I think I have gone crazy....

[wally]

Looks like the great .22lr ammo shortage wasn't all about hoarders. flippers, and speculators. From this thread, it looks like a lot of old timers that used to shoot lots of centerfire have switched to shooting 500 rounds of .22lr a week!

When .22LR was hard to find and the price rose to above "reloaded" 9mm, many of us lost interest.

That'd be me. Now that I'm finding it for ~$0.05/round again I've started shooting .22lr again instead of saving it all for my wife to shoot. It is like visiting an old friend

 

[Spats McGee]

If liking to shoot for cheap is crazy, I'm in deep doo-doo.

I have 4 or 5 .22 firearms, a mix of handguns and rifles, and I pick up ammo just kind of whenever I can. I don't buy the store out, but I buy a brick or two here and there. That way, I've always got some on hand. The only things that keep me from shooting a few hundred rounds a week are time and the fact that I live inside the city limits. My neighbors would get testy if I started shooting in the back yard.

 

[GBExpat]

I expect to spend father's day afternoon on the bluff above the river on our property unloading a couple of bricks of ammo, and grilling some brats.

O-o-o-o-oh ... that looks niiiice.

 

[gotboostvr]

I had a few 22's before the great shortage.
A Winchester (TOZ) wildcat and a Heritage Rough Rider among a few other cheap 22's.
I purged them all while concentrating on loading and shooting my center fires and picked up a 22 cal break action air gun for back yard critter control.

Now that things are looking up, I'm investing in some nicer 22's this time around.

I've picked up a Ruger 10/22 TD for general plinking and small game, and am looking for either (or both!) A Ruger (MK X or 22/45) and a 4" S&W 617.

 

[bearman49709]

I have 5, which is good cause I got 4 grand kids.

I have 3 rifles and 2 handguns but I have 13 grand kids and my first great grand kid scheduled for Dec 26 by c-section.

 

[Danoobie]

I still shoot centerfire too, but I own more 22lr firearms than any other caliber and shoot way more 22 than anything else. It's fun and inexpensive.

Had the 22LRs out today, just for plinking. A quiet, relaxing
day at the range. Popped off a couple hundred pills.

 

[Boarhunter]

Tomorrow night, I am hosting a monthly practical pistol practice for LEOs and military folks. They typically shoot their issued duty high-cap pistols. Me? I will be shooting my snubby Smith 317 8-shot 22 revolver out of a custom Chris Stewart kydex IWB holster, backed by several SpeedBeez speed loaders!

I cannot keep up with the young pistol shooters on reloading speed, but I hold my own on shooting speed and accuracy.

Life is good.

BOARHUNTER

 

[Michael Tinker Pearce]

Here's a .22 single shot I made a couple of years back that I've been working on. Gave it a new stainless barrel turned down from a surplus 10-22 barrel, and since last time I was shooting it I determined it was a bit nose-heavier than I wanted I reshaped the free-floating barrel weight. No extractor yet, but it's simple enough to flick the emptiest out with a fingernail. It has a safety notch on the hammer to keep the hammer-mounted firing pin off of the rim, but other than that the only safety exists between the ears of the user. I've never measured the trigger pull, but you do not want to touch the trigger before you want to fire; it's light.

This was made originally without a lathe or milling machine; just my drill-press, belt grinders and bandsaw. The grip is shaped precisely to my hand, so not everyone finds it comfortable. I think the best I have managed with it is about a 4" group firing off-hand at twenty-five yards; hopefully I'll improve with practice.

 

[entropy]

Looks like something Jayne Cobb would have sticking out the top of his boot. Nice work, Michael!

 

[Panzerschwein]

I was pleasantly surprised at how fun my Ruger Mark IV was to shoot. I have never owned a .22lr handgun and did not know they were so fun, more satisfying that the rifles, probably due to feeling more like a real gun in terms of blast and recoil.

 

[adcoch1]

My 83 yo father has recently rediscovered. 22 handguns.
He never was much of a handgun enthusiast, he was more of a collector and shooter of classic shotguns. Due to his deteriorating shoulder and hand strength he just bought a new Ruger MKIV 22/45.
I found a nice leather holster for it that also has a pouch for the spare magazine.
I expect to spend father's day afternoon on the bluff above the river on our property unloading a couple of bricks of ammo, and grilling some brats.View attachment 236293

That both looks and sounds like heaven on earth...

 

[Armored farmer]

That both looks and sounds like heaven on earth...

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

Looks like something Jayne Cobb would have sticking out the top of his boot. Nice work, Michael!

I was picking up more of a Blade Runner vibe from the pictures myself.
Either way it is a pretty cool looking "home brew" pistol.

 

[Boarhunter]

Put rounds downrange today during lunch through a Beretta Minx .22 short (far more accurate a gun than what you would think) and a stainless Beretta 22 Bobcat. Both nice guns.

And tomorrow, it will be the Smith 317 22...

And Thursday, likely the pair of 43Cs....

And not sure Friday's fare, but it will certainly be a 22lr of some flavor.

BOARHUNTER

 

[kozak6]

I was waiting for a good price on a Ruger MKII or MKIII. Then Sandy Hook happened.

.22 is finally coming back into stock, except it's still at panic prices. It's weird seeing full shelves or pyramids of .22 at $57 a brick for the cheap stuff. Plus almost 10% tax. And then Minimags are cheaper than Thunderbolts and Golden Bullets. Weird times.

If it ever approaches reasonability out here, I'll consider picking up a stainless Ruger MK of some kind. It feels like it might be a couple more years still.

 

[Boarhunter]

The next one tugging at my billfold is a nice Smith model 63 Escort sitting in the back room of the gun store. Several have put dibs on it, so not sure how likely it will be I become the next owner. Just have to wait and see how it plays out.

BOARHUNTER

 

[SteadyD]

I was waiting for a good price on a Ruger MKII or MKIII. Then Sandy Hook happened.

.22 is finally coming back into stock, except it's still at panic prices. It's weird seeing full shelves or pyramids of .22 at $57 a brick for the cheap stuff. Plus almost 10% tax. And then Minimags are cheaper than Thunderbolts and Golden Bullets. Weird times.

If it ever approaches reasonability out here, I'll consider picking up a stainless Ruger MK of some kind. It feels like it might be a couple more years still.

I know cabelas has an abundance of 22 lr at normal prices. Not sure of online availability but worth checking out. I've fully stocked up at the store near me.

 

[BSA1]

Different gun and caliber but same story.

Maybe because I carried one for so many years I had no interest in owning the S&W Model 10 revolver. Then a few years ago (already?) I picked up a used LEO Model 10 4" heavy barrel trade-in at a good price. As soon as I held it I was reminded why l like the 4" K-Frame revolver so much. I put a Tyler T-Grip on it and it fits me perfectly. So well in fact that it is one , if not the last, handgun I would get rid of. Which I will not.

 

[Boarhunter]

On a lark last week, I got a featherweight Smith scandium 325 snubnose 45 acp revolver out of the safe and took it to the range. I fired 12 rounds; a couple of my range buddies fired 6 rounds each, and we were done.... I got out my Smith 43C 8-shot 22 revolver and thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the range trip.

My days of shooting through the pain are over. And I am ok with that!

BOARHUNTER

 

[Blkhrt13]

Ran into a coworker at the range Saturday. He runs a few mags through his carry piece,then swaps to his plinkers a ruger sr22 and a s&w victory all rim fire from there.

 

[TN Outlaw]

Shooting 22lr is addictive!

Before the shortage i spent the bulk of my range time shooting 22lr pistols and rifles (mostly rifles), tuning them and trying every trick i could to get them to shoot as tight as poss.

I actually neglected my centerfires. When a new one would follow me home i would sight it in to whatever ammo it liked the most and then run back to my rimfire toys.

After the shortage hit, i had plenty 22lr stocked up but i felt bad shooting any of it. What was once alotta fun seemed like wasting ammo. So i went to doing the same type of tuning to my centerfire rifles. I got into cheap to shoot bolt guns like 223/5.56, 7.62x39mm, 7.62x54r etc and tuning them and now i have some decent shooting centerfires that are inexpensive to shoot so at least something good came out of the shortage for me.

Now im ready to get back into 22lr target shooting just as soon as i can get the time.

 

[SHOOT1SAM]

As a man once said to me: "A .22 is the most fun one can have with one's clothes on." Hard to argue.

Sam

 

[scaper]

I love shooting my .22's, both pistols and rifles.