It has been four years. I do see a little availability of 22LR but it is a long way from where you can walk in anywhere and buy a box in my stomping ground.

I could have got the zoning done , bought the land ,built the factory, Installed the machinery, hired and trained the staff, and been in production for the last 18 months.
For those of you closer to the industry than the average joe. How long before it will be easy to find and buy and shoot again?

I had a two year supply stuck back but that is gone and the rimfire chunkers have been idol way to long.

I see a good bit advertised, usually for $45 or more per brick. Walmart gets plenty in, and it usually sells out immediately.

Supposedly CCI & Federal are increasing production 20% this year thru new facilities and increased capacity. Don't know if that is fact or that it will happen. I am seeing more 22 lr available, but not at the old prices.

I do know there is some .20 to .40 cent a round stuff out there.

And the Wal Marts in my sales travel area have not had ANY in months so they say.

Not trying to Whine but it has been four years..

Bass pro in Macon Ga has increasing availability. Limit one of all brands has become two of each. Price for Winchester or CCI about 9.00 per hundred. That is probably the new norm...same thing primers went to thru some years back.

The local sporting goods chain here in SoCal had CCI standard velocity last Friday at $5.98 per 50. They also had Federal for $29.98 per 325.

if ever there was one. People have all sorts of theories as to why but I think the simple truth is that fear and new shooters have generated demand way beyond what was normal in years most of us can remember (with fondness). Nostalgia won't put ammo in the range box we need to adapt.

OUR shop is able to keep a supply generally but not of what we want but of whatever we can find available. We don't turn down ANY rimfire ammo from the distributors. We don't quibble on price. They have it and are willing to sell it to us we take it and we ask for it every single day. We do not have cases and cases though, we MIGHT get a case of one load in any shipment. BIG improvement though, there were times when we got a single 50-round box, I kid you not. ONE 50-round box. We do not have a limit but we do sometimes try to accumulate some special product, such as the Christmas packs for Christmas shoppers or Troy Landry CCI stuff for when he came to a local show (some folks expressed a desire to buy boxes for him to sign). "Bricks" sell for $29.99 to $69.99 depending on what it is (e.g. Stingers are big in demand and seldom come in so get a premium price). We have ammo because we charge enough to discourage the speculators who are STILL making money off their WalMart supplier...

This time of year the match ammo starts to sell and choices are somewhat limited. Last season several of us bought some by the case just because it was available and because some guns just don't do as well with any given lot but very well with others there's been a LOT of trading going on since then. Some guys don't think they have enough for their season but they shoot 3-4 matches a month and practice with their match ammo and so go through a lot of it.

The perception of our local/repeat customers is that the shortage is easing but those who are visiting or passing through and stop are often astonished that we have .22 LR and especially that we have .22 WRM.

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Sincerely,

Hobie

I don't love the prices but they are reasonable enough and there is a pretty good selection of hunting vs target loads. I've started shooting more 17 HMR. Great hunting caliber and its easy to find. Much prefer it to .22 for hunting. It's also more accurate than most rimfire loads.

But then I work for a living and can't hang out at walmart 24/7.

If we manage to get a republican pres. Maybe we will find where Obama has been dumping the stuff.

If I was on board of directors of a manufacturer heads would roll for not increasing production 100% or 200% several years ago.

but last year we traveled a LOT (17,000 miles in four months) and managed to stop at a variety of stores. Never found any 22 LR at Walmart, but other calibers (including the 17 rimfires) were common. Prices of $80/brick for "cheap" plinking ammo were seen a couple of places. Saw some at Cabelas at prices that didn't manage to pry my few $$ out of my wallet and finally "hit the jackpot" at Academy Sports. They had a 2 box limit (max of 200 rounds) per customer but convinced my wife to be a customer too (she's not a shooter but doesn't mind helping in such situations) so over the last couple weeks we managed to squirrel away about the same amount of 22 ammo we'd shot up over the trip. At Academy they had some high dollar target ammo ($20/50 rounds) and a variety of other stuff that came and went quickly. Picked up a couple of hundred packs of CCI and messaged my brother. By the time he got off and stopped in on his way home it was gone.

Out in California on Camp Pendleton at the exchange they had some 22 LR. The Staff Sergeant picked up a few boxes when he took us by there one day.

AR stuff is more common now (market seemed flooded) but ammo doesn't want to come down. We didn't find any 223/5.56 under $0.45 a round even in bulk pack. It was good to see primers and some powders appearing on shelves. Unique and Bullseye, however, were proverbial hen's teeth.

no Unique or Bullseye. I'm looking for alternates for BE...maybe WST.

I like W231 as a replacement for Bullseye. Enough that I quit looking for Bullseye.

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It has shown up locally lately. I like it better than bullseye. Burns cleaner.

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new shooters over the last few years. It is commonplace for me to hear shops educating someone at the counter who is buying his or her (often her) first gun. The shortage has gone on far too long to simply be "hoarders." The last time we had a fear-induced .22 shortage, it lasted less than six months. This one has gone on for over 3 years, now.

Another factor is the ammo companies' refusal to expand their production capabilities for rimfire. I think the biggest factor in this is politically-induced fear - fear that political decisions in the short to mid-term will keep them from being able to make money off their investment in production expansion.

Just my 2 cents.

there are definitely new shooters contributing to it but the political climate is a huge factor. It's complicated.

BE would be used in. I switched to 231 many years ago and can load any round with it, versatile like Unique. I also like WST for light loads.

nm

and not backordered. Clays is also out and not backordered. Unique and BE same thing. WST is in.

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Federal Lightnings at $10 per brick, down from $1.25 box of 50 (IIRC - it was 30 years or so ago). We thought we were in high cotton! Could buy three boxes for the equivalent of one hour's work. Every now and then we'd splurge and buy a brick to go shoot up down in the chat piles.

When I got my Winchester 141 bolt action.

How much was minimum wage then? (ie - how many boxes of shells could you buy with an hour's worth of minimum wage work?)

I got paid minimum wage of $1.65/hour that summer. A colt catalog from that year showed both the SAA and the Python at $125.00. Aw the good old days.