Rant: --- price of .22's (firearms and ammo)

[Streetstar]

Here's how my day started :

1) last night, a Wal Mart clerk tells me they stock the ammo shelves at night, so if i show up at 7 in the morning, i can score big time ! ------- I dont get up quite that early, but i was there at 830 AM and was delighted to see a smorgasbord of .22 Ammo and a few other things there. There was plenty and i didnt want to be a ball hog, so i got 3 bricks of Federal at 14.95 and 1 Winchester brick aat 9.95 which had 330 rounds. --

then i went to a local gun store and received my daily ration of 1 brick of small rifle primers for 32.50 - limit 1 per customer

Everything was good until i got home and realized the Federal bricks were also 325 rounds ! - but in a much larger, misleading package than the Winnie 330 round pack !

2) All the .22's in the world are useless without an ample supply of firearms to put them in, so i spent some time Saturday looking at a few shops for a Single Six. My fave shop had one , but in a weird 9 1/2" barrel length for $390 -- another shop had a more reasonable 5.5" one in stainless for $470. But i hit paydirt today when i finally found one at still another shop for $395, blue with 5.5" barrel and an extra Mag cylinder to use as a paperweight ------------- long story short - i am on a Brady delay, but have to source some more appealing grip panels than Rugers ugly plastic critters they are using now.
Sounds cool, but the second part of the rant is this --- when did Single Six Rugers jump up to over $325 ? Geez, i must have been asleep too long, as my brother procured a stainless one for $350 just a couple of years ago.
Oh well, ---- my last trip to the range assured me that i needed to spend more time shooting and less time procuring "stuff" and it is too spendy to shoot the centerfires as much as i like, so a .22 pistol will hopefully be a much better addition to the arsenal than another 45 or 357

[pokey]

at least you found some to buy.
i've been looking for 22mag for 5/6 days ,
only place in my area that had any was
big 5 , they wanted 17.95$ per box/50.
what!?! they were 10.00$ last week.

[Blaine]

at least you found some to buy.
i've been looking for 22mag for 5/6 days ,
only place in my area that had any was
big 5 , they wanted 17.95$ per box/50.
what!?! they were 10.00$ last week.

The different WallyWorlds up here have .22Mag...are you picky? I lucky, I still have the best part of a couple bricks of the CCI .22mag when it was still fairly cheap.......But, I think it was 10 or 11 buck for the box, not 18

[pokey]

at least you found some to buy.
i've been looking for 22mag for 5/6 days ,
only place in my area that had any was
big 5 , they wanted 17.95$ per box/50.
what!?! they were 10.00$ last week.

The different WallyWorlds up here have .22Mag...are you picky? I lucky, I still have the best part of a couple bricks of the CCI .22mag when it was still fairly cheap.......But, I think it was 10 or 11 buck for the box, not 18

can't afford to be too picky these days.

[Jacko]

My Browning BL22 cost me $50 more than I paid for my Rossi .357 mag , admittedly they are both imported .

I recently paid $54 for a 500 brick of Winchester Powerpoints and $19.90 for 50 rounds of .22 mag Super X for my old Marlin 782 bolt action which I doubt is worth much more , battered old girl . The Winchester rimfire ammo is not imported like most everything else , got me stuffed how they get off charging prices like this for ammo manufactured in my own country . Winchester Rabbit Ammo is $48 a brick of 500 .

There is imported bricks of 525 standard velocity .22 lr Federal ammo available here for around $30

regards Jacko

[Andrew]

Bud's online has the 4 5/8" for $391 delivered. Bud's Gunshop

My Federal 550rd "Value Pack" that I got at Wally World says "Made in the USA" on it and they are currently, last I checked, $13.98.

[dr walker]

A Ruger Single-Six went over $325 about the same time a Smith and Wesson 617 went over $625.

The Ruger .22 handguns whether single action revolver or autoloading pistol are one of the best bargains out there.

[Hobie]

at least you found some to buy.
i've been looking for 22mag for 5/6 days ,
only place in my area that had any was
big 5 , they wanted 17.95$ per box/50.
what!?! they were 10.00$ last week.

I have not seen $10 a box .22 Mag for a while. Cheapest around here is Winchester FMJ at $12.99 a box. Some of the premium bulleted loads are approaching $20.

[Modoc ED]

The price of ammo whether it be .22 LR, .22 MAG, centerfire, etc. is only going to increase at least over the next year or more. The economical thing to do now is to buy as much ammo as you think you'll need for say, the next year now.

[Rimfire McNutjob]

at least you found some to buy.
i've been looking for 22mag for 5/6 days ,
only place in my area that had any was
big 5 , they wanted 17.95$ per box/50.
what!?! they were 10.00$ last week.

The different WallyWorlds up here have .22Mag...are you picky? I lucky, I still have the best part of a couple bricks of the CCI .22mag when it was still fairly cheap.......But, I think it was 10 or 11 buck for the box, not 18

There's been no 22 Mag at my three local WalMarts in months. I try to stop by twice a week to keep an eye out. I will typically buy my 22 Mag online at Natchez but they have been out of the 40 grain JHP's for months as well. They have the FMJ's pretty often but are out of those at the moment as well. AmmunitionToGo.com had some 22 Mag but they have been wiped out as well recently.

The one good think about looking for and finding Winchester 22 Mag online is that when you find it, it's a good bet that Winchester delivered an allocation of primers to the same distributor in the shipment. If you see Winchester 22 Mag in-stock all of the sudden, it's time to race over to the primer section and see what they got for Winchester primers. I've scored several buys that way.

[Thunder50]

Our Wally World had plenty of 22mag, no bulk 22's, but Thunderbolt, golden bullets and minimags. Did score 3 boxes of CCI blazer brass 45 last night @ $15.97. They also have WWWB 45 100paks, about 11 of them. Got to looking at Midway, and if I ordered brass and bullets, I would have over $22 in components to just load the 45.

Haven't seen bulk packs at WM in a while, local farm and ranch store had a bunch of Federal packs for $19.99 a few weeks ago.

[azzhandler]

I got lucky last week at Wally world, and was able to buy 14 boxes of 550 federal 22 shells, the clerk just looked at me and said,......... Do you shoot very often ? lol

[awp101]

Wait until you price extra mags for anything other than a 10/22...

[Travis Morgan]

No kidding; bought my first 1911 the other day, abd mags start at about $25! WTH? I used to be able to get Sig mags for that, before the election!

[awp101]

No kidding; bought my first 1911 the other day, abd mags start at about $25! WTH? I used to be able to get Sig mags for that, before the election!

Actually I was just referring to rimfire magazines. .22 1911 mags seem to start around $50/ea, Buckmarks are $40-ish, not sure on Ruger MKII/III mags since I don't have one and all of those are 10 rds only. 27 round Black Dog Machine mags for .22 ARs are $25+, 25 rd Butler Creek Steel Lips are over $30 IIRC and the Hot Lips are over $20 last I checked. Even regular 10/22 mags are approaching $20...

Heck, the 5 round for my CZ527 in .22 Hornet was almost $40!

[ceb]

I was in three different Walmarts here in Southern Illinois yesterday, didn't see a single brick of .22s in any of them. A few single box's, but no bricks. I already have a few put back, but would have gotten more. I was looking for .380 and .45ACP, struck out there too. One store told me they had a case come in that morning of .380 but it was gone. One store had two boxes, but were saving it for some guy who had called and was driving about 60mi to pick it up. Oh well, I check another today.

[morgan in nm]

There hasn't been any 22lr ammo at my local walmarts for sale in over 3 months. I check very often. I hate to give up at 3k rounds but it is getting costly on gas. I lucked out several years ago on 22mag though. A local gun shop/hardware store went out of business and I managed to buy 10+ boxes of Winchester power points for $4 a box. The good thing is, I only have 1 22 mag so I think they will last a while. At the same time, I wound up with a case of 22 shorts for $.50 a box. I agree with the quote that somebody said about the Ruger 22 pistols and revolvers though as the best bargain out there. Especially the older ones.

You want to see expensive, try buying ammo for a remington 12cs in 22wrf.

[Tristan]

That 22WMR cylinder is hardly a paperweight. The two single-sixes I've shot were much more accurate shooting the WMR instead of the LR.

The 22WMR turns the little six into a whole different beast.

- Tristan

[Rusty]

I went to my local Wally World and found CCI .22 MAG TMJ for $9.98 a box and hollow points for the same price. Remington .22 mag was $14.95 a box and Remington .22 shorts were $2.98 a box of 50. The only thing left on the shelves was 3 boxes of .30-06 and 2 boxes of .243.

They had shotshells a plenty.

[Streetstar]

That 22WMR cylinder is hardly a paperweight. The two single-sixes I've shot were much more accurate shooting the WMR instead of the LR.

The 22WMR turns the little six into a whole different beast.

- Tristan

I know , my remark was tongue in cheek due to the cost of .22 Mag vs Long Rifle. Allegedly the rifling is at a twist to maximize the .22 Mag, not the LR, and shooting LR's i guess was an afterthought, not the other way around. Hence the greater magnum performance.

Anyway --- 3 days on my Brady delay and still counting ------ tick tock, tick tock.

Already have some Aguila and CCI sub sonic rounds to wear out my bullet trap and little spinning target with

[Travis Morgan]

No kidding; bought my first 1911 the other day, abd mags start at about $25! WTH? I used to be able to get Sig mags for that, before the election!

not sure on Ruger MKII/III mags since I don't have one and all of those are 10 rds only.

They're around $30 here, I think. I was looking at one for the boy, and got sticker shocked pretty bad.

[rjohns94]

just spent 39.50 for a brick of 40grain subsonic Aquilla

[66GTO]

just spent 39.50 for a brick of 40grain subsonic Aquilla

Geez! I ordered a few bricks a couple of months ago for about $25 a brick shipped. I find it shoots pretty good, but I notice it tends to group in "2's". Shooting five shot groups, I tend to get two distinct tight groups. If I could sort it by weight and rim thickness I wonder if I could get rid of that effect.

[awp101]

Shooting five shot groups, I tend to get two distinct tight groups. If I could sort it by weight and rim thickness I wonder if I could get rid of that effect.

It may not help but it sure wouldn't hurt anything.

[jhrosier]

The .22 Mag cylinder became a paperweight when the ammo prices went crazy.

I can load .38 Special plinker loads with a cast bullet for maybe $4.00 per hundred.
I pick up spent bullets from the face of the berm and recast the lead so the bullets cost me whatever is the cost of the electricity to run the lead pot for 1/2 hour.
A dollar and a half stick of lube will do so many bullets that I don't bother to count it.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Ruger drop the .22 Mag cylinder as so few people use it.

As for guns, there don't appear to be any inexpensive ones made anymore.
It seems like just a few years ago, every maker had an inexpensive .22 bolt gun in their product line.
Even the dozens of $50 used .22s that used to be in every gunshop are gone.
I have a half dozen Single-Sixes that I bought used and I don't recall paying more than $100 for any one of them. Now it seems that they all go for $250-$300.

I suppose that the good news is that my guns are worth many times more than I paid for them, if I ever decide to sell.

I'm still buying a couple of Federal 550 bulk packs at Wally World every couple of weeks for a bit more than $14 per. That is about twice the amount that I regularly shoot so my ammo supply is steadily increasing. I will be glad when I have a case or so in reserve. They work well in some, but not all of my guns.

The thing that worries me most is that increasing restrictions on firearms ownership, coupled with decreasing availability of ammo and guns, and rapidly escalating prices are going to greatly decrease the number of new shooters joining our ranks.

Jack

[Travis Morgan]

If everyone would quit manufacturing shortages, we'd be able to get ammo!

[awp101]

If everyone would quit manufacturing shortages, we'd be able to get ammo!

No kidding! You'd think the market would be flooded with shortages by now...

[MikeS.]

That 22WMR cylinder is hardly a paperweight. The two single-sixes I've shot were much more accurate shooting the WMR instead of the LR.

The 22WMR turns the little six into a whole different beast.

- Tristan

I know , my remark was tongue in cheek due to the cost of .22 Mag vs Long Rifle. Allegedly the rifling is at a twist to maximize the .22 Mag, not the LR, and shooting LR's i guess was an afterthought, not the other way around. Hence the greater magnum performance.

Anyway --- 3 days on my Brady delay and still counting ------ tick tock, tick tock.

Already have some Aguila and CCI sub sonic rounds to wear out my bullet trap and little spinning target with

Oklahoma doesn't have NICS instant check I guess? How long of a delay?

Just 1 of the things about WVa I like. Heck, it just got easier. My dealer put in a computerized federal firearms form. I filled in the info once. When I buy another firearm he prints out that form. I have to review the ?s and answers. He rechecks my ID. I sign and date the form.

[MikeS.]

My local WM had 20 some boxes of Federal 550 packs last week for 13.97 a box. I relived them of 10 boxes. They were out of all pistol calibers except .40S&W. I also bought a box of CCI maxi-mags for 9.97 a box of 50.

I bought a NAA mini-revolver 4/15. A true pocket gun. It rides in my front pocket all the time now. It's a .22wmr 5 shot. The dealer who I use a lot cut his price 25 bucks and threw in a box of Hornady with the funny plastic tips. They sell there for 19 a box of 50. So I'll use the CCI for pratice ammo.

Local gun store has some primers with a 2k limit per type.

[Streetstar]

[/quote]

Oklahoma doesn't have NICS instant check I guess? How long of a delay?

Just 1 of the things about WVa I like. Heck, it just got easier. My dealer put in a computerized federal firearms form. I filled in the info once. When I buy another firearm he prints out that form. I have to review the ?s and answers. He rechecks my ID. I sign and date the form.[/quote]

My delay "went yard" this time (it went the whole 5 days) But i have it now. The little Ruger is FUN. Setting up bottles, clay pigeons, shotgun shells and other paraphernalia found at "outlaw" shooting ranges makes for a seriously fun shooting gallery.

I have purchased several firearms in the past 3 or 4 months and have been delayed on 3 purchases - most recently an AR lower receiver. The fella i purchased the AR lower from said when i pick it up, he will give me the information to get a pin # so i dont have to deal with this again.

The delays are random and seemingly have no rhyme or reason, and is not specific to firearms type (Ruger single six this time, previously was a Colt Python --- in years past i was delayed on a model 94 and a 10/22) , but i was told it happens frequently to law enforcement and ex military folks who may have had security clearances at aome level. I fall into the latter category, and this may be true, as i did not volunteer that info to the gentleman who told me this

Will post a range report of the little single action when i find an appropriate set of grips for it ---- the black checkered plastic ones sure are homely on a dark blue pistol

[MikeS.]

I've been told the same thing about security clearances. I have one and my dealer says I always get bumped to the 2nd level during the call. I've only been delayed once.

Thanks for the info.

[Streetstar]

Ok--- photos of Single Six --- obviously not a posed photograph at all --- thought i'd spice up a pic of my 2 fun .22's -- The Henry and this little jewel. I swapped the ugly black grips for the faux pearl ones from my Blackhawk for a bit of contrast (the black actually looks nice on a stainless BH too) -- have a fitment issue though, but will start a separate thread for that

I haven't shot paper to get it really dialled in yet, but it has beer bottle accuracy at 25 yards if i hold my tongue just right