The new .22 rimfire plant in Lewiston, Idaho, is on line. Vista Outdoors owns the CCI and Federal rimfire brands. They’ve increased production for both brands by 20 percent. With end of the Obama administration, the .22 ammunition bubble is deflating. Most stores have ammunition available. Prices are coming down . . .
From the Lewiston Tribune, November 10th, 2017:
Parts of Vista’s approach have worked well, such as investing in infrastructure and preserving market share, Metz said.
Vista recently debuted a new, 37,000-square-foot, $35 million rimfire ammunition plant near the Lewiston-Nez Perce County Regional Airport, which has resulted in what company officials describe as a “very satisfying” reduction in the time needed to complete an order.
“It pays dividends when you come out of the trough,” Metz said. “We’re able to make some changes in our facilities that will enable us to participate really strongly as the market returns.”
Vista Outdoor has reduced ammunition prices to maintain market share as its customers work through stockpiles they amassed under the administration of Barack Obama – when they feared new regulation that never came to pass.
”We’re the market leader in rimfire,” Nolan said. “Brand preference in ammunition tends to be somewhat sticky. It took us a long time to gain our market share. … We are loathe to cede that during a period of challenging pricing because it’s going to be very difficult to get that back.”
The ammunition manufacturers, such as Vista Outdoors, do not want to lower prices. As with any manufacturer, life is easy and smooth when both prices and demand are high.
But the market does not guarantee that prices and demand will remain high. Only force, in the form of government granted monopolies, or collusion, as with the OPEC cartel, can do that. Neither of those things exist in the United States, where a mostly free market in ammunition is enforced.
The CCI and Federal brands have an enviable reputation for reliability and quality. They have customer loyalty because of that. Stephen Nolan refers to this when he speaks of brand preference being “somewhat sticky”.
Market competition works. Aguila of Mexico saw opportunity and increased their production before Vista Outdoors did. Aguila almost doubled their production to capture some of the increasing American market.
That is reflected in the availability and price structure seen today. Aguila’s brands are at the lowest price point in the market. Vista has to reduce prices to keep market share. Federal low price brands are in direct competition with Aguila.
The lowest prices are now at 3.7 – 4 cents per round.
Prices are going to continue to fall. If you look at the prices on the old Remington box, it was purchased on sale at less than 2 cents per round. I will not be surprised if we see prices at or below 2 cents per round, at sporadic sales, before the end of President Trump’s term.
For those looking for even lower prices, look for estate sales. Prices of ammunition at estate sales are going to be in the basement. Because of liability, gun stores will not buy ammunition back from private owners.
Many people who inherit ammunition are afraid of it, know nothing about guns, and want to get rid of it. I have heard of thousands of dollars of ammunition being turned in to police to be destroyed.
Many people bought thousands of rounds of ammunition in the last four years.
©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included. Link to Gun Watch
Probably nothing – I don’t really NEED anything. I’ve spent way too much this year on firearms stuff as it IS…
TTAG can report on whatever they want. We can read or not read the content our choice. But people that try to justify their reasons for supporting companies that Sabotage the 2A like SA I don’t understand. I won’t support them and quite frankly will be disappointed with anyone that does.
Once my tax return is deposited, I’m going to pay off and collect the Ruger Scout rifle I put a deposit on back in September.
If you think the NICS sucks the process I experienced would put you into a foaming frenzy. I posted my Permit To Acquire form about mid-September and waited. After waiting a month I checked the Firearms Registry web site and found the PTA request had been received in Sep-22 and approved on Sep-29. After several phone calls and emails I was told to download and complete a Statutory Declaration form the approved PTA was never received and to have the form signed and witnessed by a Justice of the Peace. After doing this the completed form was scanned and returned by email. The new apprpved PTA arrived last week.
But in the meantime I had a minor car accident which I was at fault and the cost of the insurance excess wiped out the money I had saved for the rifle. This has been a saga worthy of the Vikings.
I was pretty excited to acquire “bargain quality” .22 LR ammunition for about 4.8 cents per round recently. Sounds like I may have overpaid for that as well.
I am a little bit depressed. I managed to acquire 300 to 500 round bulk packs here and there for the past 4 years at something like 5.7 cents per round on average. Now I have a respectable supply of .22 LR and cannot justify adding to it even though prices are sinking. If we get back to the point that I can purchase 500 round bricks for $13, I will probably pick up a few bricks just to reward the manufacturers for increasing their manufacturing capacity.
Now I have to figure out how to start shooting through that respectable supply. Does .22 LR erode barrels like centerfire rifle rounds?
I am not in the market for a new gun right now. There are only three guns on my immediate list however one is very low priority, One I am still on the fence about.and the other is impossible to find. I’m looking for a double barrel shotgun; something old just to have it. Also I’m thinking of getting a 7.62 x 39 AR platform. But what I’m really looking for is a Beretta CX4 storm in .40S&W That takes standard PX4 magazines. I know Beretta still makes it but I just can’t find them anywhere. I think I have enough ammunition.
I am keeping a sharp eye out for reloading supplies to load .357 Sig. Those of us who are members of the cult of Steyr are about to be blessed with a 3rd party mfr that is going to start making drop in barrels to convert the 40 S&W line of pistols.
Looking out for compact p320 mags, a 320 IWB holster, a backpack and maybe a .300 bkackout SBR upper.
So far no deals found on the mags. A few on uppers and nothing on any of the bags I’ve been watching.
Probably just wind up getting some ammo on a free shipping deal.
I might purchase a .177 pellet rifle.
But now I am rethinking this since .22 LR seems to be more available and prices are falling.
Speaking of low prices, are there any sources of bulk .177 pellets that are around 1 cent per pellet or less?
I didn’t buy any Black Friday deals. I bought a FEG PA63 as I wanted in a few years ago and they were only $219. I also accidently bought a bunch of 6mm Creedmoorinstead of 6.5. Well I can’t let good ammo go to waste so I bought a Ruger American Predator to shoot it. I plan on an MDM chassis like my Savage Stealth. We will see how it shoots!
Hmm.
Lehigh penetrators. But I’ve been getting on the Ruger ARX bandwagon lately.
Nice knife too, nasty lil’ bugger.
🤠
TTAG needs to run an article on ‘Black Friday’ gun deals not in the flyers…
I have three guns in .22. I never shoot them as I used them more for training new shooters. I haven’t had a chance to do that in a long while so they sit. I have a good stash saved up, but east of the Rockies it’s hard to find a place to go plinking that’s not a range.
I found CCI .22 LR on sale at Fleet Farm last week for about .06 per round. That’s the first time I’ve seen CCI on the shelf in almost ten years. So I bought some. And I’ll buy more if it goes lower.
“Giffords Proves “The Second Amendment Only Applies to Muskets” Is a Lie, Too”
This woman is just a brain damaged mouthpiece for the left…Her husband is the real bad guy here, letting be used and abused…
Dumb as a bag of doorknobs and twice as useless…I take that back, doorknobs and bags are both useful and needed…….Stick to being a wet blanket on your family and friends and quit trying to ruin everyone else’s life..
When a brick of Remington ThunderBolts were 6 or 7 dollars or less.
I used to shoot between 1000 to 1500 rounds a week back in the mid 90s.
Now I haven’t shot any of my 22s in about 15 years.
Get a brick down to under $10 and I might consider taking them up again.
I still have a box of CCI Stingers marked at $2.99 and a few boxes of 40S&W Black Talons marked at 20 rounds for $11.96.
Those are from the same time frame as my $6 a brick ThunderBolts.
Had my NYS permit for over 30 years never had to re cert , till the safe act passed.
It can be done online , but what many are doing is waiting till near the deadline and mailing it , certified mail. Hoping to dump a hundred thousand or so on their desk, for them to do by hand .
Also it seems many are still unaware of that they now have to re cert. Should be interesting .
The NICS has been like the TSA. Pure security theater.
20 thousand plus reported rejections (90%+ are false positives anyway) results in less than 20 actual arrests and less than 10 actual convictions.
As we all know, the answer to horrible government oversight is to get the government MORE involved so they can botch the horrible oversight with even worse legislation.
A local cop was killed trying to arrest an armed felon. The felon’s gun came from a straw purchase by his girl friend in another state. In return for her guilty plea, a federal judge gave her probation. Not much disincentive there. The only good news was that the cop’s partner shot the felon dead.
The Attorney General could direct US attorneys to begin filing federal gun charges against prohibited persons (e.g. gang bangers) picked up by local cops. Those would be easy convictions. The feds would have to build more prisons.
A plain clothes cop from the gang unit noticed that a gang banger was armed. (I guess the banger didn’t know that “concealed means concealed”.) The banger shot at the cop, hitting his car but missing him. His mother claims it was all a mistake. Her son was receiving threats from a rival gang and only shot in self defense not realizing his target was a cop. He’ll be going away for several decades.
We are fortunate that the county attorney supports legitimate self defense. Two thugs tried to hold up a tobacco shop. They traded shots with one of the employees with fatal consequences for one of the robbers. The surviving robber has been charged with felony murder. The employee hasn’t been charged or fired. (This was a mom and pop business, not part of a chain.) An armed robbery of a convenience store was interrupted by a customer who shot the robber. The robber is in jail following his release from hospital. The customer hasn’t been charged. There are other examples.
The state won’t be happy about any of these cases. The prison system already is overcrowded by 50% and is understaffed due to low pay and poor working conditions. Instead of funding the system adequately, state politicians are looking for alternatives to incarceration. The parole board rejects applications only in response to pressure from surviving victims. Until stopped by the state supreme court, corrections officials (deliberately, I believe) miscalculated sentences to shorten them.
The guy talking about “young men openly carrying sidearms” being untrustworthy is just an old fart who clearly has bowed down to stereotypes.
I’m 28 years old. I open carry a full size handgun on my hip in a double-retention holster, and I’ve taken courses, been to seminars, and have spent countless hours honing my skill.
This “young man” could outshoot most LEOs without breaking a sweat.
And in the end, old fart, it really doesn’t matter whether or not you trust me to be responsible enough. My right to keep and bear arms doesn’t rest on the shoulders of your trust.
I’ll tell you what though, if we’re ever in a public venue together and something happens where I need to use my firearm, you will be singing a different tune.
i have the LRS (I guess it’s like the WW) until there was two there wasn’t a designation.
I absolutely love this rifle, when first announced I was on the prowl for it.
It’s serial number I believe is 47 it might have been originally intended as a trial in the US, I really don’t know. I especially like that it is a 10 round magazine and I’m I bought a couple I suspect another is impossible at this point.
fabulous. over a buck and a quarter worth of poly striker opinions.
big fat slide soaks up recoil? so do steel frames.
i hope i’m slightly more comfy when a stressful situation rears its head.
My first concealed carry gun was a Taurus 85. Always had a HKS speedloader with it. Had to relieve the left grip with a Dremel Tool to get it to work. Had been trained on speedloaders as a reserve cop in Ohio, so I never used strippers, which are deadly slow by comparison. Since then, if I’m carrying a K-frame, always 2 to 4 speedloaders with me.
Practice, practice, practice !