It’s out there. I saw ONE box at a local Walmart a few months back ($24.99 - last time I bought was $8.99, maybe five years ago) but I was/had been looking for .22 Mag and they had three boxes. 3 Box limit. Didn’t occur to me to go out to my car and come back for the lone box of Federal .22 LR I didn’t really “need.”
I’m down to about 10,000 rds right now, maybe 5k of subsonics... you never know when the SHTF or you’ll need a thousand rounds to entertain family shooting steel critters at the local range. So you buy it when you see it, right? Only thing is, I never see it.
I travel from Maryland to Nashville once or twice a year and between local stores, stores in VA, TN and even up in PA/NY State, I have seen JUST that ONE lone box of .22 LR in over three years. Probably in excess of 100 different stops. Empty shelves. My backorder with MidwayUSA went on so long they just up and canceled it “shipment overdue.”
But SOMEone has .22 LR. Go to gunbroker, look at the ads. $50 to $75 a box. Gunshows. It’s there. You’ll find it. Just as pricey. But who’s buying it? I know boys scout troops that can’t train their scouts, my own club asks for donations.
I train several new shooters every year, it’s cheaper for me to use low-power .38 Special handloads than .22LR like I used to. Hell, I even use airsoft for the basics.
You know, every Maomart I go into the clerks tell me the same thing. They get shipments all the time. Old farts with loads of time on their hands come in every day at opening, line right up and buy their 3 boxes. First come first served, until they run out. Usually in minutes. Same guys every week. Week after week. Month after year after...
There’s a free market economy working here. What better investment can you make that can double, literally, in the time it takes for you to go from the cash register to the parking lot? All cash up front, no IRS reporting.
Who would have thought there’d be a black market operating under President Obeyme’s great depression? Oh, not EBT cards. That’s old school, but ammo?
Ammunition. Currency for the next generation. We’ll take payment in .308 or .223, discount for .22 LR. You want your change in 12 gauge or 9mm Para Bellum?
I hear the same thing at Walmart. Finally gave up and bought some 22lr online ($9.00/50....grrrr). Then dropped by a Chandler gun store and they had a ton of it, although $7.00/50 and 2 boxes per person. Oh well, at least I’m stocked up for now.
And folks still wonder why there is a shortage. We have met the enemy - it is you and like minded kooks of all persuasions. Yes, each of you has fabricated rational of why your unreasonable hoarding is good for yourself (and nobody else). Eventually someone will coin a name for that type of mental illness.
The fear of want is a fear that even the best shrinks can't fix. The good news is that you are helping create jobs and high profits in the ammunition industry.
The bad news is that you are freezing youngsters out of the sport when we now and in the future will need every pro-gun vote possible.
You should feel ashamed of yourself.