Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 22 LR ammo - supply issue, or hoarding ??

129 a brick? Well, you DO live in Assachusetts and deserve what happens.

Miles I don't disagree with you and the reason I said don't take this personal as the employees at Walmart are just doing what they are told but management could make it a bit harder if they did nothing more than put in some limits and more importantly put out small amounts at random times . In reality they don't really care but there is no doubt that Walmart and their ilk has simply become a wholesaler for the scalpers.

However you are right it is a combination of the source, the scalpers and the buyers.

I don't think the average manager or store employee that doesn't shoot gives a rats @#$ if they have 2 lr in stock or not. They are there to get a paycheck and when stocking or managing a whole store a shortage on one item probably is only noticed when they have to stop and tell someone they are out. Then they go back to their life and forget about it until the next shlubb shows up looking for it.

If you use discipline, build relationships, burn gasoline, you'll get 22 ammo too.

If you go to Walmart in the AM, its gone already most of the time. Generally the evening shift unloads trucks and stocks the shelves between 4:30 and 8:30PM

I find it endlessly and I buy all I can at regular prices only. Even though I give much of it away to youngins, I have over 150,000 rounds and one gun.

Gremcat is right, min wage employees just don't care nor do they even like the subject anymore.

I think they ship most of the 22 ammo to Texas because I see it everyday somewhere. I pick up at least 2800 rounds a week bulk ( thats like two buckets of 1400 rems). I sell it to groups for cost plus a 5lb bag of Peanut M&M's. Stingers are hell to get though.

There were a coupla WMRI's (Walmart Rimfire Investors) at the last gunshow I went to. $50/brick. Oddly they had 2 of everything. Clearly a full time job. Well, that and the Redneck 401K (lottery)

Dave: No we don't deserve it, and can't outvote the Massholes in EasternMa that come up with the crazy laws. Lucky I travel and stock up in other places. On the bright side I don't think the hoarders will be hitting up that gun shop!

McBrides in Austin. We've had shipments of 22 Mag for several months now. Got some in last Monday. With that swamp guy on the box. 200 count.

We also got in some percussion caps. Winchester. There was something I hadn't seen since December 2012.

What about musket caps? I am not out, but what I have are old. I haven't had any trouble but you never know. miles

Haven't seen musket caps in forever! But then I think myself and coworker are the only ones there who know what musket caps are!!

I use them on my Thompson inline and have had good luck with them. miles

Maybe another way to look at it. Those guys that get there early saved you the gas to get there and having to be up early so adding twenty to the price they pay might be worth it at the end of the day. I still don't get how they sell bricks for a twenty dollar mark up and find it worth the effort. Think about having to ship it, go to different stores to find it, and advertise it. You would make 100 dollars for every 5 bricks and still have to pay for vehicle, gas, and shipping. It is aggravating that it is never in stock but I usually poke around when I am at different stores for other things and can find some here and there. If I lived where I could shoot a lot and my kids had a 22 I might even pay the 40 bucks for a brick. We shoot bolt guns so a brick would last awhile. The guys that ask 70 a brick or more are just trying to get the newer shooters unawares. I do disagree in general principle on these guys preying on the uninformed new entries to shooting. All the guys that have mentored me would give you whatever you needed with just a hand shake.

gremcat, It ain't really worth their while. Those kinda guys live from dollar to dollar hustling through life.

A lot of these guys are probably living on some kind of gummint check and run a bunch of similar scams to try to make money without actually working. They think the people that go to work every day, pay their bills, etc, etc are the suckers. They spend their lives living in crappy old trailers, drinking cheap beer, eating gummint cheese with ugly women. The Life of Riley! I've had people come to my door driving nasty old trucks I wouldn't haul pigs in try to sell me everything from vacuum cleaners to meat. Usually, they look like they sleep in their clothes.
I'm sure there's a few of them that have had a bad run of luck and are just trying to get by until the Obama Recovery finally kicks in and I feel bad for them, but I ain't paying them $60 a brick for Thunderbolts.

Obviously most .22 Long Rifle re-sellers don't have a lot of money to "invest." Otherwise they would have been scarfing up .17 HMR and .22 Magnum ammo too, and while neither have been easy to find, when they are available the prices are either "normal" or not too much higher.

The re-sellers would also have started in on .223 and handgun ammo when it started appearing again. Both have been in stock for months in many stores, at decent prices. (And if a gummint conspiracy was behind everything, .223 and handgun ammo would still be as scarce as .22 Long Rifle.)

So yeah, it's easy to see why they homed in on .22 Long Rifle ammo. It's relatively cheap, and almost everybody owns a .22.

Everybody owns a 22 but how many of them shoot their 22s on a regular basis? Most guys I know shoot tons of handgun and rifle rounds per year but not that many 22s. And even the ones who do shoot 22s on a regular basis, they wouldn't go out and burn up a brick at one session.

I get the hoarding and the shortage but I wonder how many people were effected by this shortage only after they found out that there was, indeed, a shortage.

Well, suddenly running into the shortage when expecting to easily pick up 100 rounds or so is certainly a factor.

But there are lots of people in my part of the world who shoot LOTS of .22 rimfire, whether in varmint hunting, target shooting, or just plain practice plinking. In fact some often shoot a brick a day in varmint shooting. So it depends a lot on where you live.

I don't shoot ground squirrels as much as I used to, but 20 years ago expected to go through several bricks each year just on them.

I get that, Mule Deer. I realize that there are many people who shoot their 22s a lot. I've just been thinking recently about all these shortages and threats of bans on AR-type rifles and how it has effected the shooting fraternity. And how it has actually increased gun purchases.

I know guys who had zero interest in buying and AR and now they are totally into that sort of shooting. Similarly, guys who only shot a 100 count box of 22s per year are now searching for bricks of ammo.

All anyone has to do is look back to Prohibition to realize what happens when there is a shortage of any commodity. All of a sudden, interest goes through the roof.

Exactly.

Aside from the re-sellers, what's been happening with .22 ammo is people who used to buy a box or two now and then are now buying a brick whenever they can. And people who used to buy a brick are buying multiple bricks.

Which is why there isn't much .22 ammo on many store shelves--at least for very long.

This is a thread that has been on this and other forums multiple times. You just need to deal with it. Pick it up when you see it or do as I do and have an ongoing order with Killough Shooting Sports for more when he receives it.
I bought a little along for several years and now I'm happy that I have some real bargains.
You guys just need to buy a little a long and you will be in good shape.
I don't know how you would classify me, a hoarder? I do have quite a lot, but it ain't for sale. If any are left my Sons and Grandchildren will have fun with it.

Butch,

I don't have to deal with any of it, since I've long kept a sufficient stock of all sorts of rimfire ammo, partly due to magazine editors sometimes wanting me to test rifles and even handguns.

But I do have to answer some of the inquiries from people who want to know the "real inside scoop." And then when I do, some don't believe it....