Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires So why is there still not any .22lr ammo?

milespatton and TNrifleman,

I was waiting for DINK and similar folks to come back and say obviously the CCI factory started up their rimfire machines for a few hours to fool a visiting gun writer. They still may, and might even argue with you two. You're right, you can't teach a pig to sing!

I bet most of us on here are sitting on a bunch of used brass, bullets that didn't quite "make the cut", and powder cans with enough for 10 or 20 loads in them. Instead of pissing and moaning online and lurking around the counter at Walmart waiting for the Ammo Fairy, why not load some up and go shooting?

The truth is, lots of us are packrats that like to sit on big piles of stuff feeling all smug and self-sufficient. This is a good opportunity to clear up some of the clutter and get in some practice. I've probably got at least a dozen broken boxes of .22s on the shelf and when the weather breaks, I'm going to take a couple of handguns to the range and burn some up.

This too, shall pass.

Pappy that is a great suggestion. I recently did just that. I went through all my boxes and shelves in the basement and found a fair amount of bits and pieces that I had somewhat lost interest in. It will have to tide me over, maybe for some time. After that who knows? It�s a bit frustrating as you see interesting things advertised that you want to try, but they don�t seem to really exist.

While I'm preachin', I think that it's not a bad idea for us to think about the way we do things sometimes. How many bazillions of .22s have we sprayed carelessly downrange without really trying to aim and squeeze? I'd like to have a few thousand of those back. I can remember spending a week or so at my grandmother's in PA, trying to make a box of hollow points last the whole time. We used to buy shorts for plinking because they only cost 59 cents as opposed to 90 or so for long rifles.

The problem isn't with the rounds sprayed down range, it's the people accumulating & sitting on 20, 40, 100 thousand rounds thinking they can stave off the hungry hoards attacking their hidy hole when the lights go dim.

Ok, you seen them making 22 ammo. What was the end of year count? How much more did they make in 2013 than 2012?

If stores can't get product where did it go? Who's able to get it to hord it? Why the price increase from $169 to $290 a case?

Dink

348, Good Idea.. I have some odds and ends of .22 ammo lying around mostly in coffee cans or old bullet boxes.. I used to put it in those when shooting gophers, or for ammo I left in the truck so I would have a few rounds if I needed them.. If I don't shoot em away, we are going to visit the grandkids in March.. I know they will be glad to help..
I have been working on using up those half cans of powder also.. Mostly loaded plinking ammo for my lever action rifles.. 30-30 and .32 spl..

I think the rate of consumption has skyrocketed, on top of the desire to put away some extra.

The kids/adults aren't shooting bolt action or single-shot rifles and single action revolvers anymore.

Nowadays it's all about semiauto pistols and doing mag-dumps with the AR and 10/22 with 25rd mags.

From CCI's website



Q: Does the recent news regarding a major U.S. lead smelter shutting down mean you'll have trouble obtaining lead for manufacturing conventional ammunition?
A: At this time we do not anticipate any additional strain on our ability to obtain lead.

Q: Why is ammunition in certain calibers so hard to find?
A: The current market and environment is causing stronger than usual demand for products in our industry.

Q: Are certain contracts taking ammunition away from civilians?
A: No. We remain committed to serving all channels of our business. The majority of our product serves the commercial market.

Q: Why can't you just make more ammunition?
A: Our facilities operate 24-hours a day. We are continually making process improvements to increase our efficiency and investing in capital and personnel where we have sustained demand. We are bringing additional capacity online again this year.

Q: What is your stance on the current gun legislation?
A: We support the second amendment and responsible gun ownership. We remain fully engaged in the legislative and regulatory process to provide the most accurate and comprehensive information to decision makers. Like most major manufacturers in our industry, we are also members of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). This organization helps represent our industry and our customers before federal, state and local government entities. More information about legislation and our industry's positions can be found at www.nssf.org.

A Letter to our Customers
CCI is a commit

You misunderstood me. My point is that there are ways to cope with the situation we have until the hogs stop adding to their piles. Slow down a bit, put in some serious practice, shoot something else. Don't patronize the commercial scalpers or the gun show slugs that scarf up every round they can find. If you know where there's some ammo for sale and someone who really needs it, quietly tell them about it, so they can get some before the hogs get it. When this is over the hogs will be left sitting on piles of shells they don't need and wasted lots of time, money, and and gas to get.

If everything goes to Hell, the Omega Man wannabes ain't gonna save their asses with Mini-Mags.

I was kinda hoping ATK would add on some ammunition stuff out here at their struggling space/rocket facility. Lots of lay offs and empty buildings out here.

I havent heard a rocket or shuttle booster test in years..I dont know what all goes into the ammo making operation, and hear that the powder isnt even made in the US..Damn shame cuz there are huge mix/cast buildings out here just sitting vacant.

It just occurred to me: why haven't the Chinese jumped on this "opportunity"? Be a perfect way to unload some depleted uranium or some other toxic crap on us.

Outta curiosity was I the problem when I was buying bricks for $12 a pop and ammo was plentiful??

rosco1,

One reason most factories have only upped the time they spend making rimfire ammo, rather than adding expensive machines, is they've seen what happened in the last two panics, in 1994-5 and 2008-9. Anybody remember those?

In 1994 the assault rifle "ban" was passed, and a rumor went around that primers were going to be modified to turn into duds within 6 months. People were buying "old" primers that supposedly wouldn't go dud, putting them in PVC pipes and sealing the ends, then burying the pipes in their yards. Consequently it was almost impossible to buy primers for up to a year in some places. Eventually the panic passed, though I wonder how many PVC pipes are still buried.

In 2008 primers were also very scarce, while .22 ammo wasn't. But as in 1994 the panic passed and things returned to normal.

This panic has lasted longer, though nobody can figure out why, since no new national gun laws were passed. But one thing manufacturers learned from the first two panics was NOT to add extra machines or build more buildings right away, because demand was going to subside. And at that point all those expensive new machines and buildings were going to be idle.

In fact several companies went under after '94 and '08, when the panic bubble crashed. This panic has lasted longer, but that doesn't mean people are going to be buying and hoarding all the rimfire ammo in sight forever and ever. We already have the production of primers and powder and .223 ammo catching up with demand, and it will happen with .22 ammo as well. Demand may be greater than it was before the panic, but that will be due to more shooting, not hoarding and profiteering, the two primary causes of scarcity right now.

I also want to add something for those who can't imagine why there isn't .22 ammo available if so much is being made.

Well, try to imagine (and I know that's difficult for some of you) that every time anybody bought a new set of tires for their vehicle, instead of buying 4 they bought 400. Due to the basic laws of capitalism, manufacturing capacity is "designed" to fill demand. It would be stupid to build enough tire factories to produce twice as many tires as people buy, let alone 100 times as much.

But IF demand for tires increased 100 times, there'd be a tire shortage too, and a buying panic. Fortunately, most people can't store 400 tires in their garages, so they can't hoard 'em, and they can't show up at the local Wal-Mart and buy 400 tires every time the tire truck shows up. As a result we'll probably never see the stupidity, greed and fear over tires we're presently seeing over rimfire ammo.

Good write John, I think this panic might be lasting longer because more and more weak minds are getting access to the internet, and everyone knows if is written on the net it's got to be the thruth, without even putting ratioal tough or recearch into it.

Does anyone know of any place where you can walk in and buy 100 bricks of 22 LR? If so, please share. People are not buying a hundred bricks, they are buying zero, because there is zero on the shelf to buy. People are not even making their usual purchases because there is nothing TO purchase, zip, zero, zilch, nada.
Eventual the supply will come back, at �new� prices,-just like the primers.

Wow ...

You got any inside information or just another newbie with a WAG? miles

Stayclean,

Good to know you're consistent, but as Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."

At the beginning of the big panic, over a year ago, people WERE buying 10 or 50 or 100 times as much .22 rimfire ammo as they usually did. That's why stores had to put a limit on how much each customer bought; otherwise the first person or two would buy the entire stock. (This is gotten around these days by entire families showing up when delivery trucks arrive, and each family member buying their limit, then--in big stores--getting in line and doing it again.)

This also why it's not in stock at stores: When rimfire ammo does show up it sells out quickly. And only smaller shipments are showing up at stores because places that never used to order more than a few boxes of rimfire ammo are now ordering cases, because that's the only way they can get in line for back-orders.

And back-orders are the way rimfire ammo is being sold, whether to stores or individuals. Yes, individual are now competing with stores, both the bootleggers and hoarders who meet the delivery trucks at Wal-Mart and people who are back-ordering bricks and cases from places like Midway. Manufacturers are months behind in their back-orders, just a tire manufacturers would be in the same situation.

Yes, prices for rimfire will be higher when it's found in stores again, because when demand rises, prices for the basic materials (brass, lead, powder) also rise. But it won't rise all that much. I do see rimfire ammo in local stores now and then, even right now when according to you it's non-existent, and it's at pretty much normal prices. Don't buy much because I have plenty, but do buy some when it fits a specific need. Bought two 50-round boxes of the .22 Magnum ammo my Winchester 9422M likes a month or so ago, and it was $12.95 a box, maybe a little more than normal, but not much. I'm also buying primers at the same store for $30 to $35 per 1000. Is that more than primers cost 10 or 15 years ago? Yeah, but everything else costs more than it did 10-15 years ago.

The fact is that MOST stores are charging pretty much normal prices for rimfire ammo when they have any. That's why families of gougers can buy it up and make a profit by selling it for 2-4 times the price at gun shows and on the Internet.

Oh, sorry. All of that is fiction. You're right. It's a national conspiracy by all the ammo manufacturers, who shut down factories to drive up the price.

And now you're going on "ignore."