Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires How much .22 do you shoot in one year - The logic or lack of in stock piling

But why does it bother folks that some of us are sitting more than 10k?? We acquired our collections when it was plentiful and cheap. Not going to Wally's and picking it right off the truck. We didn't cause the shortage. Nor did we cause the gouging. I have never bought the last brick of anything ... always plenty left!

Nothing wrong with stocking up with even more than what you see yourself needing.
Like I said before, .22 ammo can be viewed as a new type of currency. It can be traded for powders, primers, bullets, etc.
Or even cash. When I stock piled 15K a few of my friends laughed at me. Well.......now they can laugh all they want:) I just turned down an offer for $50 a brick today and one of the guys thought I was being a prick because I didnt want his money, go figure. Now, if he would of been nice about it and told me he wanted the ammo so his kids could go shoot he would of gotten a brick or two for a lot less money. It did not take a genius to see after the last shortage that ammo wouldnt go through the roof again. Only this time I don't see the prices coming down for at least a couple of years, if at all.

I think by July prices will be within 10-20% of what they were pre-Boogie man. I also think they'll be on shelves regularly by August.

I don't know how many 17 HMR rounds I am going to go through but the 150 I have now should last me after I sight in my rifle with a few, then shoot cans of water and other fun things.

I plan on picking up 500 for 99.99 in a month so I can be ready for squirrel's this summer...

I probably shoot a brick and a half every year. I've got a little put away, about 1,600 rounds, but nowhere near what I need/want.

My goal is to have in reserve a .50cal ammo box full of bulk and a .30cal ammo box full of CCI Mini-Mags.

I've got 400 rounds of .22Mag put up but I'd like to have an ammo can full of it too.

When I was shooting IPSC and CAS competitively, I was typically burning 15,000 to 20,000 rds per year. These days I don�t shoot competitively and I don�t shoot nearly as much centerfire stuff. I mostly practice with .22 rimfire, burning a few hundred rounds each time and just a little centerfire stuff. I use .22s as surrogates for centerfire guns doing most of my practice with them. I keep a pretty good stash so I don�t have to go looking for it and can ride out the panic buying in times like this. I shoot the .22 stuff for practice because I�m not that wild about reloading, and it saves me a bunch of time.

Got a suggestion for those who find their shooting volume impaired due to the ammo shortage. I've made a couple of comments on the topic in various threads and forums but will get right to the point.

From where I sit it appears there is much frustration over the lack of ammo, both CF and RF. While I sympathize with those caught with their pants down around the knees at the onset, I find little amusement in continued gnashing of teeth.

Thinking the first priority in this is to be able to shoot, be it paper, critters or intruders, no? All the verbiage in the world is not going to cause a flood of RF ammo to appear, it's that simple. There are alternatives.

Looking at brick prices for .22 RF and $+ cost per round for CF ammo is disconcerting to be sure, but have any of you checked the costs of reloads for small capacity CF rounds using cast bullets? Even with today's run up on component prices such ammo is CHEAP. A .25-20 Win case can be reloaded for 6-8 cents per round depending on bullet size and component mix. This assumes primers at .03/ea, alloyed lead partly purchased, partly scrounged to make 85 gr plain base bullets, powder charge at 6 grains purchased at $22/# and empty cases on hand. This is cheaper than the per round cost of .22 RF ammo that may or may not be available in today's market based on casual examination. The cost of production may be lower with pure plinking ammo, or with smaller cases such as the .22 Hornet. These loads shoot like so in an old Marlin 94 with a tang sight at 50 yards and are entirely suitable for hunting.



Another avenue is BP round ball guns of small caliber. Smirk if you wish, but A)such guns are fun to shoot, b) are far more than sufficiently accurate for target and small game and c) cheap to shoot. Given a nominal weight of 60 gr/ball (.32 is 45 and .36 is about 71, the cost for pure lead balls is about 2.5 cents per. Black powder is cheap, running around 2-3 cents per shot for these calibers. Caps will add to that generally in line with CF primers or one can shoot a flint lock.

I'm not trying to pimp a new discipline here, merely demonstrating there are alternatives. The more this subject of ammo shortages is beat to a pulp, the longer it will last. Some of you have the ability to explore new horizons and solve an ongoing problem. Beats the hell out of bellyaching.

Another alternative in modern ammo is the use of pistol powders. I landed a couple of deals that landed me adequate projectiles in 6mm and .30. Couple that with some blue dot and have a couple of absolutely amazing loads for short range (up to 200 yd) that is very accurate.

Last week shot a 5 shot 100 yd using 155 SMK pushed by W296 that left one hole smaller then the end of my little finger. Main difference in shooting was it felt like 22 mag recoil at each shot.

This is a good reason to switch to a sidelock muzzle loader, I killed a doxen sqerrils last week and 125 lb hog with my 45 cal. TC, I killed the hog at 12 midnight using a red dot sight and a 190 lumina weapons light glued to one flat with JB weld. OLD MEETS NEW! Pyrodex is still only 19 dollars per lb.

Black powder is available in bulk purchase as low as $13-15/pound from Powder, Inc.

yea, i'm down to ~1500 rounds of CCI Stingers, but i'm not too worried. i have .223 rifles and components to keep me in the game for the next few years.

I shoot about 500 rounds of match and maybe 2000 rounds of cheaper stuff in .22 LR

I'll probably shoot 1,000 - 1,500 rounds this summer just plinking. I had about that much of the cheap Rem (yes, I have 3 rifles that all like that stuff!) but when I saw the craziness taking shape I traded some 7mag ammo to a friend for another 1400 round bucket. He needed the 7mm, so it worked out well for us both. I also have several hundred rounds of other .22. I just feel better with a little more on hand. If I get time, I will happily shoot more than 1,500 rounds this summer.

I am like whoever said they will never get caught like this again. When prices are reasonable and .22 becomes available again, I am going to stock up, particularly if I find things on sale. I'm not preparing for apocalypse, I just don't want to be unable to enjoy shooting the next time everyone else realizes owning guns and ammo is a good thing and buys everything they can find in a panic!

My name is Dan and I did not shoot or purchase any .22 RF ammo today.



Forgive me Lord....

I generally burn through about 1,000-1500 rounds of .22lr a year, depending on how much time I'm able to get away and shoot.(when I was a kid it was closer to 5,000-10,000). I've got about 900 rounds right now and I'll probably buy 2 or 3 bulk packs this summer.

When people can't get other stuff to feed an ammo hungry gun like an AR they shoot .22lr instead which increases the demand for .22lr even more so.

Unfortunately I am not doing a lot of shooting these days due to health issues. Just to share with the forum though, when I was about 21, I would shoot every weekend with a couple of friends. We usually each ran through a carton (500 rounds) of L R each weekend and this went on for about a couple of years. In fact, we completely bought out the local supplier and he was not able to keep ammo in stock (other shooters buying also). I had a Colt .22 revolver and a Remington rifle and we certainly burned the powder. Those were the good old days.

10 to 50 rounds a day, give or take.

about 10,000 a year

Maybe 2,000 rounds a year, mostly in competition, I go to 4 or 5 shoots a year and do a little squirrel hunting with My 22 lr's is about it................Hb