If you have a Gander Mountain near you, .22LR will be on sale next Saturday (12/6/14) for $0.07/rd (325 ct box for $22.99, limit 2). This is available online as well as Item Number 784027. They have okay prices on 9mm, .40 and .45 right now too but not fabulous.
Golly have times changed. I remember buying Remington 22LR on sale at Target (no pun intended) back in 1986 for 5.99 a brick (ten 50 round boxes). 10 bricks would fit nicely in a 50 cal ammo can with about 1 inch square inch to spare . Still have one full can, the other 3 long gone. And to think filling a can would now cost $350 vs $60 just 28 years ago and we'd now regard that as not bad!
Agreed, but until we can fix the problems (assuming they are fixable), needs must when the Devil drives. I remember when gas was $0.99/gal (I had a Suburban that STILL took $60 to fill) and now, as much as I would love another one of those gas hogs...they are just freakin' awesome, loved that truck, there is no way on earth I would buy another one simply because of how much it would cost to keep it fed.
Yes, times have changed, but then it always does. I managed to get one of the 500 round packs at BPS on Black Friday, not that it was all that hard. I got in line, like I do every year for my blue jeans (the Red Head brand are $10.00 on BF at BPS). I wasn't planning on getting the ammo, but about a 1/2 hour before the store opened employees came down the line handing out numbers to get the ammo, I splurged and got one. $25.00/500 is more than I would normally spend, but I figured why not. I'm now seeing them go for $30+ on ebay, guess there's a sucker born every minute. No, I didn't "need" the ammo, but then again, between my squirrel hunts and the kids plinking with their rifles, I went through close to 500 rounds this summer. Last time I was at walmart the employee there said (to someone else) that people still show up on delivery days and get all the 22lr ammo as soon as the box is opened. Can't figure out why, but then again, I have a feeling suppliers have been keeping supply artificially low so that they could do promo's like BPS and sell butt loads of ammo. Why can't they just release what is sitting in the warehouse and flood the market? the people who are buying all the 22lr at walmart will be put out of business and they'll stop doing it, prices will return to somewhere near normal, but I doubt they will go back to what they were pre-panic.
Agreed "Why can't they just release what is sitting in the warehouse and flood the market? the people who are buying all the 22lr at walmart will be put out of business and they'll stop doing it, prices will return to somewhere near normal, but I doubt they will go back to what they were pre-panic." And I have the experience of getting the last load of 5000 for about $260, no tax and shipping included. I am happy to pass my luck along to family. More Later? Prices may drop, may not. BTW, seems that my older Federal 22s have aged to the point of pratice only, but then they are 40 years old. Shoot,em if you got'em. That was the last time I purchased 5000 at a time.
Supply and demand. I doubt they will ever return to pre-panic pricing....because they know they can get post panic pricing.
A gun shop owner who I know and respect, who sells strictly on a percentage basis over cost, and due to standing orders of high demand items with suppliers even before customers start to swamp him with requests, who doesn't jack the price due to increased demand, claims to have discussed in detail with suppliers and manufacturers, the cost of 22LR. He claims, he has been told that 22LR has been sold at a subsidized artificial low price for a long long time, and that the actual cost of manufacture, distribution, and resale markup price if 22LR should actually be somewhere in the 8 to 14 cents per round price range. or $40 to $76 a brick of 500. To me this seems insane, but many things we buy and need are artificially subsidized to keep the masses from marching on Washington. Stop and think of how much prices have changed in the last 10 or 20 years. Maybe, quite possibly this guy close to the industry is not just blowing smoke. We may well never see 22LR at 3.5 to 4 cents a round again.
sounds odd indeed. I know the U.S. Guberment subsidizes lots of stuff (like paying farmers not to farm), but this just doesn't pass the smell test. Will we ever see pre-panic prices? nope, the companies know what people are paying and they will want to increase their profits.
Subsidy is not the right wording. What he meant was it was sold as an artificial low price, like a grocery store price loss leader, except at a manufacturer level to get more of their products sold. but ..... in hindsight, even that sounds odd.
It will be interesting to see if the change in regime come 20 January 2017 will bring an increase in rimfire ammo supplies and a decrease in cost?
The .22 is an entry level round so they lower the price as an enticement.... much like any other product marketing scheme. They want you to get into shooting cheap with a .22.... and then at some point you lead yourself to start buying larger caliber guns/ammo. Marketing 101 from the manufactures standpoint.... get them in with artificially low prices and eventually they will buy the high margin products.
Im seeing 22 available on line but they still want 50 dollars a brick. The newest trick ive seen is the 30 dollar cleaning kit that comes with 150 rounds of 22. I am starting to think they just want to keep the margin up.
Why buy? Reload- Sharpshooter 22 LR Reloading Tool Kit | 22LR Reloader Not economical, but resilient if you have enough caps or matches. I like the tool, the crimper would solve a lot of problems I encountered when I tried to reload rimfire myself a long time ago.
I will believe that when I see it. I was in GANDER MOUNTAIN last Sunday and they didn't have a single round of rimfire in the house for any price.
Bass Pro Shops has a cyber thursday "sale" on .22lr ammo. Bucket-o-Bullets - 1400 rounds of 22 for 70.00. Free ship to store.