When is it too much when it comes to ammo prices?

[slowr1der]

I was looking back through my ammo and found a brick of .22 LR that I bought around this time in 2008. So 5 years ago. The price tag on the brick was $11. I remember buying bulk packs all the time for $10-12 around that time. I never thought it was high at the time, or did I think about ammo being double that because to me, it was a fair price for .22. I remember after the 2009 ammo shortage buying bulk packs for $14 and still thinking it was fair. Then they went to $16 and I thought that was a tad high, but still reasonable. Here we are in 2013 and the same ammo sells for $21-22 per brick at Walmart and that's if you can even find it anywhere. That's almost a 100% increase in 5 years. Now, while I've seen increases on other ammo, not as much as .22. For example back then WWB 9mm was $20 for 100 rounds. Sure it's gone up and I'm not sure what the current price was, but it was $24 last time I saw it. We also now have Federal 100 round packs for $22 as well. So it's increased as has inflation, but not a 100% increase like .22.

So when does it become too much for you? At what price will you stop buying .22? I feel like when it gets much over $25 per brick for bulk ammo, I'm no longer willing to buy very much of it and at $21-22 a brick I've already cut way way back on the amount I buy.

 

[UKWildcats]

While $22 seems high I would still purchase -- still cheaper that any other ammo and fun to shoot.


But if it keeps going up I might have to ration out the ammo and not shoot as much per range visit.


But I did stock up over the years when I saw good deals -- and have over 15,000 rounds of 22lr -- Old stuff for my older 22 target and newer High Velocity.


Concerning other ammo
-- I remember purchasing Win 100 count 9mm for about $10/box, now it is at least twice that. Saw people say locally the 50ct Federal 9mm is about $14/box -- so 3 times the price.

-- Do not remember 45acp but it is rediculous and I have not really purchased any for years since I reload.



UK

 

[Teachu2]

With gas at $3.50 a gallon, the price of .22lr is insignificant. Compared to what's happened with 9mm, .45acp, and .223/5.56, .22 is still a bargain.

I'm shooting a lot more .22 than I used to, and a bit less 9 and 45. In December, I bought 10 375-rd bulk packs of Mini-Mags for $256 delivered - less than 7 cents a round. 9mm was 25 and .45 was 44 cents a round.

It is what it is. If a brick of .22 goes up $3.25, that's equal to a small latte at Starbucks (I know, 'cuz that's the wife's habit) and the ammo lasts a lot longer.

If I had to pay $56.25 for 375 rounds, that's still 15 cents a round. It would hurt, but imagine what 9 and .45 would be.... I will make whatever sacrifices I need to so that I can shoot.

 

[gspn]

I don't so much have a problem with the price of .22 as much as I do the reason the price is at that level.

From looking at the price and the demand you would think that .22 LR was so useful that everyone needed it all the time...it's crazy how people are scrounging for this stuff.

I personally have very little need for .22. It's what we shoot at the farm to warm up or just screw around with...we don't even really considered it "shooting". It's cheap but it's not fun to me.

I'll squirrel hunt with it occasionally too...but that's about it. I've got maybe 400 rounds in my garage and that will probably last me three years.

Today I shot 100 rounds of .45 colt and another 100 of .38 special...I enjoy that far more than shooting a .22.

So where does that leave me? I'll just wait until the price comes back down. If people want to spend this much money and time to get ahold of those tiny shells then more power to them...I'll buy when they are done.

 

[22-rimfire]

It will always be relative... You remember $11/$12 bricks. I remember $5 bricks and that was regular price. I also remember $0.22/gallon of gasoline prices as a kid. Of course if you made $10.00 a day, you were doing okay, not great, just okay.

 

[oneounceload]

When is it too much when it comes to ammo prices?

When people stop buying at the price asked - plain and simple

I used to buy bricks all day long for 7.99 not that long ago, and I used to get a case of 6250 for $95 OTD. Now folks are willing to spend $50 for brick - I am not. I'll stop shooting rather than incur that cost - but that is ME. Obviously, other folks do not see it the same way.

 

[22-rimfire]

I have also dramatically slowed down ammo consumption, even 22LR and I even have a pretty big cache of the stuff. Everything is always based on replacement cost same as that tanker filling up the local gas station USTs.

 

[FitGunner]

Recent pre-panic prices that were what I consider decent were roughly:

Less than $0.10/round for .22lr
Less than $0.30/round for 9mm FMJ
About $0.25-0.50/round for .223/5.56 FMJ

I bought mostly bricks of .22lr for 0.02-0.04 cents per round last year. It is now over $0.30 per round for anything in .22lr right now.

 

[mikechandler]

The Gold Dot Standard

Did you miss the memo? Let me reprint it here in large type:


---------> AMMO IS THE NEW CURRENCY <----------

Therefore, yes, the dollar is falling against ammo, it's expected. I've been personally advocating the Gold Dot Standard for some time. In the months preceding the fall of the Soviet Union it was cigarettes, but here it's ammo.

My advice is to stop whining, and start shelling out!

 

[matrem]

Being completely of the free enterprise-supply/demand frame of mind:
When any product we desire will cause us to sacrifice more than we feel the product will benefit us, we simply don't trade.

 

[Queen_of_Thunder]

In answer to your question it all depends on how much you want to pay to shoot your firearm.
I sold 550 round bulk packs for $40 at the last gun show. Figured it was time to clear off a shelf as I needed the space. People complained. Why I don't know. Its not like you could buy any anywhere in town at a reasonable price and if you could all you got was 1 box of 50. One shop was selling CCI 325 count boxes for $79.95 and people complained about my price.

 

[MattShlock]

Y did they complain Queen? Becasue it was an obnoxiously high price-gouge. But you know that. Someone might want or even need that ammo desparately enough, and you might get your fee, which is explicable, but don't hide behind capitalism and pretend it is justified -- it was probably unreasonable.

 

[M2 Carbine]

When is it too much when it comes to ammo prices?

When it costs more to buy it than reload it. So I seldom buy factory center-fire ammo.

In the case of 22 ammo.
About the time it looked like Americans would actually vote for obama I figured we were headed for a lot of trouble, so I increased my buying of 550 bulk pack 22 ammo and reloading components.
I figured I'd stop buying the 22 bulk packs when the price exceeded $18. So $18 is the top price I'd pay for 550 rounds.

Since I planned ahead (something that is sorely lacking in the firearms community), I have plenty of ammo for myself and free ammo for friends that couldn't stock up.

 

[Hardtarget]

Prices are now several steps past the "too much" line. I bought six bulk packs of .22's and I have components to reload for a while. I will be watching prices to keep up...so I will know when to start replinishing my supplies.

I'm not a heavy use shooter. I hunt some and target shoot some. I use more ammo when I take the grand children to the range. Right now that is all .22's.

Mark

 

[Queen_of_Thunder]

At $0.07273 a round I thought it was a bargin given the cost to replace it was 7-10 cents a round but I bought the last two 50 round count boxes($0.10 a round) of that ammo this morning so there is nothing left except at the one store selling CCI 325 round count boxes for $79.95. If I sold at their price those 550 round count boxes would be going for $135 plus a box but I sold them @ $40 each. If I sold at what the market would bear then tjose boxed would have gone for $75-$80 each.


As long as people think pre crises or what they paid in 2007 and refuse to buy ammo they won't have a thing to shoot. I'll tell you right now this is going to take years to work out. Virtually every shop has empty ammo shelves and thats not taking into account the major retailers.

The worst of it is and this is my guess but the ammo makers are probably focused on manufacturing the 4 main calibers and those are 9mm, .40, 45acp and 223. I expect to see .380 approach $2 by late spring or early summer. Rifle calibers will disappear too as ammo makers try to restock shops and retailers with those 4 major calibers. Also remember component prices are not going down,fuel prices are not going down and you can expect to see taxes on ammo to increase. So buy now because it will never be this cheap again.

 

[wooly bugger]

I spend $100 a brick on high end .22. It's relatively expensive but I don't shoot that much so a few thousand rounds and I'm set for a very long time with ammo that can put bullets in the same hole.

 

[Isaac-1]

The truth is we are in a time of high inflation that is not showing up in the official government numbers thanks to a few heavily weighted key indicators like home pricing, larger comodity electronics, etc. being depressed. You can look at any number of items from food to building supplies and find that many prices have nearly doubled for the identical item in the last 5 years, this trend extends to many parts of our daily lives. I just checked the base prices on one particular domestic car that has little change in design over the last 6 years and found the base sticker price in the last 5 model years has went from 21,995 to 26,995 for an increase of $4,000 what is worse is that the fully loaded version of the same car has experienced a $9,000 price increase over the same time period.

To keep this a bit gun related, around here .22LR ammo is almost unobtainium, while shopping at a local sporting goods store today I went by the gun counter (racks looking fairly bare, both guns and ammo) and while talking to the young man behind the counter about the supply issue he commented that he really wanted to go squirrel hunting this year, but he is worried that he will not be able to as he has no .22 ammo and there is NONE available. It is not just the bulk stuff that has vanished, it is everything.

 

[Snowdog]

Hmm, I'm selling a case of .22 Blazer on Gunbroker, ya know.
I bought it exactly a year ago for less than half the highest current bid (with 2 days left on the auction). I purchased it specifically to sell during such times after recognizing a pattern.

Remember this happens every so often and though prices never recover quite as low as they were previous to the last frenzy, they always settle down to something approaching reasonable.
And when they do, buy a case to use and a case to sell... because these cycles seem the norm now.

 

[bannockburn]

It's probably too much when you honestly have to ask yourself if you can afford it. Over the years I have stocked up on ammo, specifically rimfire, whenever I found a good deal and I had the means to get it. I would buy it and just store it away. Even this past November I found some good deals on rimfire ammo so I picked up some every trip that I made there.

 

[22-rimfire]

At $0.07273 a round I thought it was a bargin given the cost to replace it was 7-10 cents a round but I bought the last two 50 round count boxes($0.10 a round) of that ammo this morning so there is nothing left except at the one store selling CCI 325 round count boxes for $79.95. If I sold at their price those 550 round count boxes would be going for $135 plus a box but I sold them @ $40 each. If I sold at what the market would bear then tjose boxed would have gone for $75-$80 each.

Don't really care what you sold the bulk packs for. You set a price and people paid it. I chuckled when a case of bulk packs sold for over $1000 on gun broker.

As long as people think pre crises or what they paid in 2007 and refuse to buy ammo they won't have a thing to shoot. I'll tell you right now this is going to take years to work out. Virtually every shop has empty ammo shelves and thats not taking into account the major retailers.

I have plenty of 22 ammo to shoot. I am not selling or giving it away. I have 22 ammo from the 1980's still. It won't take years to "work out". It will probably take months just like the last "shortage".

It is your ammunition, sell it for what you want to.

Added: It appeared you marked up your bulk ammo at about 100% > 125% over Walmart pricing. That is a fairly standard markup by small stores who for example buy stuff from Costco or Sams Club and then stock their shelves with this merchandise. I wouldn't be feeling too guilty.

 

[pty101]

If you have to change your current spending habits just to buy some ammo, its too expensive. Obviously paying bills is more important. Personally, I am shooting what I have accumulated over time, which unfortunately isn't much as I'm not old enough to have to picked up much, as well as buying just what I intend to shoot at that time. That's what I do for 9mm. I shoot what calibers I have in stock, and buy some 9mm when I can find it for the next trip to the range. if its at a good price I'll pick up some extra

 

[double bogey]

I shoot a fair amount of .22. I keep 3 to 5K rounds in stock, to ride out these cycles. I go to the range and shoot, or go somewhere to plink, and when I go to walmart I pick up a brick or 2. Right now I won't buy anymore until prices stabilize. If they are high when I run out, I'll deal with it. If you shoot a lot you should maintain a stock of ammo (easy to do with .22, not so easy $$$ with large pistol or rifle). You are not hoarding, just taking care of needs.