whats going on with 22lr

[CB900F]

Fella's;

I have several .22's that love the Winchester 40 grain PowerPoint (X22LRPP1). Therefore, I've been buying it whenever I see it. I had been buying it by the case, but that's been hard to do for near a decade now. Nonetheless, I have been able to find it by the brick upon occasion in the last 2 to 3 years.

However, since Winchester is now producing Browning branded rimfire ammo, I think that is also a factor that's been reducing the amount of the W brand you see on the shelves. I wouldn't mind so much if they were doing Browning PowerPoints, but apparently not. I do have a 100 pack of both the Browning & Winchester 40 grain HP at an advertised 1435 fps to test against each other. They should perform the same I'm thinking, but I'm not expecting great results from either of them. My experience has been that the hyper-speed .22's don't give good accuracy. However, the Winnie PP's will shoot to MOA at 100 yards out of my gun off a bench, with rest & bags. They run 1250, vs an advertised 1280 fps over my Oehler 35P.

I also got a MidwayUSA memo that the Winchester 42 grain HP's that I had a notification request in on had been discontinued.

900F

 

[mboylan]

It's possible that this .22lr shortage started with panic. But at this point it may be that we just have that many new shooters. Today's shortage might just be a matter of supply and demand, and not hoarders. If that's the case then the manufactures are missing an opportunity to expand production lines and future profits.

Meh, just my ponderings. They're worth what you paid for'em.

The margin on rimfire is razor thin and the equipment to produce it costs many times more (millions) than the equipment to produce centerfire. The manufacturers have already looked at profit/loss and made the decision to expand as much as they have been.

Bottom line is they really don't make much money on rimfire and it's not worth it.

 

[CB900F]

Mboylan;

You sir, are conspiracy theory deficient! As "everyone" knows the .22lr shortage is either the fault of hoarders, the international consortium to disarm America so the U.N. can take over, Zambonian Space Pirates, or the political enemy/opposing party, of choice.

Sigh. You're taking all the fun out of it.

900F

 

[Bang!]

The margin on rimfire is razor thin and the equipment to produce it costs many times more (millions) than the equipment to produce centerfire. The manufacturers have already looked at profit/loss and made the decision to expand as much as they have been.

Bottom line is they really don't make much money on rimfire and it's not worth it.

I would be interested in the data if you have any.

The profits in percentage and annual bottom line dollars?

How much has each producer expanded in the past few years?

What data did these companies use to increase, decrease, or just maintain current production?

What are the future forecast for each of the producers?

Cost of production lines for centerfire compared to .22lr?

No dog in this race but I'm sincerely interested in what data you have.

 

[JohnKSa]

What data did these companies use to increase, decrease, or just maintain current production?

Guns & Ammo had a section in one issue late in 2015 where they printed statements from 4 rimfire ammo makers. They all basically said that they had increased production to the maximum that they could do with their current resources and two of them indicated that they were considering, or in the process of, expanding facilities/buying new equipment to further increase capacity.

Aguila pointed out that changes they made in production today likely wouldn't have a significant effect on retail availability for quite a long period--possibly as long as 3 years. Remington commented that retail availability could lag production increases by 2 years.

What it comes down to is that the market can double demand in a matter of days but the ammo manufacturers can't alter production capacity nearly as fast. Even if they all were to assume that a buying surge was really a permanent trend and reacted instantly, it could literally take years to catch up to the new demand levels. And if they guess wrong and it's only a transient buying surge, they've just dumped huge sums of money into equipment and facilities that will now sit idle.

 

[1895gunner]

Where I live in NW Georgia it is plentiful at 6 cents per round average.



This is from one of my LGS's. After seeing this the other day I figured the dam broke because they have no limit on customer purchases. Hope things break loose for you too.

1895gunner

 

[Reloadron]

Seems as .22 LR returns several new brands are popping up. Besides new brands it seems some brand names are marketing .22 LR made by others. Like a new variety pack.

Ron

 

[Delford]

Over the last year I've picked up about 5k rounds at an average of ~$.067 a round. It's still spotty but between Bass Pro, Cabelas, Academy, and Dick's I find bricks in that price range fairly often.