One unusual way I know the .22 rimfire shortage has largely ended.

[CraigC]

Many things drove prices up, but none had anything to do with ammo makers simply not being able to supply the demand. Right, wrong, or indifferent, the people buying ammo at inflated prices kept the prices inflated. It's a waste of energy being mad at human behavior. It won't change, hasn't since the dawn of man.

Typically, what people refer to as "price gouging" is what prevents human behavior-induced shortages. I think it has more to do with those #$%^&*( standing in line at Walmart at 6am and buying every box. I don't think the hoarders are buying it at $50-$80 a brick.

I always go back to 2004, when I worked for a utility in Florida and we had five or six hurricanes hit in a matter of weeks. The first two were the worst and we had over 20miles of aerial plant on the ground. Massive power outages and storm damage everywhere. The supply of gasoline never wavered but the plethora of idiots filling every container they had, along with filling up their cars every day, only to have the containers sit in their garage or worse still, to burn it up driving around gawking at the carnage, produced not only a shortage where the emergency and utility workers could not get fuel but they also caused massive traffic problems. Of course, the whining liberals who do not understand economics, along with the ignorance of the common voter, resulted in laws against "price gouging". Just as John Stossel has always maintained, "price gouging" would have thwarted most of the hoarding. Sure, it would have cost a lot more per gallon but more people would have only got what they needed. Rather than thousands hoarding more than they ever would.

 

[salt&battery]

Many things drove prices up, but none had anything to do with ammo makers simply not being able to supply the demand. Right, wrong, or indifferent, the people buying ammo at inflated prices kept the prices inflated. It's a waste of energy being mad at human behavior. It won't change, hasn't since the dawn of man.

you are right about human nature

 

[stchman]

There never really was a "shortage", it was a lot of neckbeards buying it all up hoping to make a profit at gun shows. Kills me that I'm seeing people on Armslist still trying to get $40 for a box of Remington Golden Bullet.

 

[CraigC]

Still $40 a box at CDNN too.

 

[Solomonson]

This last shortage wasn't about more people buying and shooting .22s. It was about goobers who hoarded .22 ammo either out of ignorance or because they wanted to turn a buck. Some of those clowns actually posted photos of their ammo closets here and on other gun forums. In turn, actual shooters bought more than usual in an attempt to keep some on hand to shoot.

I shoot at least a brick a month. I have for over 20 years. When I bumped into .22 ammo at Wally*World for a decent deal, I bought as much as I could -- knowing it would be shot within a few months.

 

[Solomonson]

There never really was a "shortage", it was a lot of neckbeards buying it all up hoping to make a profit at gun shows. Kills me that I'm seeing people on Armslist still trying to get $40 for a box of Remington Golden Bullet.

No only that, there actions of these clowns caused legitimate consumers to buy/hold more because they wanted to ensure a supply for their own shooting.

 

[wally]

Stopped by Academy today, they had plenty of .22lr ammo sitting on the shelf, prices higher than what I'm willing to pay right now, but prices won't come down until the shelves are full again, its getting closer. I saw at least 6 (could have been more but it was the bottom shelf and I wasn't in the mood to bend down to look) Golden Bullet "buckets" of 1400 rounds for $75 or $0.054 per round.

 

[Solomonson]

Stopped by Academy today, they had plenty of .22lr ammo sitting on the shelf, prices higher than what I'm willing to pay right now, but prices won't come down until the shelves are full again, its getting closer. I saw at least 6 (could have been more but it was the bottom shelf and I wasn't in the mood to bend down to look) Golden Bullet "buckets" of 1400 rounds for $75 or $0.054 per round.

They won't come down anymore that is. One also has to wonder what impact the huge stocks the hoarders will have on the continuing price drop?

 

[bassjam]

This last shortage wasn't about more people buying and shooting .22s. It was about goobers who hoarded .22 ammo either out of ignorance or because they wanted to turn a buck. Some of those clowns actually posted photos of their ammo closets here and on other gun forums. In turn, actual shooters bought more than usual in an attempt to keep some on hand to shoot.

I shoot at least a brick a month. I have for over 20 years. When I bumped into .22 ammo at Wally*World for a decent deal, I bought as much as I could -- knowing it would be shot within a few months.

I think that’s it. I only shot about 2-3k rounds of .22 a year, and I only kept that much on hand because I could always buy more. Suddenly Obama came, and then Sandy Hook, and I couldn’t find any .22 ammo and was down to my last 400 rounds. So I made it my mission to stockpile 10-12k rounds. My main concern was that Hillary would win, and people would start panic buying all over again so I wanted enough to last several years.

A buddy of mine who shoots about triple what I do did the same thing. He used to have 8k rounds on hand, and decided when the shortage hit that he needed 40k, which would last him 4 years or so. Neither of us ever bought ammo that people were trying to flip, but we bought a lot of $40 bricks of golden bullets from stores when they had it in stock.

All the while those same guys were hitting up Walmart every morning and buying everything in stock and trying to unload it on Armslist or at gun show. My buddy worked 3rd shift and even then wasn’t able to get to Walmart early enough after he got off work. I guess those scumbags got there an hour or two early and formed a line at the sporting goods counter every time they knew a shipment was coming in.

I don’t think new shooters drove up demand at all. I actually bought a .22 handgun from Bass Pro in 2013. They had cases of .22 in the back that they only sold to people that bought .22 firearms, just to make sure that new shooters would be able to have some ammo on hand.

 

[salt&battery]

I think that’s it. I only shot about 2-3k rounds of .22 a year, and I only kept that much on hand because I could always buy more. Suddenly Obama came, and then Sandy Hook, and I couldn’t find any .22 ammo and was down to my last 400 rounds. So I made it my mission to stockpile 10-12k rounds. My main concern was that Hillary would win, and people would start panic buying all over again so I wanted enough to last several years.

A buddy of mine who shoots about triple what I do did the same thing. He used to have 8k rounds on hand, and decided when the shortage hit that he needed 40k, which would last him 4 years or so. Neither of us ever bought ammo that people were trying to flip, but we bought a lot of $40 bricks of golden bullets from stores when they had it in stock.

All the while those same guys were hitting up Walmart every morning and buying everything in stock and trying to unload it on Armslist or at gun show. My buddy worked 3rd shift and even then wasn’t able to get to Walmart early enough after he got off work. I guess those scumbags got there an hour or two early and formed a line at the sporting goods counter every time they knew a shipment was coming in.

I don’t think new shooters drove up demand at all. I actually bought a .22 handgun from Bass Pro in 2013. They had cases of .22 in the back that they only sold to people that bought .22 firearms, just to make sure that new shooters would be able to have some ammo on hand.

 

[salt&battery]

I think that’s it. I only shot about 2-3k rounds of .22 a year, and I only kept that much on hand because I could always buy more. Suddenly Obama came, and then Sandy Hook, and I couldn’t find any .22 ammo and was down to my last 400 rounds. So I made it my mission to stockpile 10-12k rounds. My main concern was that Hillary would win, and people would start panic buying all over again so I wanted enough to last several years.

A buddy of mine who shoots about triple what I do did the same thing. He used to have 8k rounds on hand, and decided when the shortage hit that he needed 40k, which would last him 4 years or so. Neither of us ever bought ammo that people were trying to flip, but we bought a lot of $40 bricks of golden bullets from stores when they had it in stock.

All the while those same guys were hitting up Walmart every morning and buying everything in stock and trying to unload it on Armslist or at gun show. My buddy worked 3rd shift and even then wasn’t able to get to Walmart early enough after he got off work. I guess those scumbags got there an hour or two early and formed a line at the sporting goods counter every time they knew a shipment was coming in.

I don’t think new shooters drove up demand at all. I actually bought a .22 handgun from Bass Pro in 2013. They had cases of .22 in the back that they only sold to people that bought .22 firearms, just to make sure that new shooters would be able to have some ammo on hand.

you are right it was not the new shooters it was a lot of old guys who liked showing off a 5 foot high stack of 22 ammo and have the time while others are working to go to Walmart at 5 am and everywhere else

 

[hdwhit]

Solomonson wrote:
One unusual way I know the .22 rimfire shortage has largely ended is ... after shooters cleared their weapons and neglected to bend over and pick them up

Keen observation.

Another is that Academy had Federal 22LR on the "Clearance" rack.

 

[salt&battery]

Keen observation.

Another is that Academy had Federal 22LR on the "Clearance" rack.

yeah maybe they marked it "down" to $40 a brick

 

[CraigC]

...it was a lot of old guys who liked showing off a 5 foot high stack of 22 ammo and have the time while others are working to go to Walmart at 5 am and everywhere else

I hope they choke on it.

 

[salt&battery]

I hope they choke on it.

if they do they will be buried with the ammo like a pharaoh lol

 

[Solomonson]

Wal*Mart is by far the largest ammo retailer in the US. I wonder what the impact would be to the goobers trying to flip ammo if they could buy a maximum of one brick a month? Swipe your driver's license and if it shows that you have bought .22 ammo (or any ammo that is in shortage), your sale is rejected.

The reason I ask is that if Wal*Mart would have been able to do something like this (as intrusive as it would be), it would have impacted the entire ammo mart.

 

[akarguy]

Same way were I am, Cabela's, Bass Pro, Dick's, and all the small gun shops all have plenty of .22. But I haven't seen a single box at Walmart yet. A buddy of mine called me a few months ago to tell me that Walmart had cases and cases of Mini Mags for sale if I wanted any, but he works 2nd shift so this was early in the morning when I'm at work. When I stopped the next day it was all gone. I suspect there's still a ton of hoarders in my area that keep buying up Walmarts .22 ammo every day while the rest of us are at work.

Sounds like the employees are buying it and that's the source of $55 bricks of Federal bulk 550 packs on gun broker. If that's the case Walmart should be ashamed of itself and ban that practice. They are losing a ton of money. I used to swing into Walmart for of milk/etc on my way home or to work because- why not... Let's take a look at the ammo shelf. But knowing 22 is never there, I don't go to walmart now because the checkout process sucks anyway compared to a fully staffed grocery store. I am just one person with several trips out of millions who have probably skipped Walmart for the exact same reasons

 

[bassjam]

Sounds like the employees are buying it and that's the source of $55 bricks of Federal bulk 550 packs on gun broker. If that's the case Walmart should be ashamed of itself and ban that practice. They are losing a ton of money. I used to swing into Walmart for of milk/etc on my way home or to work because- why not... Let's take a look at the ammo shelf. But knowing 22 is never there, I don't go to walmart now because the checkout process sucks anyway compared to a fully staffed grocery store. I am just one person with several trips out of millions who have probably skipped Walmart for the exact same reasons

Their checkout is the exact reason I don’t go there. I work for a grocery store chain that’s a competitor, so I obviously never buy food at Walmart. But I used to at least buy ammo there. Not anymore, it’s not worth the 5 minutes of my time to wander around trying to find an associate who can call someone to unlock the ammo cabinet, and then the 20 minute wait for that person to show up.

The only thing I regularly do at Walmart anymore is buy tires on tirerack.com, and have them installed at Walmart. They are pretty darned cheap for install and balance compared to the tire shops.

 

[CraigC]

No offense to anyone who works or shops there but I hate going to Walmart and only do so on rare occasion. To me it is the ugly side of capitalism aimed at the lowest common denominator. I 'was' going there for cheap .22LR ammo but right before the shortage I found a source online where I could buy it by the case for less than it was at Walmart. That ended after a single order.

 

[wally]

I 'was' going there for cheap .22LR ammo but right before the shortage I found a source online where I could buy it by the case for less than it was at Walmart. That ended after a single order.

Sounds familiar, I was basically in the same place at that time, but we used to make a twice a month stop by Walmart for cat litter, but when they stopped carrying the cheap stuff and we could get a better quality (less dust) for the same price at Kroger Walmart became a few times a year thing, and without expecting to find cheap .22lr ammo I could meet my needs at stores I enjoyed being in more.

By dumb luck I'd taken delivery of on-line orders for about 5 cases just before Sandy Hook, so my wife was well supplied during the shortage, but I basically stopped shooting .22lr to save it for her until things have slowly started to turn around since Hillary's defeat.

 

[bassjam]

No offense to anyone who works or shops there but I hate going to Walmart and only do so on rare occasion. To me it is the ugly side of capitalism aimed at the lowest common denominator. I 'was' going there for cheap .22LR ammo but right before the shortage I found a source online where I could buy it by the case for less than it was at Walmart. That ended after a single order.

Walmart is an interesting case study. I used to work for P&G. There was a time when P&G decided what they wanted to sell to the world. Walmart changed that. If Walmart didn't like a particular product, or even a fragrance, we'd change our entire lineup just to satisfy Walmart. So in essence, what you could buy at Family Dollar, CVS, Kroger, Publics, etc, all depended on what Walmart wanted to sell.

 

[KSCCHTrainer]

5 years ago at a local gun show, I hadn't planned to buy anything, but there was a guy selling Wolf Match .22 and he had a whole pallet of it. He was trying to sell it for $2.00 a box any nobody was buying it. They were saying all Wolf .22 was Russian made and pure crap. I knew different. Wolf Match .22 was already being made in Germany by a name brand manufacturer and now by Lapua. At the end of the show he still had 99 percent of that 20,000 round pallet left. I offered him $200 for the lot and he accepted my offer. It took 3 buddies of mine and I several hours to load it all into our car trunks and get it to my house (about 3 miles from the show).

During the worst of the shortage, I was shooting 2-500 rounds a week and even sharing with friends and several deserving youth instructors. I still have over a third of that pallet left. Since turning 75, I've slowed down a lot, but my bug out supplies contain 5000 rounds of that Wolf Match .22, a Ruger 10/22 takedown and an old beater H & R 9 shot revolver.

Whenever we go on trips over a couple hundred miles, the 10/22, revolver & ammo are always in the back of the car. Of course, this is in addition to my normal .44 special carry revolver and a Thompson Center Encore single shot with a .44 mag barrel. I sometimes carry one box of .44 mag ammo plus a couple more boxes of my handloads in .44 special for the revolver. Nice thing about that .44 mag Encore, it will shoot either magnum or special rounds. No worries on mixing them up either. .44 mag won't fit the revolver as the cases are too long -

Jim

 

[salt&battery]

5 years ago at a local gun show, I hadn't planned to buy anything, but there was a guy selling Wolf Match .22 and he had a whole pallet of it. He was trying to sell it for $2.00 a box any nobody was buying it. They were saying all Wolf .22 was Russian made and pure crap. I knew different. Wolf Match .22 was already being made in Germany by a name brand manufacturer and now by Lapua. At the end of the show he still had 99 percent of that 20,000 round pallet left. I offered him $200 for the lot and he accepted my offer. It took 3 buddies of mine and I several hours to load it all into our car trunks and get it to my house (about 3 miles from the show).

During the worst of the shortage, I was shooting 2-500 rounds a week and even sharing with friends and several deserving youth instructors. I still have over a third of that pallet left. Since turning 75, I've slowed down a lot, but my bug out supplies contain 5000 rounds of that Wolf Match .22, a Ruger 10/22 takedown and an old beater H & R 9 shot revolver.

Whenever we go on trips over a couple hundred miles, the 10/22, revolver & ammo are always in the back of the car. Of course, this is in addition to my normal .44 special carry revolver and a Thompson Center Encore single shot with a .44 mag barrel. I sometimes carry one box of .44 mag ammo plus a couple more boxes of my handloads in .44 special for the revolver. Nice thing about that .44 mag Encore, it will shoot either magnum or special rounds. No worries on mixing them up either. .44 mag won't fit the revolver as the cases are too long -

Jim

hard to believe he sold 20K rounds in the middle of the shortage for $200

 

[Cannibul]

hard to believe he sold 20K rounds in the middle of the shortage for $200

Even harder to believe it took four people several hours to load it into a car.

 

[KSCCHTrainer]

Even harder to believe it took four people several hours to load it into a car.

#1, nobody else would buy it because supposedly Wolf ammo was Russian crap, .22 or not. #2, us 3 old geezers, using walkers, had to negotiate a crowd of well over 2000 people plus the Sheriff's security in and out. The vendor was clear across a huge, filled building from the front door and my car was parked 15 lanes from the door in a full parking lot. We could only handle a couple bricks at a time. You try it with a bad leg at age 70 and using a walker - LOL.

Jim