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I was able to score three bricks of 555 22LR Winchester HP copper plated bullets just today. I was in the Nogales, AZ Walmart shopping with the wife and just happened by the ammo display. It seemed that the employees had just unboxed today's shipment. I was shocked to see about 10 bricks of Winchester and another 6 or so bricks of 325 round Federal on the shelves. It has been a long, long, long time since I have seen such. The older employee asked me how many I wanted, I started to say I'll take it all, but instead said I'd take three Winchester boxes. They were $27.88 each. The Federal was $18.97 each.

So, it was a very successful trip. The wife got what she wanted and I got something I thought I'd never see again.

Joe

A few months ago the Cabela's in Buda had a modest amount of .22 LR in stock.

Today - zip. Zero. Nada.

Talked to a clerk, he told me they had NONE in, and he didn't know when they'd be getting more. When I asked him - politely, I thought - what the problem was with the supply, he rather gruffly answered that "He didn't know anything about that" and walked away.

So it would seem that there is STILL something strange going on with the .22 LR supply - something that isn't actually explained by saying "high demand."

(They had PLENTY of .223, .308, 9mm, etc. available.)

People are hording still , like JRG said ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I started to say I'll take it all . Nothing wrong with it but it's going to be a bit undependable to be on the shelf for a while yet .

.050 cents a round in todays crazy retail market is a pretty good deal.

Yea but at least the prices and availability are improving . Reloading powder was virtually non existent just last summer but it's coming back now so hopefully things will be more normal soon . Prices have gone down on ammo but will never be as low as before the shortage .

chuck j wrote:Yea but at least the prices and availability are improving . Reloading powder was virtually non existent just last summer but it's coming back now so hopefully things will be more normal soon . Prices have gone down on ammo but will never be as low as before the shortage .

You may be right on pre shortage prices. I hope not. Dealer prices are still bearable on some calibers if its in stock. Some not so much.
22LR was a bit high at .0428 cents a shot delivered with last weeks Remington 1400 round bucket shipment.

LOL . I agree with you , I hope I'm wrong on ammo prices in the future . One of those things I would be happy to be wrong about !

Hey, rbwhatever1, I see you have that graphic stored on your photobucket account. Where is the data originally from? I'd enjoy tracking it as it changes over time.

Very interesting!

It seems the WalMart in Jacksonville never had any .22LR for $15-20/brick while the local hardware had that same ammo for $75-100/brick. How did that happen?

chuck j wrote:People are hording still , like JRG said ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I started to say I'll take it all . Nothing wrong with it but it's going to be a bit undependable to be on the shelf for a while yet .

The situation has gone on so long that "hoarders" must be sitting on MOUNTAINS of .22 by now . . . and of course, one has to wonder HOW people can build their hordes, when retailers simply aren't getting product.

Either we're being lied to about production numbers, or someone (a LOT of "someones") are able to intercept a good part of the supply before it ever reaches retailers.

I've seen runs on various products in the past, but SUSTAINED shortages of a specific item have never lasted this long - and folks older than I haven't seen sustained shortages like this since WWII.

Something fishy is going on, and given the length of time this has gone on, the old standby "supply and demand" explanation is looking more flimsy every day.

Jumping Frog wrote:Hey, rbwhatever1, I see you have that graphic stored on your photobucket account. Where is the data originally from? I'd enjoy tracking it as it changes over time.

Original data end point was mid 2013 when it was posted. I've been looking for up to date pricing over a longer period for a while and haven't found it. I'm looking in the Federal Reserve Beige Book now since those bankers know every penny we spend I assume they have it in there buried so they can sound the alarm when we spend too much on ammo.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... ring#gid=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Happy data crunching your favorite calibers...

JRG wrote:I was able to score three bricks of 555 22LR Winchester HP copper plated bullets just today. I was in the Nogales, AZ Walmart shopping with the wife and just happened by the ammo display. It seemed that the employees had just unboxed today's shipment. I was shocked to see about 10 bricks of Winchester and another 6 or so bricks of 325 round Federal on the shelves. It has been a long, long, long time since I have seen such. The older employee asked me how many I wanted, I started to say I'll take it all, but instead said I'd take three Winchester boxes. They were $27.88 each. The Federal was $18.97 each.

So, it was a very successful trip. The wife got what she wanted and I got something I thought I'd never see again.

Joe

All the Walmarts around where I live and travel have a three box limit on 22 when they have it in stock, which is rarely. Generally, as soon as it comes in employees have notified friends and relatives and shortly thereafter the shelves are clean. My local Academy always has 22...usually several different brands (almost always Federal Match and Aquila, often CCI, sometimes some variety of Remington, in 50 or 100 round boxes), but they normally have a two box limit (about a month ago they went for a few days with a five box limit).

What is rarer than 22 LR is .38 snake shot. Haven't seen any of that in over two years.

Oldgringo wrote:Very interesting!

It seems the WalMart in Jacksonville never had any .22LR for $15-20/brick while the local hardware had that same ammo for $75-100/brick. How did that happen?

The owner of our local hardware store told me he has lots on backorder, but can't get any, period. Seems distributors may be playing favorites.

VMI77 wrote:

Oldgringo wrote:Very interesting!

It seems the WalMart in Jacksonville never had any .22LR for $15-20/brick while the local hardware had that same ammo for $75-100/brick. How did that happen?

The owner of our local hardware store told me he has lots on backorder, but can't get any, period. Seems distributors may be playing favorites.

I rather think it's employee chicanery rather than distributor favoritism......

My local Academy had 525 round bricks of Remington Golden Bullet this morning. First time I've been able to buy anything larger than a 100 round box in months. Limit one per customer. The guy stocking the shelves said they'd probably be sold out of bricks by noon.