Has anyone noticed the prices on .22LR ammunition? Recently I had a buddy who wanted to purchase some .22s and they do seem to be difficult to find at the local Wal-Mart. I did some checking for him and discovered that you could indeed buy 50 round boxes for around $13 to $14 dollars plus shipping and handling. These are crap rounds and if you want the good ones you'll pay more like $19 to $20 for a box of 50 plus shipping and handling. Before shipping and handling, these rounds are about $.40/round. I also noticed that .223 Remington rounds are as cheap as $8 for 20 rounds which is $.40/round. It occurs to me that there appears to be a faction somewhere that wants all of us to own high powered rifles in the AR15/M16 caliber as opposed to the simple little small game .22 hunting rifle most of us grew up with.
There is a website I watch for civilian buying and selling. You can always tell which brand of .22's Walmart distribution received because the next day cases of the same bullet are for sale on that website. I don't mean bricks of 500 or so but cases. The backroom stock boys get it all before it gets to the shelf. Hoarders and scalpers are still trying to corner the market and now many business's are trying to get the extra profit as well. In the west, a chain called "Sportsman's Warehouse" still tries to keep the lid on prices. I recently bought a 550 pack of Rem Goldens for 23.95, even though that same unit was selling on the websites for $50.00. Yet, the "battle" cartridges, 9mm, .308, and .223's are dirt cheap. (Actually, cheaper than dirt because dirt around here is selling for exorbitant prices as well) As Dino suggested, are we being "herded"?
I have been using gunbot.net for ammo prices. I can usually find CCI for $0.10 - $0.15 a round. Cabelas has had some decent prices on ammo lately. You can buy gift cards to Cabelas through cardpool.com right now at a 11% discount, further dropping the price. I have a friend at walmart who says local pawn shops know the schedule of when ammo comes in and buy up what they can as soon as they can to resell.
I dug out some .22 ammo last month before going to the desert to visit my Dad in Palm Springs. Some of the ammo was old and had price tags like 99 cents and $1.19 on the boxes of 50. We had a good time with an old Remington .22 auto, a Ruger LCR and a Smith 629 in .44 mag. The Smith is easy to shoot, with quite manageable recoil after a few cylinders full. It was the first time I have fired it, and it is a wonderful handgun.
