22LR ammo

[Big Frank]

312 is such an odd number. It would be one round a day 6 days a week for a year.

[PegLeg45]

312 is such an odd number. It would be one round a day 6 days a week for a year.

 


Heck, it may just be something as simple as the max number of rounds that would fit in the ammo can.   


I just thought it was odd because I guess I'm used to rifle round counts being based on 20 per box. 

[TAB]

it could also be some multiple of the quantity that fits into a magazine, but its most likely due to size.

[billt]

This article makes sense of it. The only thing I disagree with to some extent, is the "1-1/2 years away from normal", part of it at the end. Another mass shooting like Newtown could happen at any time. If and when it does, all bets are off. This could last for several years to come.

http://randywakeman.com/OntheAmmunitionShortage.htm

"There has been a lot of chatter about the “ammunition shortage,” accompanied by claims of government conspiracies and the usual spectacular speculations. The actual situation is far more boring.

The key component in ammunition is nitrocellulose, used in everything from ping-pong balls to ink and wood coatings. Dow Chemical writes, “Nitrocellulose is an excellent cellulose derivative and is also known as cellulose nitrate . WALSRODER™ Nitrocellulose and WALSRODER™ NC-Chips are predominantly used as binders in printing inks and wood coatings, but also in a wide variety of other coatings applications. Dow offers various product forms and viscosities of nitrocellulose under the WALSRODER™ Nitrocellulose brand.” It is used to coat guitars and in nail polish. In small quantities, crude nitrocellulose (gun cotton) can be made easily at home.

However, there are very few manufacturers of industrial or munitions grade nitrocellulose. Radford is the heart of the U.S. ammunition industrial base. All the U.S. armed services are dependent on the products that come from the plant -- not just the U.S. Army, which owns the facility.

The Radford plant (depicted above) is a unique facility. It alone among the 14 existing plants of the U.S. ammunition-producing industrial base has an acid-concentrator facility that produces the nitric and sulphuric acids that, when combined with cellulose in a one-of-a-kind facility at Radford, make nitrocellulose, the essential ingredient for all propellants and explosives used throughout the U.S. Army's ammunition industrial base.

Chemical plants are extremely expensive to build and generally work at a fixed output. As best as I can discern, most are at full production levels and in times past, that has resulted in an ample supply with generally a surplus of product in warehouses. Over the years, when there has been a spike in demand, it has just shrunk preexisting inventory levels with no noticeable impact to the consumer.

The Obama administration changed all that, creating unprecedented demand for firearms lasting for an unprecedented length. A one or two spike in consumption perhaps would have been unnoticed, but it started in 2008 and now, six years later, is finally subsiding. It isn't helped by the American consumer who normally buys a few boxes of ammo. As soon as we can't get it, we want pallets of it. Whether Hostess Twinkies or shotshells, if we can't get it, then we really want it, and lots of it.

Ammo manufacturers have production capacities as well and can hardly build new plants and make huge expenditures in capital equipment only to be forced to mothball them a couple of years later. So, the juggle production schedules and try to please the most people they can. I means that while .30-06 or .308 isn't a problem, if you want factory ammo for the “323 Super-Snorter,” you're out of luck. Rimfire is a large number, but low profit segment. You can always get .22 rimfire, but just not what many people want: the milk-jug bulk plinking ammo and so forth.

It is a combination of Obama-created drama, fixed output of nitrocellulose, and the hoarding and overbuying proclivities of the consumer that have all combined both to create the shortage, and to elongate it. The best available version of the truth is that most of the high drama is over, while traditional availability is about 1-1/2 years away."

[Rastus]

I'm betting that the 22 ammo supply loosens up by around August.  Not full supply mind you, but some ammo on the shelf.  So...I've sold off some bulk at around $60 for 500 (12 cents a round) with the thought that I'll be able to buy back in at 7-8 cents a round or $35 to $40 in August. 

What I sold off was Remington gold bulk which I've found to be real junk if it has any age to it.  I can't go 10-12 rounds without a misfire and I've had to knock a bullet out of one of my pistol barrels.  Not so with the plated Federal bulk or even Winchester bulk...though I do like the Federal better for consistent "it goes bang" performance.  For an extra 1 or 2 cents a round the CCI mini-mags do the "it goes bang" better...at least that's my opinion...but the gun selects what it likes to eat so I have several kinds of ammo to match their appetites.

If there is not another gun grab exercise (doubtful this year before elections) or a media murder expose' then I think the "new normal" on 22LR bulk will be 5 to 6 cents a round when supply starts to reach historical levels of inventory. 

I'm going to try Armscor and Fiochi bulk when it's around some day.  And when the "new normal" ....whatever that is...is reached you won't catch me with less than 30-40 thousand rounds.  I went into this drought with 25,000+ and cut shooting due to the scare and I'm at 15k before my minor selloff of 5 year old junk ammo.  I never dreamed that nearly 1-1/2 years after an "event" that there would be no 22 ammo.

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[billt]

As far as .22 long term storage, I'm wondering how the better grade of Wolf ammo would hold up, (Wolf Gold Match)? Russians always seem to take long term storage into consideration when they produce ammunition. Although I've got American .22 ammo that is 40 years old and still shoots fine.

[mortdooley]

The  .22lr in my area is still mostly unavailable, one of the Academy employees said the same buyers show up to buy as much as they can as soon as the truck is unloaded.

I have ammo older than I am including some sold by Sears in Sears boxes which I have shot without any problems. Keeping your ammo in a cool, dry place really makes it last.

[Rastus]

As far as .22 long term storage, I'm wondering how the better grade of Wolf ammo would hold up, (Wolf Gold Match)? Russians always seem to take long term storage into consideration when they produce ammunition. Although I've got American .22 ammo that is 40 years old and still shoots fine.

That is still a great, albeit unanswered, question. 

Does anyone have an idea on long term rimfire storage.  I'm like Bill with nothing else to base it on...I'm going to have to acquire some Wolf...

[billt]

If I could find some .22 rimfire that has been stored in an airtight zinc, solder sealed can, I would be tempted to buy some.

[Timothy]

I found a fifty round box of Thunderbolt in my shed a few years back.  It had to have been from the seventies and kept in the original box in a dank, damp place.

I shot all fifty rounds without a problem.