# .22lr



## PalmettoTree (Jun 8, 2013)

Since .22LR ammo is so difficult to get and will likely continue what next. There are limited supplies on shelves now with limits on how much you can purchase.

Although we all know the school tragedy caused an across the board guns and ammo shortage. I expect .22LR ammo to continue to be difficult to stock up on and volume purchase limits to continue.

The ongoing root cause, if I am correct about future short supplies, is the use of .22LR on an AR or other assault weapon platform. These guns are used for cheap "sprat and pray" fun. WHICH YOU HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO DO AND I SUPPORT THAT RUGHT! But I expect this to keep the .22LR ammo supply chain challenged.

My question is this. Is it time for those of us that want a gun for small game and serious target teaching to pick another caliber? A caliber that will remain cheap and will give the youngest students a first time positive experience.

Your thoughts and suggestions appreciated.


----------



## Moonshinedave (Mar 28, 2013)

I can find limited 22lr. maybe not at the price but it's there. I think anything over 10cents a round is simply too much for 22lr. Next option, have you considered an air rifle? Today's air rifle are not the red riders of our youth (even though you can still get those) something you may want to check into, if you haven't, they are some hard shooting hard hitting weapons, they come in .177, 22, and 25 and if you really want to get crazy and dig deep into your pockets that is a .357 (but that one sorta defeats your purpose,IMO) If you haven't already check them out. If you want to learn about the different kinds, Airgun and Airsoft Videos - PyramydAir.com if the link don't work, goggle air rifle academy they'll tell you everything you want to know about air rifles.


----------



## roy (May 25, 2013)

High powered air guns are a good option. The .22lr is coming back. I recently purchased 1,600 rounds for $100.


----------



## PalmettoTree (Jun 8, 2013)

Moonshinedave said:


> I can find limited 22lr. maybe not at the price but it's there. I think anything over 10cents a round is simply too much for 22lr. Next option, have you considered an air rifle? Today's air rifle are not the red riders of our youth (even though you can still get those) something you may want to check into, if you haven't, they are some hard shooting hard hitting weapons, they come in .177, 22, and 25 and if you really want to get crazy and dig deep into your pockets that is a .357 (but that one sorta defeats your purpose,IMO) If you haven't already check them out. If you want to learn about the different kinds, Airgun and Airsoft Videos - PyramydAir.com if the link don't work, goggle air rifle academy they'll tell you everything you want to know about air rifles.


Thanks I am completely inexperienced and ignorant when it comes to air rifles.


----------



## PalmettoTree (Jun 8, 2013)

roy said:


> High powered air guns are a good option. The .22lr is coming back. I recently purchased 1,600 rounds for $100.


Good, around here one box of fifty rounds are the limit still and the price is still high.


----------



## retired guard (Mar 7, 2013)

I have seen reported that Companies such as Remington and others are building new factories to produce 22lr once enough volume hits the market the flippers will be stuck with their product. I have seen one already drop his asking price from $65 per 500 to $55 per 500. Didn't get me to buy I still try for Wally World occasionally get some and shoot less to conserve.


----------



## Ripon (Dec 22, 2012)

Everything that spiked in price will recover, but I suspect it will recover to a point above where it was. I use to buy 2100 rnds from Cabellas with free ammo "can" for $79.99. I usually did it with a free shipping coupon for orders over $150 and just buy a couple or something else from them. I suspect that won't happen again but maybe $99 in the near future. 

It's not a concern for me. I've stocked up so much 22lr it'd scare an anti gun nut as to my "stockpile" and why not? It was so cheap. I use to go thru 2k rounds a year. I'm doing half that now.


----------



## LunaticFringeInc (Nov 20, 2012)

Since I have a 223 bolt action and a gazillion empty cases, plenty of primers and powder, I have been shooting down loaded 223 rounds using 55 gr bullets that are giving about 1200-1300 fps to hunt small game. Once 22 LR ammo comes back on line at a reasonable price I will be buying several cases minimum. Im tired of playing this game and I want enough on hand that I will never need to buy it again the rest of my life. I am also tired of the three box limit at wally world and the fact that I have to loose sleep to go in and buy it since I work nights and they only sell it in the day time here now. Of course I have to loose even more sleep to get it at Bass Pro or Cabelas not to mention the hour long drive also required.

I am also using my compound bow a lot more these days!


----------



## Ripon (Dec 22, 2012)

Look for free shipping - no drive. We have a Bass Pro close buy but they often install - instore limits. They do some online too. But if things return to any sense of normality you'll see free shipping offers. I just ordered 200 rounds of 308 with a free shipping coupon and got it for about .60 a round.



LunaticFringeInc said:


> Since I have a 223 bolt action and a gazillion empty cases, plenty of primers and powder, I have been shooting down loaded 223 rounds using 55 gr bullets that are giving about 1200-1300 fps to hunt small game. Once 22 LR ammo comes back on line at a reasonable price I will be buying several cases minimum. Im tired of playing this game and I want enough on hand that I will never need to buy it again the rest of my life. I am also tired of the three box limit at wally world and the fact that I have to loose sleep to go in and buy it since I work nights and they only sell it in the day time here now. Of course I have to loose even more sleep to get it at Bass Pro or Cabelas not to mention the hour long drive also required.
> 
> I am also using my compound bow a lot more these days!


----------



## Rigged for Quiet (Mar 3, 2013)

I think the main reason that .22LR remains in short supply is that the ammo companies are fully tooled up and running their lines on the larger caliburs to meet demand. The .22 offers a lower margin and is not as profitable to produce since the labor cost to produce a round of .22 is the same as it is to produce .308, 9mm, .223 etc which has a higher profit margin.

When normalcy returns to the demand for the larger popular caliburs we will see assets freed up to produce more .22.


----------



## Prepadoodle (May 28, 2013)

You might want to take a look at the new-ish .17 Winchester Super Mag, which should meet all your needs. It's not as cheap as .22LR, but it is cheaper than any centerfire round. It's also a flat shooting, fairly hard hitting, low recoil round that should be perfect for teaching young shooters or for small game.

www.gunsandammo.com - .17 WSM


----------



## bigdogbuc (Mar 23, 2012)

I wouldn't worry too much about the ammo shortage. It will come back and a .22 is a fine firearm to have. I enjoy small bore guns, even air rifles. Air rifles are so much more advanced from when we were all kids, it's almost ridiculous. And there is some pretty gnarly ammo for them now as well. My favorite is a polymer pointed-tip pellet called the Predator PolyMag. It's wicked deadly. I use it for squirrel control around the house.


----------



## PalmettoTree (Jun 8, 2013)

Here is the dilemma. If you teach a child to properly clear a weapon will they think they know to much and fail to follow the do not touch lesson?


----------



## Seneca (Nov 16, 2012)

.22 RF supplies should be coming back up and when the do, I'd expect them to be slightly higher priced and available in quantity.


----------



## Mic (Jul 19, 2012)

I agree with the sentiment that it will be back once demand dies down for a bit.
If demand is truly higher long term due to "spray and play", then the manufacturers will build factories to handle this larger demand.
I'm sure they are just making sure they don't increase capacity by investing in capital they won't need in 6 months. If the demand stays elevated, supply will catch up to it.


----------



## Prepadoodle (May 28, 2013)

Ammo Supply Warehouse is showing plenty of Armscor .22LR on hand for $139 per 1000. They list soft points and hollow points for that price. They list the 40 gr SP at 1135 fps with a ME of 114 ft. lbs. and the 36 gr HP at 1260 fps with a ME of 127 ft. lbs. I've never shot Armscor ammo, but it might be worth a look. www.ammosupplywarehouse.com

I watch ammo prices and availability on gunbot.net, and prices are coming down while availability is on the rise. Maybe the drought is over.


----------



## Tundra Dweller (May 18, 2013)

PalmettoTree said:


> Here is the dilemma. If you teach a child to properly clear a weapon will they think they know to much and fail to follow the do not touch lesson?


I don't think so.. My father taught me the proper arms handling when i was five and never let up on proper use. I never tried to use,play with, take the 22 or any other gun with him not there. It was a adult item that i was allowed to use with him there.. I do lock my arms up but i will still teach my son the proper use of a fire arm as my father did to me.


----------



## PalmettoTree (Jun 8, 2013)

Tundra Dweller said:


> I don't think so.. My father taught me the proper arms handling when i was five and never let up on proper use. I never tried to use,play with, take the 22 or any other gun with him not there. It was a adult item that i was allowed to use with him there.. I do lock my arms up but i will still teach my son the proper use of a fire arm as my father did to me.


I agree. I was taught. I was told not to touch. I did not ever except when we went to shoot.

Here is what I seem concerned and contradict my experience. I was never around a magazine fed gun until the army.

About two years ago four teens cut school and went to one's father's apartment. They found his gun. The boy dropped the clip out of the handgun. Goofing around he put the gun to his girlfriend's head and blew her brains out.

I agree with what all of you are about to write. The number of dumb gun handling NO's are infinite.

The fact remains clearing almost all of my guns today is far different from unloading a shotgun or revolver of my day. The only thing that came close was the tube fed semi-auto .22's.

I think the most important lesson is: When a gun fires you cannot take it back.

I know of many who know and carried a gun professionally that had a mind lapse.

Gun safety just keep thinking gun safety.


----------



## Ripon (Dec 22, 2012)

I own some ARmscor products, and they are generally very good, but $139 per 1000 is post panic pricing. Their stuff isn't worth .14 cents a round when pre panick pricing was $.04 a round.

I'm glad retailers are setting these prices up there. People will stop buying and wait. Then inventories will build up. The best part is when prices begin to return to normal the flippers will come out of the wood work in total panic and flood the market 



Prepadoodle said:


> Ammo Supply Warehouse is showing plenty of Armscor .22LR on hand for $139 per 1000. They list soft points and hollow points for that price. They list the 40 gr SP at 1135 fps with a ME of 114 ft. lbs. and the 36 gr HP at 1260 fps with a ME of 127 ft. lbs. I've never shot Armscor ammo, but it might be worth a look. www.ammosupplywarehouse.com
> 
> I watch ammo prices and availability on gunbot.net, and prices are coming down while availability is on the rise. Maybe the drought is over.


----------



## retired guard (Mar 7, 2013)

Ripon said:


> Everything that spiked in price will recover, but I suspect it will recover to a point above where it was. I use to buy 2100 rnds from Cabellas with free ammo "can" for $79.99. I usually did it with a free shipping coupon for orders over $150 and just buy a couple or something else from them. I suspect that won't happen again but maybe $99 in the near future.
> 
> It's not a concern for me. I've stocked up so much 22lr it'd scare an anti gun nut as to my "stockpile" and why not? It was so cheap. I use to go thru 2k rounds a year. I'm doing half that now.


Barring some change in manufacturing technology or some new source from overseas(More likely to be discouraged than encouraged by this administration) Price will rise incrementally year to year with occasional rapid extreme rises due to panics and falls due to normalizations that are never as extreme or rapid. Remember gasoline "Up like a rocket, down like a feather."


----------



## trainershawn (Dec 14, 2012)

Bought 1000 rounds last week at a Farm N Fleet in town of Winchester Super X for $58. It was a bit more expensive since they came in a cool little wooden crate box marked as limited edition. Didn't really care. At this point, seeing 22lr on the shelf made my day. Got a good deal on a couple hundred rounds of 40cal also. Noticed at the local Walmart and Gander Mtn last weekend that .223 is staying on the shelves now too.


----------



## cant (Aug 9, 2013)

2k rds of .22lr a YEAR? until very recently, i shot that much of it per month and had many 2k weekends at the range.


----------



## PalmettoTree (Jun 8, 2013)

Regardless I believe the demand for .22LR will remain high. Using assault platform rifles in spray and pray competitions is growing. The young guys love it. Although it is not for me I think the growth will be good for gun rights.

I guess it is the X-games version of marksmanship.


----------

