Stopped at 4 Dallas/Ft. Worth Walmarts: 3 had .22 LR

Gun Watch ^ | 31 December, 2016 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

As I drove around the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex during Christmas season, 2016, I stopped at four area Walmart stores.  The first one was a couple of days before Christmas.  I did not have a car until the 24th, so I only looked in the Walmart at Frankford and Marsh Ln before Christmas.  I have written about .22 at that store for a year and a half.  It has had .22 LR in stock pretty reliably during that period, so I was not surprised to see a a couple thousand Winchester Super X, a couple of thousand CCI Stingers, a thousand CCI .22 short CB caps, and five  hundred CCI minimags.  They all seemed over priced, with the minimags the best buy of the lot at 7.47 cents a cartridge.

Benbrook Walmart Display

I stopped at the Benbrook Walmart next, on the other side of the metroplex, at the far South West edge.  I have been watching it for a year or so, and have never seen any .22 LR in it.  It was no surprise either.  The prices were the same as on the North Central edge, but there were only a few boxes of .17 rimfire.  No .22 LR.

Display at Dallas Parkway and Beltline Walmart

After meeting my Daughter for lunch, I stopped at the Walmart at Dallas Parkway and Beltline, a more central location. I did not expect to find any .22 LR. I thought the Frankford location was a fluke. I was wrong.  The Parkway and Beltline store had a fairly good stock.  The prices were the same.  You can see .22 Magnums on the left of the picture, some CCI .22 LR shotshells, plenty of Winchester SuperX, and some CCI .22 CB shorts.  I talked to a friendly Walmart employee who explained the situation.  For a period of time this year, the Walmart had been closed for remodeling. During that period, .22 ammunition kept coming fairly regularly, but it could not be sold.

When the store when back into operation, the employees keep the shelves stocked with .22, and they have not run out since.  SuperX is the most common .22 LR round they get in. They get some CCI, and a little bit of both Remington golden bullets and Federal .22 LR. They do not have a three box limit on purchase.

Plano Store Display

The last store I stopped at was in Plano, off the George Bush Turnpike.  The nearest cross street was Park.  This store was not as busy as the others, but it was a weekday afternoon between Christmas and New Year's Eve. I did not expect to find any .22 LR there.  Surprise! There, tucked down in the lowest shelf, with no price showing was nearly 2,000 rounds of Winchester SuperX, some CCI .22 Magnum and a carton of CCI .22 LR shotshells.

I was pretty sure I would find .22 LR at the Frankford store, but I was surprised to find significant quantities at two of the other three stores where I stopped.

The prices were nothing to smile about.  8.37 cents a round for Winchester SuperX seems a bit high to me.  Using a constant dollar calculator, it would translate back to about 1 cent a round in the early 1950's. It is not completely out of line.

I expect .22 LR to become more plentiful and cheaper in the coming year.

None of the .22 LR was in bulk packs, and that is where the best deals for blasting ammunition is found.  The Internet sellers have .22 LR as low as 5.6 cents a round, but you have to pay shipping.

©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.

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[Blue Highway]

yeah, here is what I am talking about.

Anyone have a Walmart sku number for these or a Walmart ammo tracker app that still works? I used to use the Brass Badger app but it no longer works.

[smokingfrog]

Good news. I had not heard of any new plants being build. It’s a big investment to make if the shortages in recent years are only caused by people hoarding ammo.

[smokingfrog]

I remember buying those PLUS getting a mail-in rebate for a few dollars.

[Daniel Ramsey]

I wonder about .380 that isn’t $2 a round.

[Noumenon]

Make America Great Again - with dirt cheap .22

[Blue Highway]

There was a thread from 2012 on one of the ammo sites that stated Walmart had the 1600 round ammo boxes for $98.xx each and on the online ammo sellers now the same box people are trying to get upwards of $300 or $.19 a round LOL

[1Old Pro]

great advice, especially in New York where you cannot get ammo shipped.

[BipolarBob]

http://ammoseek.com/ammo/380-auto

[virgil283]

Mexico and India make .22, isn’t foreign ammo allowed in?

[marktwain]

Aquila (from Mexico) has increased their production 70% in the last couple of years. All they can send goes to the U.S. market. It is part of the 25% increase I mentioned.

I have spent some time on an Indian gun online group. They routinely complain about the poor quality of Indian .22 ammunition, made only in Indian government factories. Expensive and poor quality is the consensus. Probably why we are not seeing it on the U.S. market.

There may be reasons we are not seeing Chinese .22 on the U.S. market.

I have seen lots of Russian, British, Italian, and Czech .22 on the U.S. market. Most foreign producers are pretty small potatoes compared to the U.S.

As far as I can tell, all the foreign manufacturers of .22 have been running 24/7 (as well as U.S. manufacturers) in an attempt to meet demand for the last three years. It has all been gobbled up by an insatiable U.S. market.

Now, we are finally seeing a possible drop in that demand, with a Trump Presidency.

[Rannug]

I shoot Remington Gold in my .22s. It is not available here in east central Ohio. I can buy hit online, but as someone mentioned the shipping is so terribly high.

[SgtHooper]

20 cents brass at Natchez. 19 cents steel at LAX Ammo.

[marktwain]

Loading for just one rifle, you do not need to full length resize, just neck resize. It makes your brass last longer.

If you want blasting ammo for your Model 71, you could load cast bullets for it.

You could also take .358 jacketed bullets and run them through a Lee sizer, (lubricated) to reduce them to .348. It is not difficult to swage jacketed bullets down that much with an ordinary reloading press using the Lee sizer die. You start with a .339 lube/sizer and open the die up to the diameter you need, testing bullets as you get close. Lee will make you a custom die for only a few dollars more than the standard kit. $38 for a custom kit.

http://leeprecision.com/bullet-casting/lube-and-sizing-kit/

It is kind of an advanced technique for a beginner, but it works well and is not expensive.

Here is an article on the Model 71 and the .348 Winchester.

http://www.leverguns.com/articles/taylor/model71.htm

[Big Red Badger]

I may be able to help,,,,

[xzins]

In our area, little fishing/hunting stores camp out at WalMart when .22 is scheduled too arrive, and they buy it out before an hour is gone in the shipment day. This to me from the mouth of the clerk who works that department.

These hunting stores then repackage it and sell it in their shops. Obviously at multiple times their buying price.

[marktwain]

It is not just little shops that have been doing it, but individuals as well. I have heard of it from multiple locations.

The market was short circuited by the manufacturers refusing to raise the prices to wholesalers to any appreciable level.

In a free market, manufactures charge what the market will bear, until supply and demand curves cross. If they are making lots of profit, manufactures increase production, and prices drop.

But with .22 ammunition, the manufacturers did not raise prices to reduce demand to producition levels, and neither did Walmart, creating the situation we have seen.

[xzins]

I picked up a bunch of .22 in Florida when visiting family. Cabellas had plenty.

[1Old Pro]

thanks, great info.

[Big Red Badger]

Great photo,
Brings tears to my eyes.

[unread]

"I don’t buy .22 ammo unless it’s below .05/round.

My cutoff point was 8 cents for .22s.... I can remember paying 6 cents a round for 7.62x39....

Times, they are a changing.... :(