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Good news for gunnies from The Great Southern Gun & Knife Show! al.com, scribe Joe Songer reports that “the price of some ammo, namely .223/5.56 and .308, were back to pre-2012 prices. Also, I saw more vendors with quantities of .22lr, a caliber that has been scarce for over 2 years. At the BPW table I found a 1400 round bucket for . . .

$119.99. That’s just over 8 cents per round. There were also limited quantities of CCI 100 round boxes for $12.95. That’s 7 bucks less than the last show.

At the BPW table I found a 1400 round bucket for $119.99. That’s just over 8 cents per round. There were also limited quantities of CCI 100 round boxes for $12.95. That’s 7 bucks less than the last show.

There were several vendors that had not one but several varieties and velocities in stock. Bulk packs of 325 rounds to 500 rounds were more common. I found a 325 round box of Federal Match .22lr for $30. That’s less than 10 cents per round.

That’s still a whole lot more money than it yoostabee before a junior Senator from Illinois took-up residence in the White House and a nutcase from Newtown shocked a nation. But at least the ammo supply seems strong – at least in Alabama. What’s it like where you are? Got ammo?

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84 COMMENTS

  1. .22lr is still Hens teeth in my Area (north MN).

    My local shop sells CCI green stuff for $12 per hundred.
    I peeked in the back and they had 50,000 rounds of CCI standard velocity.

  2. They are still hiding the .22 LR at the local Academy here–and I haven’t seen any .22 mag in a while (wonder what’s up with that?) But I did see an odd thing at Christmastime: they were selling boxed sets of three containers of Rem Oil, a spray can, a plastic bottle, and a metal “bottle”, but the set included a box of 150 Thunderbolts as a “bonus”. At $35 for the set, I’m not sure how big a “bonus” that was, but still…

  3. Still a joke, I hate hearing vendors whine they have to pay more. My LGS has sold me two buckets of remington for 60 a piece.

  4. Locally a lot of guys are selling .22lr & magnum pistols & rifles because they can’t feed them. 9mm & .45acp are still crazy priced.

  5. Everything is back to normal here except 22lr. I can get it, but at 10 cents a round I’d rather just spend a little more and shoot 9mm. The one bright spot is that 5.7×28 which I could not find at ALL in 2012 I can find just about everywhere now, sometimes as low as 40 cents a round (though usually closer to 50 or 60)

    • FN 5.7×28 will be more expensive, but I’ve seen AE for $0.36 a round. Last 5.56 (new manuf) I bought I paid $290/1,000 a few weeks ago. I’ve seen .223 even cheaper.

  6. Seeing cases of 5.56 for 300 bucks.
    A local ad had a case of 25 H&K 91 magazines loaded with winchester ball for 200 per case. Not bad.
    Still seeing .22lr on a regular basis, but the price has bumped just a little. 40 bucks for a brick of CCI subsonic.
    Prices and availability for non standard stuff never really changed.
    Powder, primers and projo’s are back to pre panic levels. Lovin that!

  7. I picked up a brick of .22LR from my LGS for $35 a month or so ago – they had several on the shelf, as well as stacks of 9mm for $15/box of 50.

    The local Field & Stream always has pallets of 9mm, 45ACP, .223, etc on the floor. Usually with discounts or sales going on. .22LR can be hit or miss here, but they’ve also got more people coming in the door.

  8. Living in CA, the biggest threat is anti-gunners wanting to deliberately bottleneck the anmo supply. They’ve tried to ban Internet ammo sales, require ammo permits, some successful bans on hollowpoints, and have a ban on lead ammo. LA will not allow ammo shipments to taxpayers.

    Still, wiki ammo, ammo seek, and gunbot.com are great sources. It’s also much better to live in Republican (lower taxes, less homeless rights, more gun freedom) Orange County than LA.

    • At least for the time being you can still buy ammo online, here in NY you can’t unless you get it shipped to your local FFL, which had me considering getting an FFL of my own.

      Enjoy it while you can!

  9. 38 Special is still rather hard to find as is 380 and 9mm Makarov. I have been wanting to shoot my recently purchased S&W K38, but the only ammo that can be found is the more expensive defense rounds.

    • Yeah, I haven’t seen Makarov in a while either. The Academy here used to carry it at @$9.00 a box, but it has disappeared from the shelves. Fortunately I’m well-stocked on that anyway.

      • All the Makarov ammo I currently have is Russian made. Aren’t we punishing the Russians by not allowing them to sell guns or ammo here?

      • If you live in an area of ca where you can buy ammo online, do it! $21 for target .38 is absurd, online you can get it for around $16 shipped.

  10. Where I live you can get anything you want except for .22 but for $2-6 more than it was in 2012. If you want to find .22, well you have a better chance of getting your ccw permit (I live in ca).

  11. The ammo shortage got me first into reloading and subsequently bullet casting. I built a bullet trap and keep all of my own rounds to re-smelt. I can make 9mm, .45acp, and 300 blkout for less than you can buy .22lr. YouTube is your friend for knowledge. Nowe go forth and roll mass quantities on the cheap and shoot like your Dan bilzerian….

  12. Yooo hoo 22 mag where are you? I’ve cut my list of calipers down some so I keep keep more of less….I just don’t want to lose my favorite rifle. I haven’t seen 22 mag in 2 yrs.

  13. Everything here in northern WV has been easy to get, except 22Lr. Come across it occasionally, usually about $30-$40 a brick.

  14. In central Ohio 22lr is not abundant, but can be found if you look hard enough and is only slightly expensive. Everything else is back to normal. 9mm can be had anywhere at normal prices, even Wal-Mart.

  15. I’ve been stocking up on anything I need that is Russian – 7.62 x 39 and 7.62 x 54R.

    Between sanctions and the renewal of the war in Ukraine this spring, it seems high risk that the cheap supplies of above will disappear.

  16. When I can buy CCI Mini-Mags at will; when it sits on the shelves without disappearing in a New York nanosecond, things will be back to normal. Only then will I be happy.

  17. Most calibers are available in MA at decent prices — but .22LR supply is very spotty, expensive and bricks are rationed one to a customer.

  18. You have to be willing to buy over the Internet and use ammo search engines like gunbot.net. Today gunbot.net showed some name brand 22LR as low as $.09 a round…personally I do not think you are going to see $.02 to $.05 a round 22LR ever again. 22WMR is available but really expensive….like $.28 to $.50 a round…

    • Sorry to be “that” guy, but the scarcity of .22LR and high prices are purely due to consumers. If they’re willing to pay and pile up tons of ammo, sellers will always try to make more profit of it.

      Here in Europe, there’s absolutely no problem to find any calibers, including .22LR… because nobody’s hoarding and stocking 100,000+ rounds (some countries have some gun laws against that anyway). I currently can find almost any brand of .22LR in less than 30 min drive from my home (and I’m living in a rural area). Last time at the store, I saw some Remington .22 Target for 215 Euros the box of 5,000 rounds… which is around 4.3 euros cents ($0.05) a pop, which include the 20% VAT. Most of known brands (CCI, Federal, Winchester, Lapua, etc…) I saw were around 30 bucks the box of 500.

      Of course, I feel sad and bad for all my americans friends that can’t find any ammo in their area. And back in 2012, it was even hard to find anything here in Europe, because manufacturers were just feeding the US market during the whole “ammo crisis”. But again, this is only happening because people are freaking out and hoarding any “last box” they can find at Walmart when they already have over 100,000 rounds at home.

      Stop living in the fear of shortage when you have some minimal stock (few thousands or your annual use), and stop buying at unreasonable price… and prices will go down again. Once again, if people are willing to pay more, why any manufacturer or seller would get prices down? They won’t. This is Capitalism 101.

      • The only reason people can’t find .22 LR is because they refuse to buy online. The stuff has been going on sale all summer long and into the winter now. You can buy as much as you want.

        • Sometimes it’s right to refuse to buy online. Often, some local gun store were (are?) selling over the internet to jack up the price and not have a bad reputation with their local customers. It’s easier to say you still don’t get any .22LR than showing them you double, triple, quadruple the price (if not more).

          So buying online to pay 30, 40 or even 50 bucks for a tiny box of 50 rounds… no way! It will only support them.
          But buying online to pay a reasonable price (under 5 bucks for a box of 50 rounds)… yeah, sure!

        • If you like .9 or 10 cents a round, it has been available at that kind of price online for months now in the U.S.. I thought you were saying anything more than .05 cents Euro (aka about $.06 U.S.) a round was too expensive. Certainly a lot of vendors were selling it at much, much higher prices throughout the “shortage”, but at the same time others had it for .10 to .12 cents U.S. a round. Lots of Americans refuse to pay that, which I understand, but, again, I don’t think it’s ever going to go back down to .03 to .05 cents U.S. as five or six years ago, so people are going to have to get used to it and get over it.

      • Glad to hear it’s good in Europe. My comment was mostly aimed at those still claiming they could not find any 22LR in their area. I have not had to buy any 22LR at the higher prices, but I may in the future. The demand has gone up dramatically in the past few years thanks to the U.S. gun sales boom created by Mr. Obama, which is why I do not believe the prices will go back down to the $.05 a round level, but I would surely love to be wrong about that. As the ammo crunch developed local Retailers had neither ammo or reloading supplies. That drove me to the Internet to find pistol powder because I reload pistol and rifle cartridges, so I got to checking prices and availability of loaded ammunition as a matter of curiosity.

        • I do expect things to go back and prices go down to $.05 to $.03…

          When people will be done freaking out, AND will be done getting prepared with “enough” ammo stored, things will start to slow down and therefor prices should go down (unless the SHTF).

          Someone, this is not a bad things… It gave a boost to the US economy, making people even more prepared by having the tools and mean to defend the country and the constitution…

          I’m not really for hoarding for the sake of it, but being a little bit more aware and prepare… that’s not a bad thing. Not necessarily for SHTF kind of situations, but just to not be too much influenced by the news. Regardless what happen, you can still have some food, water, ammo and survival stuff you need to not rely on someone else help. I think about tsunamis, very rude winters, storms, hurricanes, etc… It’s like having an insurance or fire extinguisher… this is just something you’re glad to have and hopefully never have to use it.

          My 2¢

        • Phil, I sure hope those prices go down, as you say. I agree with your two cents about not hoarding, but being prepared for unexpected disasters. I think a lot of Americans freaked-out because you used to be able to go into any one of several stores and buy whatever you needed or wanted in ammo, especially 22LR…then almost suddenly…nothing. But things are calming down, so hopefully we will get back to normal. I enjoyed this conversation. Best Regards, DerryM!

    • Picked up 3 boxes of 325/ea. Federal Match grade .22 from Midway Friday evening for $16.79 a box. That’s a nickel a round plus Midways really high freight but even so it’s still a decent deal. It was gone minutes after I had checked out.

    • Might be a local Law that’s blocking you. No mail order ammo can be shipped to Los Angeles, Sacramento, Oakland, San Francisco currently due to local ordinances, which, I think, are being challenged in Court, but still in effect as far as Ammo Sales Vendors are concerned. Got a friend in a neighboring town? Ship it to him/her.

    • Bob have that ammo you buy sent to a ups store or a mail box etc location that doesn’t have ammo restrictions.

  19. I haven’t bought ammo locally (brick & mortar) for quite some time, with rare exception (at Walmart when they have something, which is almost never).

    I buy it all online.

    Over the last few weeks, I’ve purchased 1,625 rounds of .22LR for 5 cents / round, which with shipping came out to 6 cents / round. This is for Federal Automatch Target (boxes of 325 rounds). All from Midway USA. You have to keep an eye out for it being in stock. They’ll limit you to 2 or 3 boxes / day depending on availability.

    Centerfire ammo is back to pre-panic levels and even lower. I predicted this reversal of supply-demand a while back and got roundly ridiculed for it on the various gun forums. I believe prices will PLUMMET…. even from current prices. Looking forward to it!

    • Also got 1,000 rounds of CCI Standard Velocity for 9.4 cents / round shipped a couple of weeks ago. Not great, but not bad for good CCI stuff.

  20. .22lr?…

    Years and years and years ago… When the Summer sun wasn’t quite so harsh… When the rains fell more softly… When the bitter bite of Winter wasn’t quite as sharp… When women weren’t nearly as cruel and vindictive…

    Who in the hell am I kidding?

    NO 22lr TO BE HAD IN THIS LITTLE SH!T CITY SINCE I CAN REMEMBER!!!

    But I’m not bitter…

  21. I’ve been waiting on a (pre-paid) order for 22LR from one vendor since 5/4/2013.

    I check in with them every few months, just for fun.

    • waiting on a pre-paid order since May last year?
      You buying your ammo from the Official Nigerian Lottery sales folks?

        • Let me guess….Sportsman’s Guide right?

          You’ll get your order filled when the average selling price of the market is 20% lower than your preorder price.

  22. Supplies for mass-market calibers are good in Canada, including .22lr. You just have to pay a bit more, but I’m used to that. Some less popular calibers are plentiful- like .303 British, which you can find at Walmart and Canadian Tire (break out those Enfields), and 7.62x54R is still pretty cheap, along with Chinese ammo. Reloading components, especially powders, are tough to find.

    What’s hard to find are boutique or specialty rounds. Getting non toxic shotgun shells other than steel is tricky, so good luck heading out with your classic double.

    • The best price I’ve been able to find for feeding my relic Enfield comes at $1.67(US)/rd. In bulk, 240 rounds at once, I can get it at $1.54/rd.

      For me, those are budget-busting prices.

  23. Got Ammo? Outside of the .40 I seem to run through on a regular basis and a couple of oddball rifle rounds that I don’t shoot much, well those and 16 gauge that’s not bird shot, I’m well stocked.

    But will I be buying more? Yep. I’m trying to get up to at least 5000 rounds of everything I shoot.

  24. I recently picked up three buckets of 22LR at 1400 rounds per bucket for $69.99 ea. in WA. That’s .05/round. Decent brass 223/556 is often in the .35/round range, less when we use the $20 off Dick’s coupons.

  25. In the gun paradise that is Hawaii, ogc had Remington 22lr for < 5 cents … came in on Thursday only lasted till Friday afternoon … j hara had federal auto match 22lr for < 5 cents for after Christmas sale … big island store sold out in a few hours … still available on Sunday @ Oahu store … no limit at either store

    • Well, actually the Big Island Hara’s sold out of the Federal Match .22 really before they opened, because 20 guys were in line at 5:40 AM for the 6 AM Friday opening, and it was all gone by the time they got through the doors (an employee informed me). I showed up at a lazy 6:50 AM only because last sale I showed up at 7 AM and they had 8 cases left. I guess that one cent per round cheaper price this time really inspired people! It sucks to be me! It was truly disappointing to have heard later on Saturday that the Oahu store still had many cases left, and apparently they never sold out at all for the entire 3 day sale. Please distribute among the stores more equitably next time! Like they care.

  26. Here in the Tucson area, I can get pretty much all the centerfire ammo I want, at semi-reasonable prices. Rimfire is still being scalped at the gun shows for $50-60 a brick. Walmart has a sign constantly on display, “No .22 LR available.”

  27. My local Walmart stil carries ZQ1 7.62×51 for 9.94/ box. They also started carrying supersonic 300BLK for 16.44/box. A lot of Tula is available and then nothing else. A few other guns stores have ammo for slightly higher than walmart. There is a lot of ammo out there for much cheaper prices than 2013.

  28. .22LR has been pretty consistently available for 8 or 9 cents a round from a number of on line vendors. Not CCI mini-mags of course, but halfway decent stuff. I see .22 occasionally at Academy in the OKC area if you catch them right after delivery.

    Most other pistol and long gun ammo is available in our area.

    For reloaders there are lots of primers available at reasonable prices, enough components (bullets and brass) to put ammunition together if you’re not fussy about brands or bullet weight, and even a little rifle powder sometimes. Still no pistol powder other than some of the Spanish Rio shotgun powder we see every so often.

  29. I went to the range today to shoot my .22 bolt for the first time since April. It was almost painful sending that CCI Standard downrange. On the way out, I saw they had Fed AutoMatch for $30 for 325 and Fed Champion Blue for $40 for 525. I miss the days (2 years ago) of Fed Champion selling for $18. My semi-auto .22s love that round. Not so much with the AutoMatch.

  30. And now that prices are starting to go back down, two things to consider:

    1. Lay in an appropriate supply. You know, a priori, that another ammo crunch will come. Just as soon as there is another Democrat in the White House, you can bet that there will be more talk of gun control. Gun control is the fastest and easiest way for a DNC politician to get the press on their side and start receiving favorable op-eds and other such bootlicking from the mass media.

    2. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Learn to reload, people.

    • This makes a lot of sense.

      I do have all the equipment to reload; I just have to start all over for some reason. My old Accurate #7 loads are apparently ALL over the current maximums (the manufacturer seems to have reduced them sometime in the last ten years for some reason), and I want to move away from that powder anyway because it’s quite dirty. So finding new powders for which data exists for 9mm, 10mm and Makarov is turning out to be a bit of an exercise–leastwise, I can’t find one readily available.

      I think we have about a year and a half to prepare for the “next democrat”, of course it could be a Republican if by some miracle they don’t nominate a dufus. On The Other Hand, there could be another Sandy Hook style disaster and that will cause a panic no matter what.

  31. In the Ft. worth Area I can find all the common handgun and rifle calibers at most all of the stores now, but not necessarily my favorite flavor. .22 is becoming available. I was at a gun show today and it was plentiful, but still @ 10 cent’s or so a round. I have been able to get 2 boxes of Remington Yellow Jacket at a time for $2.29 a box from Academy if I go during the day about 50% of the time I go. I got lucky and got a brick of Winchester for $22.99 a couple of weeks ago. I got some CCI for $3 something a few weeks back too.

    It’s getting better, but still not where it should be.

  32. H110? Anyone? Pappa’s .458SOCOM needs food. I’m looking for anything I can get. 1lb to 8lbs or anything in between. I’ve had bots looking and I’m checking local stores, but havent found any for about a month.

    • All shotgun/ pistol powders are damned near impossible to find. Thank God you can get 500-1500 rounds out of a pound. Ball rifle powders are almost as scarce. .38 and .357 brass? Fuggitaboutit.

  33. 22LR CCI standard has been available in 500 round bricks from Palmetto State armory for 8 to 9C a round for months. I’ve bought 7 bricks since October.

  34. This hardly seems like rocket science. With Republicans picking up control of both houses and Obama’s popularity waning, people are less concerned now that legislation will pass that will prevent them from purchasing guns and ammunition. And, since manufacturers of both ramped up production to meet the huge demand of the previous couple of years, the supply of both is in excess of current demand. I don’t think the ammunition dealer interviewed in the video was at all correct. I don’t think it’s that people are desensitized to the issue of firearm availability. I think they (rightfully) believe that, for the moment at least, the crises is less severe.

    For my part, I’m still very much concerned about impending legislation that will infringe on my Second Amendment rights, but that’s because I live in California and we have a huge number of left wing knuckleheads holding public office here. I’m less concerned right now about national level gun control legislation. I still enthusiastically support the NRA, the Second Amendment Foundation and the California Rifle and Pistol Association. The fight will never be over. But I do buy less ammunition now. I own 10,000+ rounds each of 9mm, .40 cal, .223 and .308 and a very ample amount of other calibers I have guns chambered in, like 44mag, 45 Long Colt and .338 Lapua magnum. It cost me a ton of money to get there over the past two years, but at this point, I’m OK with the level of my ammunition stockpile. Now I’m buying to replace what I use at the range – which (sadly) is not several thousand rounds a month.

  35. Just ordered 250 rounds of 9mm for 79.00 + 5 sales tax $84.00 free shipping from Grander Mountain rounded up .34 per round.

    Don’t think shortage of .22lr has to do with any thing other than consumer demand. .22lr pistols have become very popular in last couple of years due to new shooters entering the market.

  36. .22 LR? Several bricks of it, not mine but the club I am a member of. Then again it is Eley and Standard Plus both of which aren’t made in the US.

    CCI is still available but it doubled in price or something. Norway wasn’t hit hard by the American ammo drought.

  37. My experience in CT has been that everything is back to normal for the most part except reliable supplies of 22lr and many reloading powders.

  38. At this point I can get basically any ammunition I want with the exception of .22 mag.

    It is a blessing and a curse that I work directly across the street from my LGS

  39. I have some 22 ammo still saved but this shortage / price gouging inspired me to make the plunge to PCP air guns. I picked up a fairly expensive ( about the same price as a good rim fire rifle) Air Force Condor 22 SS in 22 caliber. I can get Wal Mart Crosman 22 pellets for under $7 for 500 on sale for now though I have noticed the prices of pellets starting to go up as more people are discovering this. With an fairly inexpensive Center Point scope I can shoot bottle caps at 50 yards and it is powerful enough to go through both sides of a soup can at 30 yards. Will it replace the ballistics of a 22 long rifle round? Not at all. It is certainly as accurate up to 100 yards and the goal I have is punching holes in paper and shooting targets of opportunity like ping pong balls or pieces of clay pigeon. I have seen new videos where people hunt turkey and small game with it. Also, I can dial down the power and shoot indoors or my back yard in a rural area, something I could not do with my 22 rim fire unless I used specialty ammo. In the mean time, I save what 22 ammo I have for other occasions. It may not be for everyone, but satisfies my plinking urge nicely. I have other air guns that have been getting more use also in 177 caliber. Just a thought and suggestion. Take care all and hopefully this “shortage”will let up soon.

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