Where has all the ammo gone?

Panic buying by many people!

I think I have most of it. Been buying it for years and years and years. Mostly a 50 round box at a time.

One distributor told me that the AR crowd have been buying up the .22 versions of their favorite lead slingers, and ALL of the .22 ammo.

It is even getting hard to find certain brands of shotgun shells now. The guy in front of me at a shop recently spent over $250 on shotgun shells "just in case".

quote:

Originally posted by Billsan:
Where has all the ammo gone?

Another commodity bubble in the making...

LoLo Sporting goods in Lewiston, Idaho home of CCI ammunition msgs. me today saying they don't have .22 ammunition either. r in w.

Just got 25,000 for our 22 ammo test

I learned 20 years ago to keep a years worth a ammo and components on hand. I'm good for another year. Don't have to pay inflated prices that way.

I dropped by Sportsmans Warehouse today at noon and found about 25-35 boxes of the Remington Golden Crap 525 boxes for $22/box. I passed and the time I was there it didn't seem to be running out the door.

Like others the time to buy is before the panic and maintain a comfort level of your ammo. I was buying 3-5 boxes every time we went to Wally world in the last 3-4 years and it's paid off now. I just won't buy those Rem Goldens for any price.

I did seem some other CCI stuff in the premium .22lr lines and a lot of 22Mag stuff available. Lots of .224 bullets from Nosler and two 250 .224NBT boxes left with me, a 50g and a 40g. I could have bought three 250 count boxes of each SKU but I knew that some lads were lower in their inventory than me and left some on the shelve. Lots of some powders but not a lot of the more popular powders and Large pistol and large rifle primers in the bricks. Limit on primers was 1K

Actually it was the most in the way of components that I had seen for 1-4 months.

quote:

Originally posted by swampshooter:
I learned 20 years ago to keep a years worth a ammo and components on hand. I'm good for another year. Don't have to pay inflated prices that way.

I only learned this 10 years ago, but my theory was to buy enough to last the rest of your life........FS

I keep 6-7 thousand rounds on hand for the grandson to burn up in his Henry lever. I buy it impulsively or when I see a good price. I don't care about the brand, but I seem to get a lot of Federal. I doubt we ever drop below a couple thousand rounds.

I noticed that 3 of the above posters are from or around Idaho. What gives? I went into Sportsmans, Cabelas and Boise Gun Company this last week and it was nuts. In Sportsmans there was not one brick of anything in 22LR and the only box of CCI was the CB's. When will we ever learn and quit acting like it's the end of the world when Obama wins an election. It PO's me no end when there is this panic buying and we just let the ammo and firearm manufacturers charge us whatever the market will bear AND YOU NEVER HEAR SQUAT IN THE GUN MAGAZINES ABOUT THE REDICULOUSLY HIGH PRICES THAT BECOME THE NEW NORMAL!!! I'm pretty far right politically but it's galling to watch this deja vu!! All this in the reddest state in the union.

quote:

Posted 30 January 2013 20:15Hide Post
It is even getting hard to find certain brands of shotgun shells now. The guy in front of me at a shop recently spent over $250 on shotgun shells "just in case".

I buy shotshells just in cases as I shoot a lot of them.

What is wrong with the Remington Golden bullet? I have shot thousands and don't know of any issues.

Matthew

The Rem Gold stuff IMO, has an inordinate amount of misfires. I've also noted that a lot of rounds seem to be under loaded. Compared to a standard loading they sound more like a CB.

quote:

Originally posted by craigster:
The Rem Gold stuff IMO, has an inordinate amount of misfires. I've also noted that a lot of rounds seem to be under loaded. Compared to a standard loading they sound more like a CB.

+1
My experience with Rem promotional 22LR AKA the gold bullet is about 3 to 5% misfires box to box.
I will not buy them either. I think the Federal promotional 22LR is equally poor.

muck

Yesterday i gave my son in law 500 rounds of Federal lightning 22's. 50 Winchester shot shells and a 5 round box of slugs. Still have over a 1000 rounds of 22's left and probably over a 1000 shot shells. That should last me for a while.

When the 550 round bulk packs of Federal 22 lr were around ten bucks, I used to buy one just about every time I went to Walmart. I think I still have around 20 of them. It will be years before I need to buy 22 LR again.

quote:

Originally posted by bobg:
Yesterday i gave my son in law 500 rounds of Federal lightning 22's. 50 Winchester shot shells and a 5 round box of slugs. Still have over a 1000 rounds of 22's left and probably over a 1000 shot shells. That should last me for a while.

I remember when 1000 rounds of .22LR was a weekend of shooting. Man those were the days!

I don't buy enough to last the rest of my life because I really don't want to shoot the same thing all my life. I'm an experimenter at heart and my interests change occasionally. I might be shooting 204's alot this summer and 300 mags next summer.

I keep a good supply, but then again so do my brothers. And now my daughter is doing the same thing.

Here is something to think about.
About 40 years ago one of my many city boy cousins said "If there are any major problems in the city we are coming to your house because we will be safe. You have all the guns."
To him I replied "No you won't"....

quote:

Originally posted by swampshooter:
I don't buy enough to last the rest of my life

Are you sure???? roger

Well,
I bought a couple PU loads of 22 ammo, brass, powder, bullets , and so on about 10 years ago. I have sold 3,000 rounds of brass in the last couple months. No, not at high prices. Just what I probably won't shoot any more. 6.5X284, 225 Winchester, 264 Win Mag, 7 mag, 300SAUM, 358 Win, and so forth. I do have 5 bricks of Russian temp, 1 brick of Russian Sniper, 1 brick of Russian Junior, 1 brick of Russian Olimp, 2 bricks of Eley Tenex, I brick CCI Greentag, 1 brick of Aguila SE, 3 bricks of the old yellow box Super X, 3 bricks of the old CCI Mini Mag, 1 brick of Federal HiPower, 3 bricks of Fiocchi V315 super match. I also have several hundred rounds of 17HMR, 22mag, and 600rds of 22mag shot shells. I don't think I bought any of this in the last 10yrs. Nothing is for sale in my rimfire stuff even though I shoot very little of it.
I guess what I and others are saying is to pick up the bargains when they are out there. You may not need it today, but you will later or somebody may need it.

The following is a typical reason for the unavailabity of 22LR and ammo in general:

The election, Sandy Hook, and then the State of the Union address panicked people. I know a guy who isn't likely to shoot a brick of 22LR in the next year or two, found out that a dealer had 6 cases of Fed 711B, and he bought it all. This why there are shortages.

Why shouldn't he if he was satisfied with the price? Why didn't you buy it. Not trying to give you a hard time, but I guess he jumped on it.

In the next few years much of this ammunition (and reloading components) that has been hoarded by crazy old coots will be piled on the front lawn of the widow's house in a garage sale. I've bought booze-coos of stuff like this through the years and through the cycles (post 1968 GCA, Carter panic, Clinton panic, Obama panic). Fortunately, most of this stuff never goes bad, and only the changed color motif of the boxes tells the difference in 15 year-old stuff and brand new material.

I'm just hoping that the hoarders keep it in household closets, under the bed, or at least stacked in the garage; I'm afraid that some of the wackiest will bury it and the only ones who will benefit will be the archeologists who puzzle over a few centuries from now.

quote:

Originally posted by butchlambert:
Why shouldn't he if he was satisfied with the price? Why didn't you buy it. Not trying to give you a hard time, but I guess he jumped on it.

I am not judging him.
I am just saying that is why stuff is unavailable to even backorder. I found out after the fact. And it was standard price, $320 a case. I would have bought a case myself. I like 711B for position shooting. I am embarrassed to shoot the brick of R-50 that someone gave me; I am not a $1.00 a round position shooter! That Super X of yours has my attention if it is Std Velocity. I like old T-22 and so does my Anschutz!

Edited: I guess RWS R-50 is more in the $.33 a round price range, but that is still too much for my shooting!

You must live in a different Idaho; or were not at the Boise show last weekend.

Bricks of any type of 22lr ammunition were selling, not just asking price, but selling at $40-45 per brick.

See you in Homedale Saturday...

My yellow box Super X is marked SX22LR. I do not have a clue to its velocity.

quote:

Originally posted by Billsan:
Where has all the ammo gone?

I just want a few boxes of Wolf Match Extra for a benchrest shoot (UltraMatch or CenterX would be largely wasted on my 513T)...

Stopped the local Gander Mountain yesterday, they didn't have a single box of 22 LR or 22 WMR. In the reloading section, there were only a couple boxes of pistol bullets left. Nothing for any rifle caliber. I hope this panic buying dies down soon, but I doubt if it will

I picked up two bricks of Blazer .22lr for $16 ea a couple weeks ago at a local gun store. He didn't have much of a choice at the time as I recall. Rems were available for nearly double the cost and less quality.
I'd have picked up more if I'd have known there was a mad rush on this too. I heard a guy at work this a.m. talking about how he drove a 100 miles round trip to buy all the .22lr ammo they had at a hardware store. This from a guy who probably doesn't shoot any more at targets than he does at deer and elk.
When the panic wears off there sould be plenty around cheap. Everyone will be well stocked.

If the democrats take the house in 2014, the panic will get WAY worse. I don't think it will complete subside between now and then either.

We are getting ripped off hard here in Australia on the price off ammo. I picked up a brick of the australian made Winchester power points for $60 last weekend. There new 42 grain power point is going for $70 a brick.
We will start to feel your pain soon when our suppliers stock runs out. When Obama got in the first time and panic buying started in the USA it took 8 to 12 months for our suppliers to get stock from the US suppliers.
We even had US gun shops ringing our gunshops wanting to buy primers back.

Most ammo is hard to come by these days unless it is odd ball calibers or calibers that are not often used in the particular area. I am buying all I can when I see it available in a caliber I use.

Just today, I tried to buy 10 boxes each of 416 Remington softs and solids. I was able to obtain 4 boxes of solids. All the rest are on back order.

Sad.

I attended a gun auction two weeks ago. Two bricks of older Federal lightning 22LR sold for $95.00. Much to rich for my blood.

Take a look at prices for their 22 ammo on this site. Noticed it a couple of days ago and thought how ridiculous. Ridiculous for amount charged and that they've sold out.

http://alamoammo.com/rifle-ammo/22-long-rifle

I don't blame retailers for charging as much as the market will bear. Fools and their money are soon parted. Well, at least I hope they turn out to be fools.

There is very little standard type rimfire ammo available here locally, but what little there is not inflated. One shop has a few 525 packs of Rem for 28.95. He also has Fed but can't recall the type but it is sub $30.00 per brick; another shop had 3 bricks CCI Std Vel for $29.95 a brick. My friend received 8 single boxes of 50 rds from his distributor last week.
I am very rural and the stuff that no one can get is 22LR, 9mm, and 223.