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

It just seems weird that I am on, and have been on for quite some time, the "Notify Me" lists for several major internet sellers like Midway, Sportsman Guide, etc - and no one has notified me that they have any. I would have thought major resellers like them would have some pull in getting ammo in from the major domestic companies. I did get some SK "Magazine" and some Mexican "CI" brand ammo, albeit at inflated prices.

David,

Unfortunately, you're right. I won't be posting on the Campfire much for the next year, due to being convicted of interstate conspiracy, due to circumstantial evidence. But I didn't rat out Shrapnel, no matter how hard the Campfire cops leaned on me....

Sorry, my leg feels wet and it isn't raining.

The standard line is that manufacturers are producing 24/7/365, but all those old guys are grabbing it off the shelf as soon as it arrives. If the first part is true, retailers should be getting truckloads of .22s not a few paltry bricks or a case here and there. You can't hoard what you can't buy. Also, why aren't the big mail order outfits getting lots of it? You see "Not available from manufacturer" next to listings for common types of name brand rimfire ammo.

It just doesn't doesn't add up.

Paul

Now that the secret rimfire ring has been broken up how much longer till we can expect the local Wally World to be selling bricks for $20?

David

http://ammoseek.com/ammo/22lr

David

So the listed outfits can get it, but Midway, Brownells, Grafs, etc. can't? (Not to mention Walmart). Those look like small to middling dealers.

Why can't the big players get it in quantity? What's happening with the supply chain?

Paul

2 stores around here have had 22 LR in stock for a couple of months for $22.00 a brick.

Well, here's a guess, based on what I've been told by more than one manufacturer, and not just about rimfire ammo:

Demand is so high that even stepped-up production of .22 ammo (or powder, bullets, etc.) isn't filling demand--including orders from retailers. Thus when supplies come in, the companies send as much as they can, proportionally, to everybody on the list. Nobody gets everything they ordered, but the companies try to send everybody something. The big retailers, like Midway, get enough to fill SOME of their numerous back-orders, but not enough to list for general availability.

However, at one rimfire company they've actually cut back what they send to SOME brick-and-mortar stores. As an example, when they sent a pallet of .22 ammo to one store (the store's usual 3-month order) the store didn't put any limit on how much each customer could buy, so sold out the 3-month's supply in 3 days. And when customers complained about lack of supply, the STORE told them it was the ammo company's fault, that they weren't sending as much ammo--which was blatantly false. Whereupon a bunch of customers called the ammo company to whine.

So yeah, some stores may be getting less than others, because they pissed off an ammo company.

In fact, I am surprised so many ammo, powder and bullet manufacturers have been so patient during this entire "shortage," both with various retailers (who blame the entire problem on manufacturers that are making and shipping as much as possible), and some customers complaining that there's a supply-line conspiracy, solely to raise prices.

Having read no end of stories about depression era kids who were sent afield with a single round of 22lr and expected to come back with dinner, or not at all, I hold out hope that the current shortage--by cutting down on mindless 10/22 influenced "plinking"--will lead to the next great generation of American Marksmen.

There is more than a bit of truth in that, and it's an unfortunate reality, in at least a couple of ways. A generation of kids raised with the instant gratification of video games is not going to be interested in starting shooting from a rest, learning sight picture, breathing, and trigger squeeze. As a range officer I see it all the time, a dad bringing excited kids to the range, loading up a banana clip or even drum, turning the kid loose offhand, and it's bang, bang, bang "Hey, Dad, I hit the target", more bang, bang, bang. Sure, it's fun, but the kids don't learn much about riflery. Best I can hope for as a RSO is that some safe habits become ingrained.

To the present point, I would be very doubtful that traditional basic quality standards of American RF ammo are going to survive the heated demand. Too much money to be made producing cheap .22s in volume. It's a sad day when shooters talk about such basics as misfires, dirty residue, leading, etc. Even more so when manufacturers warn against using name brand ammo in their guns. Too many shooters are happy if it goes "bang", at least most of the time.

Paul

My 16-year old son definitely enjoys rapid fire, but also enjoys plinking and keeping soda cans rolling. He also enjoys hunting a lot - practically lives for it - and so knows when he has to take care. As he has been making head shots on jack rabbits at various ranges with open sights with his .22, drops to a knee or sitting when he can, etc I think he understands the importance of marksmanship. He also gets a bit competitive with me on targets and is upset when I always beat him.

I'm sure the recent phenomenon of "tactical" .22's designed to use "cheap and plentiful" .22 LR has added to the shortage because a typical shooter will use at least a brick of ammo in every range session.

The S&W, GSG, ATI and Umarex replicas of AR's, MP-5's, AK-47's, UZI's, STG-44's and others all come with 20 to 25 rd. magazines which take two minutes to load and 4 seconds to empty. It's a different world than the one in which a kid with a bolt action .22 and a box of ammo is all set for an afternoon of shooting.

Ammunition companies, although they are running their existing plants at maximum capacity, have expressed a reluctance to expand their factories due to a fear that demand will eventually fall drastically when the panic ends.

However, I believe that the base demand for .22 LR will remain higher than historic levels from now on, even after today's hoarding situation is resolved, because of tactical .22's and their thirst for ammo.

Therefore I think that a manufacturer of rimfire ammunition which increased its capacity by building new infrastructure would profit in the long run.

It seems to stand to reason that the mail order companies are not getting orders for 22 LR, because they never sold much of it. Typically, in times of shortage, a manufacturer allocates based on historic orders. Places like your local farm supply outfit or LGS are where people used to buy their plinking ammo, so that is who is going to get the most supply.

I do a lot of on-line shopping, but the thought of buying 22's on line never even crossed my mind.

It's going to be along time before people forget about this shortage. I think it would be safe for the major ammo companies to expand production.
After the clinton era primer shortage I didn't have to buy primers for 20 years, but did because the prices dropped to reasonable levels and primers never go out of style.
I plan on doing the same with rimfire, but that may be years down the road. And luckily I didn't get caught short this go-round.

Thanks, John. This is the most succinct and comprehensive explanation I have yet to hear about the ammo shortage and why it looks like it does. I have been trying to put these pieces together for a while, and it wasn't happening.

I haven't seen my preferred rf ammo for well over a year, and I gave up shooting my .22s until I can get a real supply again at a decent price, holding onto my last 300 or so. I can now load cheap plinker ammo in a bunch of cals since I got into bullet casting. This has replaced the .22lr niche in my shooting fun.

.22 LR has been scarce since 2008. This is now 2014. Did not take much longer than that to go to the freaking MOON. There is more at play here, than folks buying what they can find, and it's NOT 'neck beards' lining up at Wally World at 3AM to buy all that came in. That is an urban myth.

Sure seems to be a "Mystery" - really hard to imagine Demand at the consumer level being that high for so long, assuming production levels not dropping.

It ain't demand at the consumer lever that's causing the problem, it's demand at the scalper level. Sometime in the future I hope all those folks offering $70 bricks at the gun shows have to chew and swallow them.

The depression era example of the kid with a single shot and one bullet is not a good comparison. In those days Dad said that ammo was available, it was the people's cash supply that was mostly non existent for recreational shooting. Growing up with first memories mostly during WWII, I have tried to I always have at least some cash reserve. During the war, ammo was scarce to non existent. I recall Mom considering the purchase of ten to twenty five rounds as hitting the jackpot.

Dad told me that from about age 10 or so, that he always had a dollar or two stashed from odd jobs. Even at fifty cents a day, a month of Saturdays was good for two bucks. He said the old Winchester single shot that my brother and I learned to shoot with, cost him $4.50 with a box of shorts about 1929-30.

Being frugal, shorts were his favored .22 round. He said they were plenty good for a cotton tail rabbit or a mess of quail. Dad only had one sport hunting weakness, and that was dove, which we also ate. The rest of his shooting was for meat or defending the farm from varmints and predators. Snakes were always dispatched with a hoe or shovel. Save the ammo!

Burning a brick of ammo a day would have heated my barrel and my butt, if Dad had footed the bill. If it was my money, a stern lecture about being wasteful was sure, provided he found out.

My "hoard" is a case of Super-X LR that I put into reserve storage after the Clinton shortage. I have stopped shooting .22s for recreation. I also have a few bricks of target ammo to start granddaughter off with. She already has experienced air guns and the 28 guage.

Good luck scoring ammo at reasonable prices.

Jack

I've bought .22s online for years, because until recently, there were no large sporting goods stores around and the selection locally was limited. I check online regularly and sign up for notifications on stuff I use. I have been notified many times, but sometimes I'm too late because I am lazy about my email. I did get in on a brick of RWS subsonic a while ago at a good price. I also got in on a Midway backorder opportunity for a case of MiniMags. I seldom buy or use bulk ammo, as I've generally found it to be inaccurate and unreliable.

It takes a little effort, but you can get what you need without haunting the aisles of WalMart and without feeding the scalpers. Saves me time and gas too.