Posted on 04/10/2023 5:25:29 AM PDT by marktwain
About once a week, I visit a local Walmart to monitor ammunition prices. This time, there was a significant change. Walmart rolled back the price of some bulk-packed .22 LR ammunition. The product was Federal Automatch, 40 grain, in a 325 bulk pack. The price was $18.97 or 5.8 cents per cartridge. The price had been $21.16, or 6.5 cents per cartridge. This is roughly a 10% reduction in the price.
Most days, this correspondent will look at ammunition prices online. They are not quite as good an indicator because shipping costs must be included. Everyone online now charges state sales tax, which no longer makes much of a difference. Online prices were even lower, with the lowest costs for the cheapest ammunition at exactly 5 cents per cartridge for Armscor .22 LR 36 grain hollowpoint, bolt action only. From the indicated supplier, shipping costs were included in the price. A purchaser had to buy a full 5,000 round case to obtain the 5 cent per round price.
In my experience, the Federal Automatch is a bit more reliable ammunition than the Armscor 36 grain. Other people’s experiences may vary.
Since the ammunition bubble started in 2012, ammunition prices have gone up and down in response to overwhelming, then muted, demand. The demand seems linked to political threats to impose significant infringements on rights protected by the Second Amendment.
The ammunition companies have increased .22 Long Rifle production by about 40% since 2012, from about 5 billion rounds of .22 LR per year to 7 Billion rounds per year at present. Both Aguila Ammunition and Vista Outdoors (Federal and CCI) have increased production substantially.
Much specialty .22 ammunition is still difficult to obtain, but shelves are being stocked with more and more ammunition.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
The inflation rate from 1998 to 2023, 25 years, is 1.86. So for those that remember buying a brick on sale now and then for $20, in todays Biden bills that’s $37.20 ori 7.4 cents.
When I wore a younger man’s clothes, we used to get .22 long rifle for a penny a round.
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That’s what I remember paying when I was a lad back in the mid 50s. Also bought .22 bird shot for popping snake’s heads in the water. Less chance for ricochet off the water plus more likely hood of hitting the head.
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