Posted on 12/02/2015 6:53:20 AM PST by marktwain
A WalMart in North Dallas, Texas, just off the George W. Bush freeway and Marsh rd, consistently had 5 cent .22 ammunition when I visited my Daughter in October. When I checked in late November, there wasnât any more on the shelves. I was disappointed, and believed that the .22 bubble was re-inflating. I was gone for a couple of days, but checked out the display again on 29 November.
In October, a WalMart employee, who wished to remain anonymous, told me that the same people came in when .22 bulk packs were available and bought them all up. They did not buy the 50 round boxes, because they were not worth their time, with a 3 boxes per day limit. The bulk packs were bought up regularly.
Maybe the ammo resellers were on Thanksgiving vacation on the 29th of November. Maybe they noticed a slump in demand. I cannot be sure why, but there on the shelves were five boxes of Winchester copper-plated .22 LR, 333 round boxes for $14.97. This was late in the afternoon, about 4:30 p.m. WalMart restocks .22 ammuntion in the morning, I have been told.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
Wow. I paid $7.95 for 50 rounds the other day.
I remember when I started stockpiling 22, I was paying $7.95 for 100 rounds. Just about $35 for 500 rounds.
But the Fed says there is no inflation.
This is great news! Indeed, a hugh and series development.
I just hope an industry-wide price drop is in the near future.
I’ve got bricks of .22 ammo with a 13.99 price sticker on them.Bought pre-Obama.
Had given up checking the ammo case at Wallyworld, but think I better start looking again.
I still have an unopened box of 450 purchased from K-Mart in Burlington years ago for $9.97.
I’ve got a couple parcels of Ag land that is now overrun with jack rabbits. If I can get my hands on some reasonably priced 22 ammo I can take care of the problem.
As late as 2012, I purchased .22 LR, Federal Champion bulk pack, at less than 3 cents a round, on sale. It was priced at $9.99 for 325 rounds, but I had a coupon and got free shipping from Cabelas.
I bought my first box (50 rds) of .22 ammo back in 1962. It cost 45 cents in Carlsbad NM. I was 15 years old. Now I have to be 21 years old to get the same ammo.
Saw Winchester 50 rds for sale at Cabelas for 9.99 a box last week.
I will continue to use up my old Federal I bought twenty years ago.
Check Academy Sports too, if you have one. They’ve been recently getting in .22 also - at good prices. Usually limited to 2 small boxes or one bulk, however.
They had a fairly decent selection of other handgun and rifle ammo as well as shotgun shells, but no .22LR at all. There probably are still some early morning resellers coming in and buying it up whenever some happens to become available.
Fortunately I still have an OK inventory from pre-Obama times.
The fact that there has been a difficult time getting a very coveted product on the shelves in America for the past 6 years now is a sign of decline.
Not really. I read an article by an ammunition re-loader that explained the .22 situation. MONEY. My figures may be off somewhat but you can get the idea.
The manufacturing line for .22 costs approx. 5-6 million. They make approx. .001 cent per round and the machinery is .22 specific only. Now, the line for center fire cost the same, they make 10 times as much profit per round and can change the tooling for other calibers.
This is precisely why no new .22 ammo manufacturing have been built in the last 10 years and those existing have it are running 24/7 trying to get rid of the bubble. However, buyers like described in the OP is the reason it remains so high, they are artificially creating a shortage and re-selling at double their costs. They pay kick back to store employees for early notification and even some employees are laying back new shipments for big sales to their beneficial “customers”.
There is actually enough production to keep up with normal demand but until the straw buyers quit, prices will remain high.
Or enough people stop buying from them...
That is true, and that is why I sold off all of my guns (except one) that were chambered in .22. I have a few boxes of remington cyclonesfor it, that I bought years ago for something like $15 for a box of 525.
I switched up to guns chambered in .223, 9MM, .45, and other easily obtained military callibers.
Academy in Plano off the DNT and Parker on black friday had blazer 50rd boxes at 2.69 a box limit 500 rounds at 9am I bought 500 rds Friday and another 500 Saturday. My M4-22 and G2G 1911 will burn that in an afternoon at bullet trap.
Demand is slowly being saturated, but I believe that there are many new shooters. New manufacturing production is likely to be purchased at some point.
Its funny. My 22LR has had a much better return than my stocks, gold, and silver.
Go figure.
LOL. That continues to be a great insider FREEPER joke!
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