Posted on 04/08/2014 7:05:14 AM PDT by rktman
Even though Sierra BulletQuestionMarks does not make .22 LR ammo or projectiles, we are constantly asked “Why can’t I find any .22 LR ammo anywhere?” Even the conspiracy theorists are at a loss on this one as they can’t even blame it on the government. They toss around thoughts of warehouses full of .22 LR rotting away just to keep it out of their hands, but that does not seem very realistic – even to them.
So what is going on here? Why is it that 1.5 years later, the shelves are still empty and bricks of .22 LR can still be seen selling for upwards of $75-$100 at gun shows? I do not believe there is one answer, but rather a few. Here are my opinions on the matter, for what they are worth.
(Excerpt) Read more at sierrabullets.wordpress.com ...
You are wrong about small caliber ammunition... the OEM’s do not see the price flux/margins, market players/middlemen do... you are way wrong... Do you work in the ammunition manufacturing business? I do.
It is not MBA disease... its called being smart. In 2010 and 2011 so many Firearms and ammunition companies were stuck with product and capacity cause the 2010 elections put the TEA party in and over night guns and ammo demand disappeared.
I do because I order the equipment!
Chemical processing is way different. Margins on .22LR are in 1/10th’s of a cent....
Rage on cluelessly,
How about my turn: Impossible I put in a grain processing facility in one day! There is no way a chem processing plant can take a month! Ridiculus! There... I FEEEEL better ranting about something I know nothing about!
Painful if you don’t have a decent supply on hand. Then again, the price we are paying for gasoline is simply ridiculous too. Ah yes, switching to the summer “blend” as we speak. Speaking of which, make sure you have plenty of gas on hand for April 18th to help celebrate earth day and all the resources she supplies us with.
There is this little thing called the Internet that cuts out said middleman. I haven't bought ammo at a store in years.
I know that manufacturing 22LR is more difficult than centerfire rounds, and I understand that the permits and zoning around building a facility are more complex for ammunition than other products, but I also know that there are plenty of communities that are hungry, more people are shooting than ever, and women are a growing market. The baseline increase in demand is permanent. There is no excuse.
Didn’t Montana do that?
It wasn't a whole building, it was a line, and it took three months from start to finish once management said go. Construction took two weeks. The longest lead time item was air quality permits in the San Francisco Bay Area. That took two months.
Sorry, but you all missed the obvious . . .
Everyone has been having boating accidents.
I started buying it a year before the shortage.
I have more than I “need”, but i am not selling it any time soon. My policy is to replace what I shoot, within a week of shooting it. I have been shooting .223 for months. I haven’t picked up the .22 because I cannot replace it.
If I could buy it, I would use it. But not at $17.95 per hundred rounds. That’s just silly.
22LR Bullets is highly negotiable in BARTER TRADE. More useful than gold under certain circumstances.
I am just busting your chops... i have no clue what it takes other than what you say... have a good one and annoy a democrat today!
I have a friend who is almost just like that. He has well over 30,000 rounds of the stuff. Every time we talk on the phone he asks me if seen any 22ammo on any shelves I tell him no and he tells me he hasn't either. I tell him why are you looking you don't need any. There is one thing he will not buy $50-$70 bricks. He isn't that bad.
A buddy received a beautiful Ruger brand new .22LR rifle for Christmas. He has yet to actually test fire it, because he can’t find .22LR ammo.
ahh the internet actually makes the market more volitile.
And you are buying from the middle men on the internet. Do you buy direct on the internet from Federal or Remington? Aaah no you don’t
22LR is not difficult other than the priming process.
your zoning permit etc arguement are bogus, zoning is not the issue, industrial zoning covers it and NFPA along with BATFE and OSHA cover the rest.. pretty straight up when you get into it...
The excuse is CASH , capital tied up and ROI on a product that returns less than a penny per unit on a line that has a fixed output.
“That is, if all materials are produced in a state, and guns and ammo are sold only for in-state use, then eventually an argument can be made that the federal government has no regulatory authority over it.”
If the courts let them claim authority over grain grown on your land for your own consumption, then they’ll claim authority over anything they want.
>> “In 2010 and 2011 so many Firearms and ammunition companies were stuck with product and capacity cause the 2010 elections put the TEA party in and over night guns and ammo demand disappeared.” <<
.
Not in any real world.
Shooters are simply not that stupid.
Although I have one brick of .22LR ammo, I haven’t been able to find more.
Originally this cut into my range time, but I now find that a nice nitrogen piston air rifle can be had in the range of $150 to $350 and it will throw out a .22 caliber pellet at the same muzzle velocity as the .22LR round. Although, it’s single shot, I can still get in the range time I want with this substitute. Air rifles have come a long way in power and performance since I was a kid.
Damn capsized canoes. They’re dangerous.
You can find sources for .22LR in stock here.
http://www.gunbot.net/ammo/rimfire/22lr/
Going through my shop I found three 500 round boxes of Federal .22 LR I bought about 25 years ago.
Unfortunately it is Federal and the quality is not good and most of my semi auto firearms choke on it.
My gun loves WINCHESTER .22 LR! and I can’t find it anywhere!
At $8,0000,000 per line that's 1,000 days of payback at only $1 per brick additional margin, or just over 2-1/2 years.
I promise you, in this market you could have been getting $5 per brick of margin no problem for the last three years. That is a six month payback, or a total of $20 million of additional profit over said three years.
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