Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires The Last "Rimfire Ammo Shortage" - A Question

At the start of the plandemic, I had maybe a few hundred rounds of 22lr, 9mm and 223. I was not prepared for a shortage. I was one who did everything I could to buy, buy and BUY whatever I could from the beginning of the covid fiasco. I know i probably overpaid for some of it, but I got what I wanted and most of my buying was done before prices got really stupid. I shoot mostly 22lr, so I obtained ALOT more of that while also building a healthy stash of 9mm and 223. Now I'm getting in to stockpiling more "better" 22lr ammo. Anyhow, I now have enough of my major calibers to ride out a few years of shortages without having to change my shooting habits much and will not have to pay crazy prices again. I may have to shoot CCI SV or mini mags if the good stuff (SK, Lapua, RWS) runs out, but at least I'll have something to fling downrange or use for hunting, survival, etc, if needed.

No one ever listens to what I say as to part of the reason for the last ammo and gun shortage.

It was mainly fed by all of the free Covid $ everyone was getting. You get $700 a week free tax free $ when you were taking home $200 a week before that after taxes you will have tons of $ to just blow.

The 4th of July here was Absolutely CRAZY. The people living in the HUD housing down the road had better fireworks for a week straight than our city had for the actual 4th fireworks display.

Everyone I knew were ordering cases and cases of primers and ammo. And buying all kinds of guns. I bought lots of this stuff very CHEAP after the $ ended and they had to go back to work.

Good sales at Natchez right now, and I picked up the cheapest .22 Mag I’ve seen at SG, $.23 a pop for Federal 50gr in the bottles. That shoots very well in my current rifle.

Pappy348: I am going to look that Federal ammunition up at Natchez. That is a good deal - at $11.50 a box of 50.
I use a LOT of Federal 22 L.R. ammo but haven't used much of the 22 Magnum ammo.
Wait, now I am confused, upon re-reading your post - is the Federal 22 Magnum ammo at "Natchez" or at "SG" (whatever/wherever that is)?
Thanks for the tip - I'll finger it out.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Sportsman's Guide. That price is for members of their Buyers Club, which gets you free shipping at the $50 level as opposed to $100, and a 5% discount on ammo and guns, 10% on other stuff. Natchez had some LR bargains, $.05 a pop for Aguila.

My Bear Creek upper puts several .22 mag loads (so far) to the same POI at 50 yards, a very convenient attribute. The 50gr at moderate speed seems like a good small game load, and the Hornady 30gr at 2200 a good one for stuff I ain’t gonna eat. Have enough of both now. Hope to get out soon and put them to the test. We’ve had back-to-back snow storms here.

Varmint Guy,

Do you have a reason or evidence to support your " intentional " reason for ammo prices ?

Yes. However, I think panic buying and hoarding .. plus some purchase with intent to sell at scalping prices .. drove much of that increase in demand. Now that those things are (temporarily?) behind us, supply has slowly caught up.

That said, I still don't see anywhere near the variety of .22 ammo I used to see. Volume is acceptable, but choices seem limited.

Was in Coastal the other day, and pretty surprised at how much ammo they had on the shelf. Even saw primers

cisco1: No evidence here - I don't need or want any.
The prices have gone up noticeably and I do NOT believe there was any rational or physical reason for the last "shortage" - let me repeat, I think the most logical reason for that shortage was "intentional" by the ammo manufacturers to have an excuse to raise prices.
Do YOU have a "reason, or evidence" that is NOT the case?
I know a "distributor" who has been in the business decades and he relayed to me that HIS business was just NOT getting anywhere near the normal shipments of rimfire ammunition, during that last "shortage". I'll ask him what he thinks caused that. I do know now the ammo is actually piling up (except for the 17 WSM!) on the sport shops and gunshops I frequent.
I simply no longer trust the ammunition manufacturers - all of a sudden there is ammo (both rimfire and centerfire!) piling up on store shelves, at the much increased prices, I might add.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

stock pile guys its going to happen again ! you have been warned !

K22- how heavy is the rock?

Maybe, maybe not. “I won’t get fooled again*”, whatever happens, whatever the cause…..


*1971 The Who

Fear can result in panic buying, and depletion of pipeline capacity. No manufacturer knows the future, ergo, best to continue at current production till/unless clear permanent demand has increased. That's how supply and demand works.

Other factors, already cited, such as raw material source depletion and need to direct capacity to some other products can easily complicate the situation.

Supply normally increases as a result of sustained increase in demand. What exactly should I do? Stop buying case lots during good times? I'm in the high 5 figures in .22rf inventory, but I shoot alot. In fact, 99% of purchased has been acquired during times like...well...right now. Partly b/c I hate paying scalper prices. Partly b/c I can afford to ride shortages out precisely b/c of a large inventory.

How is it better for those who are perpetually one brick away from begging if people like moi are added to the list of shortage-buyers?

Good Morning Varmint Guy,

I know a couple of distributors also. They can't shed any light on the ammo . The distributors can't really shed any light on much. Years ago I found a new Anschutz in the pipeline, I spoke to 5-6 distributors about getting it to a dealer. Not much luck as they did not know a frizzing' thing. Finally after much effort I had it delivered to a dealer about an hour and a half away. So my experience with distributors is pretty poor.

As far as manufacturers shorting ammo on purpose ....I suppose there is some of that.

I do know a lot of manufacturers have been operating at or near capacity. I also know the manufacturers
sell the most profitable ammo possible. We see what has been on sale lately.

I buy ammo on sale when I find it. I have enough for quite a while. I don't buy any ammo out of need for shooting today.

However, I still cannot find any .218 Bee, .25/20, .30/40 Krag, I did find some .22 RemJet Privi Partizan, and others.

Have good day Varmint Guy,

Best, Chuck

2 contrary corollaries:

People like Mule Deer in the industry have said the ammunition manufacturers were producing ammunition at a steady pace.

It doesn’t make sense that any industry would unilaterally create such a shortage to increase sales when sales exceeded their ability to produce.

A little more on ammo shortages. There was a powder / and primer shortage , component shortage.
Biden banned importing powder a while ago. He futzed around with LC , which affected the .223 /5.56
Market.
Some other factors also.

Cisco1: Like you I bought a lot of rimfire ammunition two "shortages" back.
I probably have a lifetime supply for my many rimfire Rifles/pistols (assuming I live 10 - 12 more years).
And I do still stay on the lookout for sales on plinking ammo for the VarmintKids and VarmintGrandKids.
Our local Murdochs, for instance, has Winchester 36 grain hollowpoints on sale for $19.99 (no sales tax in Montana) for 333 rounds - or about $3.07 per 50 rounds.
All the other rimfire offerings were VERY high, price wise.
I appreciate all opinions and insights on the rimfire availability/price situation whether they concur with my CONJECTURE or not.
Long live rimfire ammunition/guns.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Good Evening Varmint Guy,

I am not disagreeing with your CONJECTURE ............just wondering' if you have anything besides your feelers.

Best ,

Chuck

Vista outdoors owns most of the top brands.

CCI, Federal, Remington… hummmm?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vista_Outdoor

What caused the last rimfire shortage is irrelevant, what is more relevant is that there will surely be another shortage in the future.
Instead of talking about what may or may not have caused the last shortage your time would be better spent by laying in more now while there are great selections and prices are down.
My local farm stores and sporting good stores have cases of gopher/plinking grade 22 LR ammo at 6 cents or less per round. They had a Armscor on sale a month or so ago at $1.27 per box of 50 - it isn't the greatest ammo around but it beats the heck out of none and I shot a lot of it during the last shortage because it was available. What I am driving at is that there is no reason to not have a good supply of rimfire ammo laid in for the next shortage.

drover