Posted on 02/22/2017 3:52:38 AM PST by marktwain
I have been monitoring the local WalMart to see if the .22 bubble shows any sign of deflating. A heavy winter visitor presence has returned to Yuma. I have not seen any .22 long rifle in WalMart for months.
This afternoon was different. I stopped at the store, and made my usual inspection of the ammunition counter. There were thousands of .22 LR cartridges for sale, most of them in bulk packs. Bulk packs are the preferred purchase of people who are buying the ammunition for resale, or simply to stock up. All of the .22 ammunition there was Winchester, except for a few CCI shot shells.
There were ten bulk packs of Winchester 333 round count, as pictured above. As I watched, a couple form Washington State purchased five of bulk packs. WalMart still has the 3 box limit; so he bought three and she bought two. They cut their purchase back by 1 box.
I asked them if they had .22 available in Washington State. The answer was that they had it now and then, but this was a better price.
The gentleman said that he had gone to WalMart, early in the morning in Washington State this summer, for two months straight, every day. and he had never scored a round of .22. The last he recalled, he bought the 333 round bulk packs at over $26 a box. The price in Yuma is $17.37, just over 5.2 cents a cartridge.
There were a thousand rounds of .22 Winchester SuperX, but they had not been touched. They were priced at $8.37 a box of 100.
My favorite WalMart clerk, Yittzel, was working today. She said the shipment came in this morning, and included 15 boxes of Federal bulk pack of 525 rounds. The Federal bulk packs sold out first and fast. I wasn't able to get a price on the Federal rounds.
There were also 15 boxes of the Winchester bulk pack that came in this morning. 10 of those were left at 3:30 this afternoon, down to 5 boxes by 4 p.m.
The thousand rounds of Winchester SuperX were already there this morning, and were still there when I left the store this afternoon.
In the last week, I have seen .22 long rifle as low as 5 cents a round on the Internet. There is market resistance to breaking the 5 cents a round barrier, but it is coming. Demand is starting to be met.
The prediction that we will see bulk pack .22 long rifle ammunition at 4 cents a round by the end of October, still holds.
©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
Cabelas had 22lr on the shelves yesterday. >$.05 if I recall correctly.
My local Wallymart is out still and other types of ammo are in short supply again. I suspect poor order management - not a shortage.
I really hope you’re right on the October prediction.
All three of my local (mid-Michigan) WalMarts have full ammunition cases with the exception of .22.
The price is going down from my favorite online sources, however. at $0.10 per round I wasn’t a buyer, but when it get to $0.05 or lower, I’m in.
Local Gander Mtn had a display of ~ 100 boxes of CCI Std Velocity at $4.00/box of 50.
Interesting.
8 cents a round is pretty high, but they are available.
The price will continue to drop.
I was visiting the local WalMart here in N. Myrtle Beach and asked the attendant about .22LR. He was in the process of ordering more. However, he was only allowed to order 1 box. He had one box on the shelf and could order only one box. Fortunately, he had plenty of the caliber that I wanted.
If I went to Walmart every single day for two months, I am afraid that I would go insane.
One thing I love about Mrs. FATC is her pragmatism. I was organizing our ammo box this weekend, called her in to show her my work, and noted that we had 9000 rounds of .22. She commented that it seems like we’re almost “half full on .22.” Gotta love a woman who wants a minimum 20,000 rounds lying around.
In fairness, we go through about 5000-6000 rounds a year, but the Obama years really bit into our reserves. So nice to be able to find bulk packs again.
My local gun shop has Remington 550 round bricks again. They’re nearly $40 a box but it’s the first time I’ve seen them since about 2010. Hopefully local Walmart will start carrying them again. Doubt they’ll ever be <$20 again, though.
4 bucks a box at Gander is the current sale price.
These normally go for 5 buck for 50 rounds.
WOW! 333 rounds per box! Easier to grasp! Won’t tip over! Not like the old boxes with 500 rounds for the same price!
Natchez Shooting Supplies has .22LR and just about everything else. They ship by UPS right to your door for most states.
Been buying from them since 2009 with no issues. Bulk .223, .38. .45, .357 and 9mm at reasonable prices.
Load up!
Too many shooters per square foot in this valley. The .22LR supply would have to triple to relieve buyer pressure.
Not here in California where a brick of 500 goes for $90+
Cabela’s has 325 value packs on sale for $17.99 a box, with a $10 mail in rebate. That is less than $28 for 500 rds.
Hard to know what the shipping cost would be.
Here is Federal Champion Target ammo:
$25.60 per 500 rounds.
I doubt if the shipping is $20.
https://www.natchezss.com/federal-champion-target-22-lr-40-gr-sld-rimfire-ammunition-50-box.html#
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