Why are we getting so ripped off on 22LR ammo now?

[AStone]

I agree about boom.

Bigga badda boom.

But no need wasting a 9 on rabbits and squirrels,
or wasting meat with a 9.
That's why I want .22.

 

[sigarms228]

Hey, I subscribe to the time tested truism that all gun enthusiasts should: Buy it cheap & stack it deep! Still sitting on 5 bricks of Federal blue box, 2 bricks of Rem Thunderbolt and about 6 packs of CCI Stingers... Did I clear the shelves after Sandy Hook? Nope. Did I pay a scalper? Heck naw. Just a matter of buying two bricks for each time I consumed one and then telling myself to STOP after acquiring 3,500rds of rimfire. Now I also have 6 cases of #8 shot Remington Gun Club that I picked up @ $50 apiece and hope to not need any more this decade When you see a deal, snap it up. When one knows prices on ammo are rising (like w/ Obummer getting re-elected) it behooves you to take preparatory measures.

FWIW, everyone just plz do us a favor and STOP buying .22LR from scalpers, and once you've got "enough" on hand... enough should be 3-5 bricks @ most! Thanks, YMMV.

Me too!

Still working off this stash.

 

[Onmilo]

There hasn't been any .22 at Walmart here in over a year.
Going rate in the big box sporting goods and local gun shops is $5 for fifty which is what .22 Magnums used to cost.
Magnums are $10 a box IF you can find any anywhere.

The brick and mortar shops actually have more .22 on hand than the box shops and are similarly priced.

 

[TruthTellers]

There hasn't been any .22 at Walmart here in over a year.
Going rate in the big box sporting goods and local gun shops is $5 for fifty which is what .22 Magnums used to cost.
Magnums are $10 a box IF you can find any anywhere.

The brick and mortar shops actually have more .22 on hand than the box shops and are similarly priced.

I've noticed this too, but recently I've seen CCI standard velocity at the big box stores. Of course, that's the only .22 I ever see there, the LGS have a much better selection, but for tad higher price.

I have enough bulk .22 so I don't need any standard velocity. Am on year two looking for CCI Velocitors.

 

[Malamute]

I'm not sure where you're looking for ammo, but where I live you can find .22 bricks for $20-$25 pretty regular at sporting goods stores like Academy or even Walmart. The ammo manufacturers are not "ripping us off", its the local gun stores that mark it up, or individuals who buy from Academy and sell online for $50-$100.

^ ^

It isnt the factories that raised prices, its in the supply chain. There has been some inflation for ammo over the past couple years, but its nowhere near what some in the retail or some wholesalers are charging.

Local walmart gets some 22 ammo in, but its bought up very quickly. I asked them to put it out at random times, but the manager said "its too hard!" He has it all locked up when it comes in, and its only put out at a set time early in the morning if theres any in stock. I've heard the sporting goods guys say that some of the regular buyers claimed to have 50,000 rds or more and they keep buying all they can. I believe that is whats happened to the overall market on 22's.

 

[Confederate]

The price has little chance of returning to the lows we all remember. And the reason is pure economics. If we stopped buying twenty-two ammo today and the price began to drop, what would happen once it reached $29.95? That's right, people would clean the shelves. If gun owners nationwide made a pledge not to buy it all up at that price, we've learned through sad experience that they will anyway.

Before the run when there was plenty of ammo, I told my family members and friends to buy up all the twenty-two ammo they could get their hands on. Every time they went to WalMart, I said, pick up a brick or two and stash it. As they did when I told them to buy America Online years ago, they ignored me. But I bought it every chance I got, even though I had plenty at home shocked away. When the run began, I was so stocked up that my wife was threatening to pay someone to haul it away.

Bottom line...no one wants to get caught short again.

I hope it comes back again to lower levels, but if it does, it most likely will begin to creep up again. Unlike gasoline, ammo can be stored. In Argentina during its economic upheaval, people stopped using money and began bartering. One thing they used as "change" then was .22lr ammo. It was very successful from what I understand. But people are people.They tend to act in their own best interest.

°°°

 

[Malamute]

The price has little chance of returning to the lows we all remember

I dont believe its a given that its made a big price jump universally. Some seem to keep finding it for relatively normal prices if they can locate it from retailers that simply pass the product along for the normal increase to retail.

 

[Drail]

If people would stop paying absurd prices for it they would bring the price down.

 

[ku4hx]

When I got my first car in 1973, gasoline was 29.9 cents per gallon. That changed for the worse pretty quickly after I took delivery. Given today's gasoline prices I really feel ripped off. But things are changing again ... sort of.

Today's .22 Long Rifle ammunition is higher than it used to be, but at least you don't have to wait in line for two hours just to find the shelves are empty.

https://www.google.com/search?q='70...oTCKnnvtL57scCFQtLkgodLhsEBg&biw=1344&bih=769

 

[jrdolall]

I have seen 22 ammo at online stores for under $.06 per round several times in the past two weeks. Natchez comes to mind as well as Cabela's and Academy. Natchez will not ship to my home state and the limit of one box keeps me away from the others. It has all been either Remington cheap-o or CCI and I really don't need any more of those.

I have frankly been shocked at how long the "shortage" has lasted. I have plenty for my needs for over a year but I had to work hard to find it all. Scalpers, hoarders, preppers, government conspiracy? Who knows but, as I said, I really am surprised at how long this has been an issue. Three years almost?

 

[jmr40]

When I got my first car in 1973, gasoline was 29.9 cents per gallon. That changed for the worse pretty quickly after I took delivery. Given today's gasoline prices I really feel ripped off. But things are changing again ... sort of.

Relative to inflation you are paying less for gas today than in 1974. Even for 1973 paying 30 cent/gal gas was pretty rare. I've seen it that low, but only when several gas stations were involved in a gas war. Around 40-50 cents was more common and it spiked at over $1/gal. Through most of the 70's it was around 85 cents/gal in my area.

My local gas station is currently $2.02/gal. In 1973 money that translates into about 38 cents/gal. When I was paying 85 cents/gal that translates into $4.57/gal in todays money. Relatively speaking even when we were paying $3/gal it was a bargain compared to the 1970's.

The same principles apply to guns and ammo. I still say that we are paying a smaller percentage of our incomes on guns and ammo now that at any other time in history. Lots of folks look back on prices charged years ago and think they are being over charged today.

You've got to consider the average income for a family in 1973 was just over $10,000/year. The most recent numbers I can find for the US says it was just under $60,000/ year in 2010.

You can't expect to earn 2015 wages and pay 1973 prices.

An interesting link to play with

http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

 

[jad0110]

Local walmart gets some 22 ammo in, but its bought up very quickly. I asked them to put it out at random times, but the manager said "its too hard!" He has it all locked up when it comes in, and its only put out at a set time early in the morning if theres any in stock. I've heard the sporting goods guys say that some of the regular buyers claimed to have 50,000 rds or more and they keep buying all they can. I believe that is whats happened to the overall market on 22's.

The employees in a dozen or so Walmarts I've been in have said the same thing. The same 5 to 10 individuals wipe the stock out first thing in the morning (about the time I'm going to work), turn around and sell all of it at local gun shows for nearly DOUBLE the price.

What this tells me, and I know this will irritate many, is that at least in my area WM is underpricing their .22.

Oddly, you can buy .22 online for a heck of a lot less (about equal to WM when you can find any) than the doubled gun show prices. I guess there are a LOT of people in my rural area that don't shop online.

 

[Sam1911]

What this tells me, and I know this will irritate many, is that at least in my area WM is underpricing their .22.

Doesn't irritate me at all. I said the same thing several times and folks don't want to hear it. If WM and other big retailers had followed the market and adjusted their prices to be a bit less than the "going rate," but not half or 1/3 the going rate, there really never would have been a scalper's secondary market and the panic would have subsided much sooner.

But that wouldn't have fit well in WM's broader business philosophy. It does them no end of good to be seen as the place to go for bargain basement deals, and if folks want to swing by twice a week and try to pick clean their ammo shelves? So much the better for WM! Bodies in the door are bodies that buy stuff. If you're hitting WM three times a week to scrounge for ammo, you probably are going to start grabbing your groceries there, too, since you can save time not going to your usual grocery store. And you needed a new pair of jeans, right? And some motor oil. What about those prescriptions? Heck, I'm in the store anyway...

So, being the scalpers' plundering grounds is just GREAT for WM, even though them holding their ammo prices far below the "market price" isn't good for the consumer in the bigger picture.

 

[fouled bore]

It was announced back in June that a new ammo manufacturer is opening in southern Indiana. Supposedly the first line to be operational will be a .22 cal line.

http://www.14news.com/story/29413023/new-ammunition-store-to-bring-in-nearly-200-jobs-to-warrick-co

 

[ATLDave]

The .22lr is back in retail stores at "normal" prices where I am. Literally saw palettes and palettes of CCI stinger in a store weekend before last. If it hasn't hit where you are yet, give it another few weeks.

 

[oneounceload]

Some seem to keep finding it for relatively normal prices

Guess that would depend on what you consider "normal" to be. I remember not too long ago when 500 round bricks could be bought for $7.99.

What this tells me, and I know this will irritate many, is that at least in my area WM is underpricing their .22

Like Sam, I have been saying this for years - WM has a corporate pricing system based on the gross margins they need; the issue gets magnified when you get a market anomaly and they don't react to it.

And as he mentioned earlier, there is no such thing as being ripped off or gouging buying ammo. Either you buy at his asking price, or you don't.

And for those who might need a reminder:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9QEkw6_O6w

 

[IWAC]

I happened by the sporting goods counter at a local WallyWorld, and saw they had several boxes of .22 Long Rifle. Winchester, black box of 50. I inquired about price...$9.98. Told the clerk; "No, thank you!" Same inflated prices at the gun store I have dealt with for years. CCI MiniMag HP..$12.99/100. When Scheels has it, $9.99/100. The local Dick's never has anything! Vote with your feet, and $$$$.

 

[Sam1911]

Good! IWAC, that's exactly the right approach. If you don't want the ammo so much that you'll pay $0.20 a shot for it, DON'T buy it. Leave it there for someone else who really really wants to shoot that day and is willing to pay that much. At least you can rest assured a scalper isn't going to buy it and re-sell it, because they can't make money, with the purchase price being what it is.

And, if it happens that there's a lot of competition in the market and everyone who wants ammo can find it for less than $0.20 a shot, there is no reason for anyone to charge $0.20 a shot for it, so they won't.

It's a natural and inevitable system.

 

[jmorris]

I have regularly seen .22 over the last few years at several different stores.

Last two I checked the price on we're Dicks ($3.99/50) and Walmart was ($19.98/500) passed on both but last time I bought 22 it was $7.98/500, good thing I bought as much as I did.

 

[Onmilo]

I have regularly seen .22 over the last few years at several different stores.

Last two I checked the price on we're Dicks ($3.99/50) and Walmart was ($19.98/500) passed on both but last time I bought 22 it was $7.98/500, good thing I bought as much as I did.

I still have a lot of .22 ammo because when I found a good lot I would buy the stuff by the 5000 round case.
Try doing that now...

 

[Spats McGee]

.22LR has been showing up at the WMs around here on kind of a sporadic basis. I buy it when I see it, but I don't pay inflated prices. Sometimes the scalpers beat me to it, sometimes they don't. Been doing this for a few years now.

 

[Tallball]

It is readily available in all of the large sporting goods stores near me, usually about ten cents per round.

The Aguila works well for me.

 

[jlr1962]

DFW Walmart and Academy locations have 22 most of the time. I have gone overboard on ammo, or so says my wife.

Gotta keep it away from the hoarders you know..

 

[kokapelli]

It is readily available in all of the large sporting goods stores near me, usually about ten cents per round.

The Aguila works well for me.

How is Aguila for feeding in semi autos?

 

[jlr1962]

Me too!

Still working off this stash.

I see you are from Illinois. 100 rounds of ammo. Is that legal there?

WOW! 59 cents. I don't remember how much I paid in the early 70's. Those price tags and packaging scream 1974.