This is 2,900 newly-purchased rounds of .22LR ammo. It might last me a month.
This is a real, un-doctored photo, taken just this morning. This ammo was purchased Wednesday evening. Really. And I could have bought more.
Yes, .22LR ammunition is a lot more scarce than it used to be, especially those bulk packs of Winchester, Remington and Federal. But just because you don’t see those 300 and 500 round boxes sitting on the Wal-Mart shelf doesn’t mean that .22LR ammo isn’t available. It is. You can get all you want, with two conditions:
- You have to work harder to find it.
- You have to pay more.
It’s a basic economics decision. You can clutch the memories of old prices while sitting at home not shooting your .22s, or you can accept the new reality and shoot. Your choice.
I’m going to work harder and pay a little more because I really like shooting my .22s. I’m not going to hoard what I have and continue to buy ammo to squirrel away – that’s exactly what’s causing this problem for all of us. I’m going to shoot my .22s and have fun doing it. As I write this, I’m testing a CMMG .22 conversion kit for AR rifles, the new Smith & Wesson M&P 22 Compact with a SilencerCo Sparrow and a Ruger 10/22 with a Timney Trigger upgrade. I intend to shoot lots and lots of .22LR through these guns.
Subscribe to the emails
I few months ago, I got an email from Cabelas letting me know that they had 2,000 round cans of Federal Champion .22LR ammo. I clicked, and a ton of .22LR ammo was on its way for a good price. Subscribe to emails from companies like Cabelas, Webyshops and Brownells, and you just might be surprised at what lands in your inbox. Most companies place a lot of value of their email subscribers and are more than happy to tell them first about new product availability. It’s a win-win – help them communicate with you! Just be sure to keep a close eye on your inbox as you’ll need to act fast.
Grand openings
New stores are opening all over. Chains like Academy Sports, Bass Pro, Cabelas and Gander Mountain can’t build new locations fast enough. Guess what? When they have a grand opening for a new location, they want to create excitement and buzz. Every single grand opening I’ve attended in the past year has managed to offer plentiful supplies of .22LR ammunition. In fact, the ammo in the picture above was purchased at the Grand Opening event of a new Palmetto State Armory store here in South Carolina. Keep an eye on the news and make time to attend. It’s fun, and you’re sure to find some deals.
Set product alerts
Brownells has a neat feature (and plenty of other retailers do also) that allows you to set an automated alert for out of stock products. Use it. You’ll get a text message or email as soon as new product arrives and can be the first to order. I use this all the time with great success. You never know when an alert will come in, so again, keep an eye on that inbox and act fast.
Set alerts like this one at Brownells so you can be notified immediately when the ammo you want is in stock.
GunBot.net
Here’s a great example of American ingenuity that solves a frustrating problem. The creators of GunBot.net have established wonder-magic connections to dozens and dozens of online retailers for ammunition. Their website checks availability and pricing of ammunition, magazines and reloading supplies. All you have to do is visit gunbot.net, and you’ll see a consolidated list of retailers that have the products you’re looking for. You can display in-stock products only and sort by price per round. Just click and you’re linked to that particular retailer to place your order. Couldn’t be easier. As of today, you’ll see that you can buy all the .22LR ammo you want for about $.10 per round. Yes, that’s more than it used to cost. Get used to it – it’s still half the price of centerfire ammo. Oh, and don’t gripe at the GunBot.net folks about prices, they don’t set them, they just link you to the folks who do. Make it a point to check GunBot.net a couple times a day and you might find a deal closer to the “old” prices.
These are a couple of the methods I use to shop for my .22LR ammo. I’ve yet to run out, and shoot my .22s as much as ever.
Bull shit why in Canada do they have shelves stacked to the ceiling with ammo. Our government is fucking with us.im tired of hearing oh they ammo company is working 27/7 well its obvious most of it isn’tgoing out to stores even local ppoliceccan’tget ammo.
Well the government is partly responsible, but it’s not a conspiracy. By “threatening” gun control measures, people start hoarding ammo and guns. Even a 5 or 10% sudden increase in demand is enough to empty the normal supply chain, so ammo becomes scarce. As ammo becomes scarce, people start hoarding more, so it’s a vicious cycle. Canada does not have the same threat looming at the moment, hence no hoarding bonanza.
It’s basic supply chain economics, and by continued hoarding, we’re responsible for our ammo shortages.
It’s just that simple.
I live in Canada and 22 ammo is in short supply here too!!
I raely see it at the big box stores like Walmart or Canadian Tire.
Even the online sports store are usually “out of stock” on most brands.
We have it! http://shop.gunsandammosuperstore.com
The article is close, but still has the wrong idea. Why should anyone have to work harder and pay more for 22lr when it’s truly NOT WORTH the cost. If everyone would simply quit buying 22lr for a month or two to allow for an inventory surplus to build, prices could drop to pre-0bama-panic levels. Otherwise, we’ll have to see if it ever hits a saturation point. But I doubt it — you jokers are scarfing it up, and paying INSANE prices, as fast as it can hit the shelves.
Has everyone lost basic common-sense? 22lr is the lowest margin product line in the ammunition market and right now, we are willingly paying ultra-premium prices for it. Ask yourself why a rimfire manufacturer would want to stop this consumer-induced gravy train? If a sales rep went into a board meeting at a rimfire manufacturer and even suggested they add permanent production capacity to address this consumer panic buying, he would likely be laughed out of the room, if not fired on the spot.
How things “are” and how things “should” be are entirely different subjects. As I state in the article, you are exactly right – it’s hoarding that’s causing this problem. The reality is that ammo is more expensive and harder to come by. With that reality in place, it’s up to the individual to either:
Rest on their view of what 22 ammo “should” cost and not shoot, or…
Accept the fact that is costs what it does and voluntarily choose to pay that price.
It’s as simple as that and a choice every shooter has to make. What ammo “should” cost is completely arbitrary and irrelevant to the decision of shooting or not shooting. If it’s worth $.10 a round for a person to shoot, they’ll buy it and shoot. I don’t like paying more money, but I’d rather shoot 10 cent rounds than sit at home and watch The Wendy Show. Am I shooting less cause it’s more expensive? Yes. Am I reloading centerfire more because .22 is more expensive? Yes.
Lot’s of other people are shooting less too, which is why supply is gradually increasing and prices are falling from their previously stratospheric levels. The market will find a new equilibrium, but there’s no guarantee that prices will ever be the same as the were. We also have millions of new shooters entering the market as a result of the gun control scare and guess what? They’re buying .22 ammo also, hence more demand pressure.
That pesky supply and demand concept always determines prices.
I don’t know about others, but I am “cooperating” with the one month wait theme mentioned above. I’m on about my 10th month now, in fact! I’m starting to SEE .22 on shelves now, but the prices are outrageous. I might soon be will to pay $70 for a 1000 – brick of LRs, but they really should cost a good bit less, IMHO. hs
industry schill….. keep buying at high prices… because quarterly profits…I Will Pass…
Call me when 22.LR is @ 4 or 5 cents a round……OR I Will Shoot Centerfire , Get IT Yet ?? Why bother with 22 ? Train with REAL Rounds.
I happen to agree with the sentiment of shooting real rifle rounds. Centerfire is now easier to find and almost as cheap as the ripoff 22LR prices… if you can even find any under $.10 per round IN STOCK!
I can’t. for the life of me, understand the “I’ve got to have it” mentality. I have a number of .22 rifles and pistols, but I’m down to around 100 rounds of it after buying 3 225 round boxes at Wally World. I could have bought more than the 3 boxes, but I didn’t see the need. I have no reason to hoarde ammunition. I buy it when I need it so I can have a little fun shooting at a target. Heck… I haven’t even gone hunting in over 35 years, although my nephew has been asking me lately so I think we might do a little hog hunting in the near future. Need to teach him to only shoot what you’re going to eat.
Good luck to anyone else trying to find 22 at $.10 or below per round. I’ve been looking for over 3 months now and I can’t get a damned thing. I did make friends with a Wally World sporting goods manager and will be trying out his promise when the time rolls around.
I use google alerts to find the latest on ammo stock. Just set up an alert for your ammo type and google can automatically send an email as soon as someone posts on blog, social media, or other sites. A great free tool.