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

The American Rifleman magazine last month or this month's issue said the same thing. More gun owners, like in the millions in the last five years, most have bought 22 rifles or pistols. More people are into prepping also, which not only includes food, toiletry items, but ammo as well. Winchester just built a new 22 factory in Mississippi that just started production, I think last month. Remington is building a new factory. CCI is running 7 days a week and they are owned by the company ATK, that owns Federal also. We are also importing Wolf and Aquila. Hopefully once these new factories start production, the pressure might go down some. I too like CCI mini mag solids, but can't hardly find them.

I priced components and can reload 9mm as cheap as 22 mags cost. Wish the 9mm carbines didn't cost so much, like the Kel-Tec.

Of course for food gathering purposes; snares, traps, pellet guns, blow dart guns, even sling shots, can obtain small game. Why waste ammo in a SHTF situation. However for practice shooting and keeping your shooting skills up, 22lr is hard to beat.

You can buy a super accurate air rifle for under 500 and a tin of .177 pellets is very easy to find as well as being much cheaper than rimfire ammo.

Yep, and eventually people will realize that--or realize it's easier and cheaper to handload than buy rimfire ammo at scalper's prices. That and the increased production will drive prices down and availability up in the long run. It's simple capitalism.

In the meantime some people will scoop up ammo as soon as it appears at stores, and sell it on websites or at gun shows for 2-4 times the price. Some of them are retired, some of them have fortunate schedules, but together they've created another layer of "dealers" who add another layer of profit to normal prices.

The one thing there ISN'T is a conspiracy among the ammo manufacturers to reduce production and drive up prices. I know a bunch of people in the business, and they all say they're REALLY tired of running factories 24/7, along with answering e-mails and phone calls asking, "Where the hell is the ammo?" The same is true of stores, including the mail-order companies.

Yeah, the money is good, but nobody likes to work day and after day of overtime, and never see any light at the end of the tunnel. And no, they are not diverting manufacturing from rimfire to centerfie. I've visited several ammo factories, and the rimfire and centerfire production lines are totally separate.

Yet we still have guys like Dink, who firmly believe ammo companies refuse to make as much .22 LR as people want. As evidence they say even the big companies like Midway and Cabela's "never" have any in stock. Well, just like Wal-Mart and every other retailer, anytime the mail-order companies get any "average price" ammo in stock it's all purchased within a few hours, usually because some guy on the Campfire or other Internet site does all his fellow shooters a favor and gives them a heads-up.

Then why did midway cancel all their back orders (more than a year old) a few days ago? If they are getting ammo in why didn't they just fill the orders? Wouldn't you think if they were getting ammo they could have filled a order in 12 months?

Dink

Maybe they just felt like Dinking with you

I would be willing to be their cancelled orders have to do with a book keeping issue and not wanting to carry over into a new year. Just a guess though.

This

I shoot a lot of air rifle pellets for practice and controlling European starlings, and that started before the panic a year or so ago.

That, and I bought a 22 hornet and have a good supply of lil-gun and 40 grain v maxes, z-maxes and blitz kings

The manufactures of ammo/reloading components may be cutting fat hogs right now, but I think in the long run they are damaging our sport and their own future. Keeping inventors tight, and prices high is just going to drive a lot of people away and into other areas of interest.

I didn't have any on order...lol

I read about it on net.

I can see walmart being out of ammo due to how they stock their stores. But midway not being able to get ammo to fill orders that are a year old something's up.

Dink

Stayclean,

The manufacturers are trying to produce 10 or 100 times as much stuff as shooters buy normally. They are NOT keeping inventories tight, they are making as much as they possibly can.

The problem is NOT them, it is US. We are the ones making it difficult for a kid to go shoot 100 rounds of .22 ammo, not the manufacturers.

If you want to believe all rimfire ammo manufacturers got together the day after the Connecticut school shooting and cut production, go ahead. But all that proves is you're as much of a nitwit as Dink.

I was talking with a few workers at 2 local gun shops here in ohio,and they were telling me that groups of retired guys come in on shippment days and buy them out to sell at the flea markets and gun shows at 3-4 times the cost.. Sad! The american way for some!!!

What a bunch of dumb ass people paying the price!! Not this kid!

Did I call anyone a nitwit? Take a deep breath, and don't forget to take your medication.
I fully realize that the hoarders, and scalpers are grabbing all they can, BUT-it has to get to the sales floor before they can do that. If you ask the sales people how much their stores are getting, they tell me they are getting LESS. The product is NOT coming down the supply chain in large amounts. The same is happening with brass, they will sell you a $40 box of rifle ammo but brass is not available in many calibers even though the price has nearly doubled. Anyone who thinks the ammo companies don't want this to continue is just na�ve.

How much worse will it get now that the nation's LAST lead smelter has closed it's doors. It's an OBAMA conspiracy damn it!!!

No, they don't want it to continue, and are doing all they can to fill all orders.

The reason brass is in short supply is that there are far more ammo orders, and the companies can only make so much brass. More is going to ammo, because not everybody reloads.

The reason the rimfire ammo isn't reaching as many store shelves is that more people are ordering it on-line, often back-ordering it months before it's ever scheduled to show up. Because there are more places ordering ammo, each one gets a smaller share--or none at all.

I just took a deep breath and decided you are still a nitwit.

yes ... the dumbassery will stop somewhere.

glad the voice of reason arrived. the rimfire shortage aint hard to understand.

I love it when you act all arrogant. Just keep in mind no matter how arrogant you try to act you will never be like or come across like Ross Seyfried. I know you would like to thought of in the same way as Mr. Seyfried but it's not working out for you.

Dink

This.

Every place says the same thing "we can't get .22 ammo". If no one can get it and no one is getting back orders then there is no ammo getting it the stores.

I guess that is something you learn when you don't get your ammo for free.

Dink

DINK,

You're another nitwit. I haven't gotten any "free" .22 ammo in at least 3-4 years, and I don't really care whether I'm as "respected" as Ross Seyfried.

Please tell me how many ammo and component factories you've visited in the past year, and how much of their production lines they have shut down so they can drive prices up. I've visited some, and will visit another in March. They're all running full-out, and shipping more stuff than they ever have in the past.

As one example, just about a year ago Hodgdon had already shipped as much powder in the first two weeks of 2013 as they normally ship in three months, and were already back-ordered. The orders haven't slowed down since.

I visited CCI in June and they were running 24/7, trying to fill rimfire orders--and they don't just make CCI rimfire ammo. They also make some for Federal and Remington. And yes, every one of their rimfire machines was spewing out ammo like a faucet. I'd visited the plant before, maybe 3-4 years ago, and in June they were making even more rimfire than they did then. One of their big problems is finding enough workers in the Lewiston area, because despite the good money, many get weary of working so hard, so find another job.

The same is true of every manufacturer I've talked to or visited. While they're all grateful for the business, they're getting weary of the continued and unprecedented work-load.

Now, please provide me with photos of all the shut-down .22 rimfire machines you've found in your visits to various factories. I haven't found any so far, except those temporaily stopped for repairs, due to running so hard for so long.

I live about 25 miles as the crow flies from the Remington ammo plant at Lonoke, Arkansas. I know many people that work there, in fact my Mother in Law is retired from there. I have asked, and every one of them has told me the same thing. They are working as fast as they can making .22 long rifle, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They are expanding the factory as told by these same people and the television news out of Little Rock, Arkansas. People are buying as much .22 long rifle as they can with no plans to shoot it. They are stockpiling or reselling at a profit. There is/was some here on the classifieds doing the resell for a profit and they did not like being told that they were part of the problem. It is a lot easier to blame someone else. miles

MD,

I once read that one should never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.

I've read your comments/replies to several of the folks that participated in this thread. Your information is spot-on. I'm employed in the industry.The present state of affairs isn't some dark conspiracy, just fear and greed. Some guys just don't get it... Thanks for bringing some accurate information to the discussions here.