So I shoot

150 - .22 LR per year
~250 .17 HMR a year
~250 22 Mag a year

If I live another 40 years, and the shelf life of 22 Ammo is ? 15 years ...
So lets say I go for 10 years of ammo

1,500 of .22 LR (3 bricks of .22's)
2,500 of .17HMR (5 bricks)
2,500 of 22 Mag (5 bricks)

Heck I've already got more than that in 22 LR (4 bricks)

S0 WTH are people doing buying 50k rounds of 22's for ?
Maybe I need to stop shooting so much high power and practice with 22's.

Your problem isn't too much .22lr it's lack of shooting! 150 .22lr a year? HA!

More than likely I have enough .22lr to last a year or 2 at my past rate. But what my history shows is a far cry from how much I want to shoot. Personally I'd like to have enough ammo stocked up for the later.

The fact is things change. Sometimes you can plan on shooting so much and life cuts into it. BUT it can work both ways. Let's say a shooter gets a chance to do some competition, or go after some prairie dogs, or end up with a group of friends that just wants to burn up some ammo. If you have the ammo you're good to go, if you don't you limit yourself. I don't like to be limited by lack of availability.

I probably go thru 200-400 rounds of quality Eley a month. CCI plinking ammo (or other bulk) between 500-1000 per month. Depends on how much plinking time I get. Now that my daughter is graduating into toddler from a cooing bag of organs ... I can forsee a dip in my plinking consumption. Hopefully not in competition consumption .... but I probably won't shoot as much there either.

I have about (cain't exactly remember), 10-12,000 rounds of plinking ammo. It should be good for this year assuming prices stay high. I don't have enough Quality ammo on hand. But we'll get through. Most folks won't buy Eley Match or Tenex for plinking

Maybe it's the 2-3000 round I shoot when Pdog hunting that makes my case different

No kidding Eley for plinking would not be cheap

200 rounds a year, but I have 10,000 rounds in case I get a bad itch. I've bought none since the election; glad I don't need any. Shelves have been empty for a while around here.

Sold my only 17 HMR........have a couple hundred rounds if someone is looking. No full boxes......I don't think. Was ammo testing with a CZ455 when I decided to sell the rifle.

I shoot about 8,000 rounds a year and my stash will run out in 2023...better buy some more.

Probably 1000 -1500 per year..mostly it depends on how many gophers I shoot in the spring and early summer..Lately, I have been shooting more of them with my .22 mag. and .22centerfires, so my number of .22lrs. has decreased..Haven't shot my .22 revolvers as much as in the past..so that has saved some ammo..Have enough ammo to last quite a while, but I would like to lay in a couple cases of CCI Hollow Points..

I shoot only about a brick of .22 ammo a year. I would shoot alot more if I did not spend so much time shooting centerfire. I always keep some extra on hand but I refuse to stock pile.

Spotshooter: I have learned to "stockpile" - I have been caught short once in the somewhat distant past and it put a crimp in my "style" that year for sure.
I shoot a LOT more each year than you do though:
4,000 to 5,000 22 L.R. bulk pack hollow-point ammo
500 to 1,000 Winchester Power-Point hollow-points
1,000 to 2,000 17 HMR rounds
200 to 400 17 Mach2 rounds
And alas I have virtually stopped shooting 22 Magnum rimfire ammo anymore and seldom go over 200 rounds a year total in all my 22 Magnums (Rifles and pistols!).
So in order for me to "protect" my year-round rimfire fun I must (especially in the last 15 - 20 years) "stockpile"!
Now, I have a pair of grandkids coming on line and I expect to see those numbers go up by a total of 500 rounds or so per year.
Long live rimfires.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

The logic behind "stock piling" is not to accumulate simply a large supply of ammo. The purpose of laying in a nice supply is twofold:
1. To accumulate trading stock for other items.
2. To save money because it will not get any cheaper, ever.

I still have bricks of Federal bulk 550 packs bought at Wal Mart for under $10. Just a nice feeling going to the range and firing off a brick and knowing you are not breaking the bank:)

.22 ammo might just be a new type of currency for the future. I am sure I could easily triple my money on the 30-35 bricks I have, but then I couldnt go out and have a fun day at the range with my son and wife.

Generally 100-150 rounds per range session with the .22 semi-auto pistols, a busy day would be 200 rounds. Figure minimum of once per month doing that, maybe 3 times per month in nice weather (other range outings I'm busy with centerfires) so minimum of 1200 rounds per year on up to maybe 2500 rounds per year. That's 2 to 5 bricks per year. I used to shoot a lot more but with more centerfires these days I don't shoot as much rimfire.

Stockpiling the .22 ammo for same reasons as others said. Just a couple years ago I finally used up the last of a stash of 3 cases of Winchester Wildcats bought at K-Mart in the early 1980's for under $9 per brick. It was good stuff, at least my Kimber loved it. I won several .22 silhouette matches with it against much more expensive ammo.

BTW, instead of "stockpiling" or "hoarding", I prefer the phrase "saving for a rainy day". In case anyone's noticed, it's currently raining all over the country.

5 to 12K depending on the year and that is loading single shot. Average about a brick to a brick and half per day. Most first timers that come to shoot with me run out midday. Beldings ground squirrels.


Right now I feel a little short with about 24 bricks in stock. They'll be coming out in another month.

Shelf life is definetly more than 15 years if stored properly. I've shot 22 ammo from my dad's old stash that was 30+ years old. Worked fine.

Have shot more than 3 bricks since the first of January and have only had about an hour of daylight after work and weekends. Since I have a range in my back yard it is not that hard to shoot an average of 50 rounds of something about every other day at least and when friends and family bring their kids out even more

I shoot a bit, about 5000 a year. I am also one who has not learned from the past. Only have three bricks left and none to be found around my parts. Thankfully I did learn about primers and power. Set there for a while. Just bought a S&W 617 so the rim fire use will be going up. Having the kids in college check their areas, have a few bricks lined up from them. It seems the shortage is regional. However none available for ordering that I see unless one wants to spend for match ammo.

I usally shoot between 5000 and 7000 rounds per year of plinking ammo. Only about 500 match ammo. I stockpile because I got caught with my pants down 4 years ago with no ammo. I started stockpiling as soon as available. I am setting comfortably for a couple years. Every time something like this happens it drives prices up. Good shooting

I do some target shooting. Lot of my targets wind up on a grill. Splurged a few days ago and might have shot 50 LR rounds at paper. Don't have a lot of ammo really, but flints, BP and lead are readily available these days.

ok I can see stocking up to 10k given what people are saying.

I can't see the 50k stash viability though

I see the viability, and only wish I had before now. Rest assured, it wont happen to me again.

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

I have maybe 18000 rounds +/- in my locker. I didn't really start out with the intention of hoarding but rather accumulated whenever I found a deal on ammo over the last 25 years. I have 3 categories of ammo -- plinking, varmint hunting and competition. I intend to keep buying whenever it seems appropriate and the deal seems right.

i probably shoot less then 1000 rounds per year, although only because the kids and work keep me busy. Otherwise it'd be 1000 per week in the spring and summer....

Well I don't fault anybody for buying ammo, seems to me it makes perfect sense to do so, considering what we have running the country these days and not just on the federal level. I would be doing it too, but I have a storage problem right now or the lack of, and well there is the employment as well, been really underemployed. But I still have 6000 rounds of 22LR on hand. Enough to keep me in squirrels for quit some time.

25,000 to 30,000 rounds per year.I do enjoy plinking and small game hunting.

Terry

Damn! that's a bunch of shooting...what do you run all those rounds through?.......................Hb

I have 4 grandchildren - ages 16, 15, 14 and 12 and they'll go thru 1,000 rounds a session -- I spend more time reloading magazines than I do shooting. When the 1st started shooting I started buying Federal Auto-Match everytime I went to Wal-Mart -- usually 4 or 5 of the 325 cartridge boxes - to the point I bought a big heavy, lockable cabinet for storage.

I still have enough until the first 3 go off to college but I've been thiking of buying them each a bow and a couple dozen arrows if the prices don't drop soon.

2500 rds

amount of .22 I shoot is directly proportional to the guns I'm shooting it in. The MKIII auto can easily do a brick in one afternoon. The bolt action rifles rarely do over 100 in an afternoon.

I just ran most of a brick, roughly 00 rounds through my S&W M&P AR15-22 today. Talk about a great little rifle and an excellent training gun when set up to match a duty gun.

In regards to the OP, I shoot a heck of a lot of .22. Some years it varies but I would not want to venture a number. It obviously will be less this year. It is too bad, as I really need to brush up on my M4 skills and the M&P AR15-22 is a great way to do that.

Cheers!

I shoot, on an average, about 2,500 rounds off 22LR. The targets are Belding Ground Squirrels. Nothing can screw up a good alfalfa field faster. They got to pestilence levels last year, so I probably shot 10 bricks of Federal and American Eagle Bulk packs. Don't know what the levels will be this year, but an average year's supply of 2,500 is about what I try to keep around just in case.

I have not seen any 22LR for sale around here in months. I have no idea when I can get some more. I do have sort of an issue with the people who buy (or hoard) 50k at a time, or for that matter with the stores who sell that much to a few hoarders.

But anyway, when 22LR is again on the shelves, I may increase the backup number.

I probably shot 1.5-2 cases of 22LR per year the last three years. I got rid of my 10/22 though and I am single loading my old bolt rifles now, so that should slow me down a little. That said, I will likely shoot 5-6K of 22LR this year. I received a 17HMR for Christmas and that may cut into some of the 22LR shooting as well.

I am not having too much trouble finding 22LR right now, I have plenty even after trading off and giving away more than 3 cases since the first of the year. The 22LR ammo made great trading stock, I didn't get into the inflated prices, or screwing over shooters game. I just let people know what I had and that I only wanted to trade.

I try to keep 2-3 years supply of every caliber I shoot or the supplies to reload them. I won't run out through this so-called "panic", but you better believe my new ammo stores will be 5-10 years for each caliber instead of 3 when prices and availability get back like they are supposed to be

At least a couple of thousand rounds a year. I shoot mostly 45 acp & 44 specials

I suppose I usually shoot between 1500 and 3000 rds. per year..Bought a lot of ammo before I retired 15 years ago..As others have said, I keep adding to the stock supply when ever I happen to see a good price on ammo..as far as hoarding, I find it interesting that people accuse folks of hoarding ammo now..when it was plentiful and cheap, they could have purchased enough to last though difficult times..ammo and guns never get cheaper only more expensive..that thought lead me to make quanity buys when I had the money and the opportunity..others had the same chance...

people who have no 22 ammo are idiots plain and simple. they all had time to stock up over the years but were too dumb to do so. let them piss and moan all they want after all it is there own fault. The people who have ammo now were the people who did pick up a brick here and there and are out shooting instead of crying like little babies from their own stupidity. that said I shoot maybe 1500 rounds a year thru a Winchester 52 single shot it sure takes awhile to burn thru the ammo but you hit what you shoot at. maybe a 100 rounds used on vermin in a win 63.

I picked up a brick or two every now and then when times were good, and times are still good:

You could become fairly wealthy selling some of that stuff at current prices. But then you'd feel kinda nekkid, without such a perfectly suitable stash?



Some years I shoot hundreds of rounds of 22 rimfire. Some years, thousands.

I'd hate to want a "thousands" year and have to settle for one in the hundreds, because I'd dozed off and wasn't prepared.

It's not really for sale, but I would consider any outlandish offers that came my way...and trust me, NOBODY wants me "kinda nekkid". Property values would plummet in a 10-mile radius.

Several who shoot in our club's weekly CMP indoor shoots, have been making offers for some of my Federal Auto Match. I've decided to keep it.

Looks like you won't be doing without.

After moving to the country where I shoot from my front door I go through 5000 or so rounds per year. Recently bought a couple more Target 22s and getting low on the good stuff.

Buying ammo is a little like saving for retirement . Please don't wake up about 55 and say I'm thinking of retirement but have not done any planning. You will really be crying when your friends are retired and you're still working. Are those of us who saved our money hoarding it or good planning. Hasbeen

Exactly! I have not been "hoarding", I have always known that someday money would be tight, ammo would become expensive and that the dark shadow of politics could make it unavailable. For the past 25 years I have been stocking up on ammo and components. My pantry is full of food, too. I don't consider myself a "prepper"...more like a Boy Scout, I think. Be prepared.

On the conservative side, I probably shoot 8K of 22 LR, 2K of 22 MRF, 5K of 17 HM2, and 2K of 17 HMR. I shoot 22 LR and 17 HM2 nearly every time I go to the range as a warm up before I shoot expensive ammo. If I can't shoot good groups with the RF rifles, I don't bother wasting ammo by shooting the CF rifles. Time and $$ better spent by just breaking out a plinker and shooting steel 7.62x39 cases at 50'.

Shot a box or two last year or so.

Me not so much maybe a couple hundred CB longs for varmint control. But I have 4 nephews that can eat a brick in a afternoon easy. They are coming to town over Easter and I know they all have itchy trigger fingers.

Just received word that some NRA instructors are having problems finding ammo for their Women On Target pistol classes and that the babe who runs them at our club, doesn't know where to find 22 ammo for her next class.

She does now. ;O)

Be a great idea if them what had the foresight to stay stocked-up, could help out a bit where needed? I'd hate to see any youth events or training classes come up short.

22 LR.. 5 to 6,000 rounds per year... occasionally more, seldom less...

I enjoy a bit of shooting with my CZ453 in their heavy barreled "varmint" model with a 4-12x40 scope with A/O exactly like the scope I have on my Ruger #1 RSI (ala "International") which has a Mannlicher-style stock, an after-market Kepplinger Single-Set Trigger (like the CZ's factory singe-set trigger) and is in 7x57.

I love the tight little groups the CZ makes and well it should since I had my gunsmith pillar-bed the action, glas-bed the receiver and re-float the heavy barrel.

I bought and use the CZ to make several 5-shot groups between single shots with the #1 in order to allow the #1's barrel to cool down before taking another shot. By doing this, the #1 has turned in 3-shot groups as small as .176 inches with my moderate velocity hand-loads.

But occasionally, I take the CZ (only) to my Club's rifle range and shoot groups with it off the bench rest... and it does a pretty good job with Wolf Match/Target ammo if I do my part.

Oddly enough, it does almost as well with CCI's Mini-Mag, high-velocity, hollow points which initially surprised me after trying and eliminating over 30 different brands/types of .22 rimfire ammunition.

But all-in-all, I doubt if I shoot more than a thousand rounds a year of the rimfire stuff... it just doesn't give me the "fun" that shooting the center-fire rifles seem to give me... and with the cost of .22 rimfire ammo going crazy, my flintlock and cap-lock rifles are looking better and better!

Shot-for-shot, the muzzle loaders aren't less expensive to shoot than the .22 rimfire, but they take a lot longer to load... which makes for a full afternoon of shooting for "chump change" compared to rimfire prices these days.

Butttttttt... a fella should shoot whatever "floats-his-boat", I supposed...


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

WOW - in a year or two from now, when 22LR is back.
I'm moving $ out of my 401K and into ammo.

100 round a week, I would like to up it to around 150-200 rounds.

Thought about shooting some RF today but I might dust off an old Ithaca 20 ga for old times sake. Does that count?

I normally shoot a few thousand rounds of 22LR a year. I by no means shoot as much as I would like to. So at this consumption rate, I'm good for ... well a long time on plinking ammo.

If somebody offered to sell me 10 cases at slightly higher than normal pricing, I'd probably pass. But I might take a couple cases.

Probably only 250 to 300/year. To be honest, they bore me. When I practice for hunting, I use the real thing....However, people hoarding and making it almost impossible for the working man to buy ammo and reloading supplies really piss me off. Good thing I keep enough supplies on hand to keep me shooting for a while....

I have been paying better attention the to volume of .22 rounds i shoot since it has become scarce.
i have gone through @2K+ in the last two months
with nicer temperatures due any day i would expect that to go up..
so maybe 12,000-15,000 per year range

Developing a cache of ammunition you shoot is important so that you don't have to go to the store just to go shooting. How big a cache is the subject of many discussions. With the current shortage, the cache maintains normacy to shooting habits.

Our shooting is divided into two periods, pre-Mama CCW and post, long about last August. In the pre-period I'd shoot a couple hundred 22LR per year. Now with Mama taking up the sport, we'll do 200 to 400 month in 22LR with a like amount in 9mm. Fortunately we had a some 22 inventory before the panic and have found some here and there at the low end of the panic price range to keep up.

The whole thing just ticks me off. Started reloading in December and didn't have a lot of components...and now it's just crap. As someone mentioned, for practice/plinking we're going with cast bullets, etc., and having a ball. And I'll find primers/bullets at the low side of things. Still, it's not what was expected.

When things get more normal over the summer (I hope) we'll lay in a couple years worth of ammo and components.