Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Update on the .22 LR Conspiracy Theories?

I am usually not too wrapped up in the topics that get posted above under the Hunters Campfire about DHS and 450 billion rounds of ammo, the de-arming of America, Obama's Muslin/Al Qaida connection etc.

But I do feel there is a problem with .22 LR ammo. I live in Rural America. I have some casual connections at our gun shops.

There has been NO .22 LR "trickling in" like powders and primers. AR seem readily available. As are magazines. I just bought and assembled an upper via Midway. Lots of options.

So WTF is going on with powder and .22 LR?

I do not believe they are making 1,000,000 rounds a day. There are no bricks trickling in. There are no buckets of 1400 rounds of Remington trickling in. No Blazer. Nada.

Has anyone been to a plant in the last 3-4 months?

Has anyone at a large chain (Cabelas, Scheels, Dicks) seen bricks arrive? Or cases of powder?

I've not heard, read, or spoken to anyone either in retail or guys finding and buying any.

In general, I am not really believing the Hoarding excuse at this time. At the onset, 8-11 months ago, absolutely. But now, no clue.

So what would you believe? Your local gun shop guy isn't aggressive enough in trying to get ammo in? DHS, IRS, USFWS, and the rest of the alphabet soup is intentionally trying to keep .22 LR (of all things) out of your hands. Ammo makers think they can make more money in other high demand areas?

I am seeing occasional bricks at Cabelas and the like by the way. Not much though.

I am starting to see 325 round boxes of CCI Tactical and Federal Auto Match here.

You have every Tom, Dick, and Harry who used to only shoot 50 rounds a year buying up everything they can find so the fear of not having any is driving people to snatch it up who normally only bought occasionally.

Even casual gun owners are attempting to stockpile whicvh I take as a sign that average people for the first time probably fear the Government taking away or limiting their RKBA's

Mike

People that I know and work at the Remington ammo plant near here, have told me that they are making between six and ten million rounds of .22 long rifle a day. Seven days a week, three hundred and sixty-five days a year. miles

That is exactly what is happening. Be advised, the same exact thing WILL happen to US food supplies one day. Be ready.

It's getting hoarded. Any place that doesn't have a per customer limit on purchases for 22 has people showing up as soon as the truck is unloaded and taking everything, for hoarding or resale at gun shows for ridiculous markups. It is still going on, too, it wasn't just in the immediate aftermath of SH.

And when people buy it all up and hoard it, that mentality spreads. When the guy who thought he only wanted to pick up one brick keeps trying and finding the shelves empty finally sees some in stock, he's going to stockpile as much as he can afford and that the store will let him.

Thankfully we can grow our own food. Thats a big plus over and beyond making 22 rimfire ammo.

But its a reminder might should stock the freezer with a bit of spare seeds of all kinds too.

I'd like to know............why 22LR ammo and why people decided to make that extinct ?

Can you afford to buy and hold 100,000 rounds of 50 bmg or 308 match or such? Last 50 I bought was approaching 5 bucks a round IIRC.

I wish the distributers could hold supplies.....hold.....hold... and then all at once flood the market. That seems like the only way to make this go away.

I'll be the first to admit if I see a brick I will buy one (not 10) even though I don't need it. Only because there is a shortage

I guess that makes sense. I'm looking forward to the day when all the hoarders and gougers run out of money and I can start buying bricks for $5.

22 is most definitely trickling in, and has been for quite some time. The smarter shops are holding on to it, and letting it go in dips and drabs. I know a few shops here have quite a bot of .22 behind the scenes, reserving the majority of it for folks who buy a firearm in that caliber, and for steady customers.

I haven't bought 22 in a number of years, and even if I was low or out, I would not buy it right now. Matter of principle.

More, what gets me, is what are you hoarding it for? I bought quite a bit some time back so I would never have to worry about it personally, but if you are buying it because they will ban it or some such, if its illegal, then WHERE are you going to shoot it that you won't get turned in.

If you are worried about SHTF, you just have to have enough of SOME caliber, to win the first battle of the first folks that come for you, then you have all yours and all theirs.

And if you think you MIGHT have to eventually move locations in a SHTF scenario, how much can you pack with you really?

Prepared for a shortage? Yes. I think its always been wise to have a years worth of stuff on hand for stupid times. Beyond that it kind of can get silly at times.

That being said I have a bit of a stash and increase it as time allows so that if I need a certain powder for a new round, but everyone is paranoid at the time, and its not in stock, that I"ll still have some. The primer "scare" did it to me. If I was only hunting and recreational shooting, I'd always have enough. But for 20,000 rounds a year of competition... not so.

I just have a hard time wrapping my head around this. If just the other 3 major US rimfire makers...CCI, WW, Federal...are cranking out similar numbers as Remington then we're talking 10 BILLION rounds in the last year! I personaly don't know anyone that is hoarding, mainly because they can't find any. The range officer at the local range said rimfire usage there has declined significantly in the last year because of the shortage. How many of you guys are holding large quantities? I probably have around 1500-2000 rounds, but they were purchased long before any shortages.

I know several guys who have 100,000+ rds, and much of that has been purchased since the last election. Myself, I have close to 10,000, and do not consider that remotely excessive.

1500 to 2000 rounds ain't even a drop. At least not for 22. I can't ever recall not buying it by the case at a minimum. But thats the way I've bought primers for a long time too.

100K, I'd think that would be about the average stash, if you want a supply to last.

But some folks don't shoot much either, thats a given.

This, and the highlighted part is what I can't get my mind around.

A trickle I can understand, but the seemingly total absence in some places for an extended period is what I can't fathom.

You can't hoard what you can't find and buy.

Paul

It can be purchased for $25-$30.00 a brick, and sold within the week for $65.00 a brick. That's why the only stores that have ammo in stock all the time, are the ones charging $65.00 a brick.

Last time I visited Minneapolis everybody seemed to know somebody that worked at the Federal plant. They are running 24/7 and 365.



Travis