the Omaha metro area. Cabela's has the biggest selection, but if you don't get there early, the selection is thin. It isn't common anywhere that I been over the past couple of years, not since shortly after the Connecticut school shootings on 12/14/12. Every time that our current POTUS speaks on the issue of gun control, I think that the end of the ammunition shortage gets set back.

Spotshooter: I am with you on the anticipation for some 17 Mach2 ammo showing up soon/anytime!
But I have not seen any Winchester Power-Point (hollow-points!) 40 grainers on a stores shelves in the five states I have travelled to and through in the last 37 (thirty seven!) months!
Rarely do I see American made 22 L.R. hollow-points on a stores shelves so I disagree with you that "22's are back on the shelves"!
I have done several gunshows recently in three states and "hoarders" are alive and well - no suffering evident that I have seen regarding them - maybe (I hope) their day will come.
And its not just individual "hoarders" - several gunshops are on my list for "gouging" their customers. Needless to say I will never buy ANYTHING from them either.
37 months - WTF, I mean something is rotten in Denmark here!
I wonder if it has anything to do with the EPA making life so tough for the lead mines/miners that they ALL closed here in the United States here recently???
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

No, it has to do with many (if not most) shooters still buying as much rimfire ammo as they can whenever it shows up on store shelves. Those that don't have generally stocked up via the Internet, or have switched to air rifles or reduced centerfire handloads.

The reason you haven't seen any 40-grain hollow-point Winchester Power Point ammo in the familiar silver box we got used to is, apparently, they don't offer it anymore--despite what the Winchester website says. It has been replaced by a 42-grain HP version that, according to the few people who've bought and shot any, isn't nearly as accurate. The new 42-grain Power Point load comes in a black box.

It still isn't showing on our southern Oregon shelves.

I buy what I can, when I can, and hope the stuff is good enough to run in a semi.

The junk, I just use to play with in my S&W 63.

One of my favorites is plain ole Blazers - and I haven't seen any of those in years!

I've pretty much decided to pay extra for good SS HP ammo ($7.50-$8.00 per box) that is consistently good and available most of the time, and quit trying to catch a good lot of ordinary stuff. MiniMags are pretty consistent, and very reliable, if not super accurate, but remain one of the more elusive brands. I also picked up a few bricks of the CCI Quiet .22 40gr loads which are accurate enough for offhand practice and pretty cheap.

My 77/22 seems to have settled down a bit and is less fussy than when brand new. Could be that the last time I put it back together after dinking with the trigger, I got lucky with the action screw torque, or maybe the barrel is broken in a bit. Whatever the reason, the result is a little more flexibility with ammunition selection.

Living just a few miles from this last tragedy and having a queer Gov. who thinks Odumbo is really god. We in Oregon are in for hell.

Ha ha ha ha ha....... Ha ha ha....

I'm glad I never resorted to buying those Remington crap bullets...Oops, I meant duds...

A friend went to a local sporting goods store for a box of .22 ammo - none there. One of the employees said come back in 1/2 hour and I will go home and get a box for you. Sure enough, sold it off the books for $10 instead of $7.99 that the store had it for.

Speaking of thunderduds...

Gander Mountain sells the 100 round packs of remington golden bullets for $10 in their sales flyers.

Thats full on commercial gouging there...

When the prices are about $22 to $24 for a brick of 500 I'll get the Rim fires out of the safe. Other wise they can put them where the sun don't shine.

They're out there now, but you won't find them at Whatamart.

When I was about 12, HS HPs were about a buck a box or .02 each. CCI Mini Mags these days are about .08 each. I was 12 in 1964. Tell me what else costs only 4X what it did in 1964.

In 1964 there weren't, to my knowledge, any of the bargain loads that we have now. The first I recall were Blazers that ran about .89 a box in the late 90's. Now they list for about $2.50. I can't complain about that price. Availability could certainly be better, but that problem, according to people who know the industry, is caused by changes in buying habits and amateur profiteers. With only minimal effort, I can find the ammo I want and have it delivered to my door.

Life remains good.

Haven't bought any 22s in about 5 years, but sure shooting the heck out of cast bullets in my old M94 Marlin 25-20. Not as accurate as what I used to get with my 22s, but neither is most of the new production 22 ammo

Back when I first figured out that buying bricks of .22 LR saved money, in the mid-1960's, they ran about $6 for the "good" hunting stuff, which in local stores meant Winchester plated, whether hollow-point or round-nose.

The equivalent with inflation today is $45-$50, and there's plenty available on the Internet at that price that's usually better than the stuff I bought for $6 a brick back then. And I'm not talking "gouger" prices for cheap stuff, but ammo from various makers including (horrors!) foreign companies that will out-shoot the cheap American stuff.

But you have to look for it on the Internet, not look on the local shelves. And if you do bother to look on the Internet, instead of driving to various stores, you can sometimes find the cheap stuff for $25 a brick, which considering inflation is about half the price of .22 ammo 50 years ago.

But we got spoiled by many years of American ammo companies essentially giving .22 rimfire away for little or even no profit, considering it advertising for their centerfire stuff, where they made a real profit.

It does not make any sense my local gun store got a truck load of Blazers.

John, I believe you're wasting your breath. Old habits die hard, I guess, and some folks must really like trolling through Whatamart. I'd rather take a nap.

I did go on-line and look into buying from one of the internet sellers.

Most didn't have anything other than target grade available.
One site however, was an exception.

They had several brands available, Blazers for instance.
They wanted $9.99 for a box of 50!( FIFTY) Then there's the added cost to ship, of course.... so a brick of 500 would cost over $100....

Our local Bi-Mart store has been getting some ammo in as late.
They had Blazer ammo in 50 count boxes for $2.19 - limit of two boxes a day for $4.38...... or $21.90 out the door if you could buy a 500 round brick.

I don't know how an internet seller can stay in business while screwing their customers like that.

Or how they can look at themselves in the mirror knowing what people really think of them....

New Field & Stream opened near Camp Hill, PA last week and they had pallets of assorted 22 on hand. Prices were about what they were prior to the craziness, too.

Fed. Auto Match, $19. Fed. 525 Value Pack, $27. Lots of Remington, some Winchester. Limit two boxes.

Probably all gone now?

It takes a bit of searching and persistence, but the major web sellers, like Midway and Grafs have regular stuff come in fairly often. I check a few times a week, and if I see any I want, I order it, like the brick of MiniMag HPs I got from Midway a few weeks ago. About $50 to my door, no gas or windshield time involved. Recently, I've also seen CCI Standard, and Aguila Rifle Match at regular prices. No gouging, just shipping. You can ease the shipping by adding other stuff you need at the same time. Most places also have a way to sign up for in-stock notifications.

Most places seem to have the Norma ammo on a pretty regular basis too. Not the cheapest, but not bad and folks seem to like it pretty well.

Thanks Pappy, I'll give them a look!

Must be back on the shelves somewhat here in Colorado. I stopped by Sportsman's Warehouse on Friday just to look around with my son. They had several different brands in 100, 333, and 500 packs. There wasn't even anyone looking at them. I picked up 3 boxes of Winchester HP to replace those shot at elk camp. Cabelas has been stocked the last several times I have been there.

South east Oregon here. What's this 22 LR you speak of?

academy
all types of ammo to be had
cci sv 3.99 for 50
cci velocitor 6.29 for 50
cci blazer 2.29 for 50
aguliar 4.99-6-99
rws stuff 8.99
federal stuff from 3.19-19.99
bulk packs from hell

500 rd limit per purchase now........
(was given a ration of chit on here about me ranting to em a bout their stupid 2 box limit)

walmart had 1000 rd bulk packs of win m22 for 50.29 last Friday
had a bunch of thunderbolts for 2.49
even had a back order call for cci small game bullet from midsouthshooters supply
told em to sell it to someone else didn't need it anymore
moved on to the more accurate velocitor and placed an order for those with them

I geuss it just plain ole sucks to be in an area where their is none to be had.........................


and yep I hope the scalpers have their asses handed to em on a stick and have a fire sale in my area when they realize chit aint happening for em
at least in certain parts of the country

John,
Thanks for the info, disappointing as it is. My Kimber sure loves the 40 grain hollow point power points!

I have three bricks of the old Win Power Points. I'm saving them for a special occasion. Don't know what yet, maybe a sage rat trip to Oregon.

Yeah, I have a couple of bricks saved, but exactly what for is a question! I usually use a .17 M2 or HMR for varmints anymore, and they work fine with head shots on small edible game too.

One great thing about the old Power Points was they almost always shot well in ANY .22 rimfire, whether handgun or rifle. The accuracy may not have been any better, or perhaps not quite as good, as some other hollow-point ammo, but I can't recall any of our .22's not shooting better than average with 'em, usually much better than average.