22LR Ammo Prices

Pinecone · Aug 16, 2014

CCI MiniMags were 2 cents per round in the 70s.

Show me some other product that has stayed the same price for 40 years.

Gas was 40 cents per gallon, now almost $4. So based on that, .22 should be 20 cents per round.

I bought a new Toyota Corolla for $3600 in 1976. Now, $17000. Based on that, 10 cents per round is about right.

Loaf of bread about 40 cents, now $2 = .22 at 10 cents per round.

Mark75H · Aug 16, 2014

self selection/market pricing

Pinecone said:
CCI MiniMags were 2 cents per round in the 70s.

Show me some other product that has stayed the same price for 40 years.

Gas was 40 cents per gallon, now almost $4. So based on that, .22 should be 20 cents per round.

I bought a new Toyota Corolla for $3600 in 1976. Now, $17000. Based on that, 10 cents per round is about right.

Loaf of bread about 40 cents, now $2 = .22 at 10 cents per round.

I am afraid you are correct ... but in the long run, that just means more ammo for those willing to pay 10¢ - 15¢ per round ... sort of a Darwin/evolution process. Those not getting pay raises or willing to sacrifice something else from their budgets are self-selecting themselves out of the market.

BlackBart · Aug 16, 2014

lee2 said:
i try to buy stuff at yard sales and sell it for a profit in the trader, but it dosn't sell. WTF>>>>?

Take it to an auction if you wind up getting stuck with it, sometimes you win sometimes you lose.

BossmanPJ · Aug 16, 2014

I understand the sellers market thing. It happens. It's just that .22 is Somthing I could never see myself paying that much for. I guess that's just the way it is now.

Pinecone · Aug 17, 2014

Also, the median income in the US in 1977 was about $14,000 per year. It is now $50,000.

So a 3.5x increase in income, to offset the "high" price of .22 ammo.

I personally think that .22 will finally settle out to the 5 - 7 cents per round range. And that people will, in general, keep more in their stash than before.

MasterTech1960 · Aug 21, 2014

6 cents around.

A few weeks ago I got 22lr. At Dicks for 6 cents a round. They had plenty and you could get 200 rounds at a time. Ended up with 400 rounds. I was going back but ran out of time. :envy:

timbig1 · Aug 21, 2014

Dicks had the federal 525 pack 22lr for $25 on Monday

Mark75H · Aug 21, 2014

Is Dicks still doing the 'ammo log' thing?

Pinecone · Aug 21, 2014

Merlin593 · Sep 14, 2014

Try Gunbot.net if not familiar with the website to help find ammo at decent prices

Cheesehead · Sep 14, 2014

Pinecone said:
CCI MiniMags were 2 cents per round in the 70s.

Show me some other product that has stayed the same price for 40 years.

Gas was 40 cents per gallon, now almost $4. So based on that, .22 should be 20 cents per round.

I bought a new Toyota Corolla for $3600 in 1976. Now, $17000. Based on that, 10 cents per round is about right.

Loaf of bread about 40 cents, now $2 = .22 at 10 cents per round.

While I agree that in general, prices go up over time, it's problematic to compare prices of a few dissimilar products. I owned a 1975 Corolla, and I own a 2008 and a 2010 Corolla. The new ones are in no way the same cars as the old one. Fuel injection, onboard computers, airbags, air conditioning as standard, OBDII, better interior, better standard sound system, better suspension, more powerful engine with better mpg, all in a larger car were just dreams in the 1970's. The new Corolla costs 5 times as much, but it's twice the car.

Gasoline today is not the same gasoline as in 1973, before the price jumped with the first Arab oil embargo. The replacement of lead with cleaner additives to increase octane, followed by regionally and seasonally blended gasoline for pollution control have increased costs of production. Taxes have increased. Couple this with the increased international demand due to the industrialization of China and India, and gasoline is not a good comparison to cost of anything else. China and India create almost zero demand for .22 ammo.

The cost of bread is greatly affected by the cost of energy. Tractors, fertilizer, trucks and trains all require oil, so things that affect gas prices also affect the price of food.

In 1993 I bought my first computer, a 90mhz Pentium 5 with 8 MB of RAM for $1850. It had about 1/100th the capability of the crappy $275 netbook that I'm typing on. Prices don't always go up, and prices of individual products don't necessarily track each other.

The price of the Corolla went up, the price of computers went down, both due to technology. The technology of .22 ammo hasn't changed in 100 years, but you would expect improvements in production methods and efficiencies to hold prices down somewhat even in the face of rising raw material costs.

Pinecone · Sep 14, 2014

How do you figure advances in production methods and efficiencies? Check the video online about how CCI makes .22.

Also energy costs affect ammunition prices also. Moving the raw materials around. Smelting and making brass. Smelting lead and casting it. Moving the powder and priming compound chemicals. And hazmat shipping has gotten more difficult and more expensive.

Computers are about the only thing that bucked the curve on prices. Many years ago, PC Magazine had a column/article about the cost of a computer. And from the early 80s to that point, a complete computer system you wanted to buy (good, but not top of the line) was $5000. For computer, with hard drive, monitor, and printer. It was the mid to late 90s before the costs starting coming down. Our first computer was a 286 with 2MB RAM, 105 MB hard drive, EGA monitor,and printer was $5000.

BTW, in 1993, it was a Pentium. Not Pentium 5. The micro architecture was called P5, but that was instead of calling it a 586, which is what it should have been.

TapRackBang · Sep 15, 2014

The costs of bread and gasoline are both greatly affected by the cost of ammunition

tsmith1499 · Oct 1, 2014

Again, it's really simple. More people have bought more .22 firearms in the last 2 years than I think ever before. More demand, slow ramp up in manufacturing, higher price for what is out there. Now 2 years later, supply is SLOOOOOWLY catching up to demand. Before people would buy a brick one week and another brick 2-3 weeks later. Now most people are buying the max they can every time they can. Just my $.02 YMMV

Rack&Roll · Oct 1, 2014

You mean, "Just my $.10"….

Gotta get with the times...

1obxnut · Oct 1, 2014

Rack&Roll said:
You mean, "Just my $.10"….

Gotta get with the times...

Nearly spit my coffee...

Docster · Oct 1, 2014

elbert said:
From American Rifleman. It's a bit long winded, but it does go through the economics behind the shortage.

http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/keefe-report-ok-really-whats-going-on-with-22-rimfire

At least this author knows what hoarding is......

Magnumite · Oct 5, 2014

Cheesehead said:
While I agree that in general, prices go up over time, it's problematic to compare prices of a few dissimilar products. I owned a 1975 Corolla, and I own a 2008 and a 2010 Corolla. The new ones are in no way the same cars as the old one. Fuel injection, onboard computers, airbags, air conditioning as standard, OBDII, better interior, better standard sound system, better suspension, more powerful engine with better mpg, all in a larger car were just dreams in the 1970's. The new Corolla costs 5 times as much, but it's twice the car.

Gasoline today is not the same gasoline as in 1973, before the price jumped with the first Arab oil embargo. The replacement of lead with cleaner additives to increase octane, followed by regionally and seasonally blended gasoline for pollution control have increased costs of production. Taxes have increased. Couple this with the increased international demand due to the industrialization of China and India, and gasoline is not a good comparison to cost of anything else. China and India create almost zero demand for .22 ammo.

The cost of bread is greatly affected by the cost of energy. Tractors, fertilizer, trucks and trains all require oil, so things that affect gas prices also affect the price of food.

In 1993 I bought my first computer, a 90mhz Pentium 5 with 8 MB of RAM for $1850. It had about 1/100th the capability of the crappy $275 netbook that I'm typing on. Prices don't always go up, and prices of individual products don't necessarily track each other.

The price of the Corolla went up, the price of computers went down, both due to technology. The technology of .22 ammo hasn't changed in 100 years, but you would expect improvements in production methods and efficiencies to hold prices down somewhat even in the face of rising raw material costs.

Good post. Some understanding is needed to realize not all price increases are parallel nor linear. If the manufacturers needed higher costs to stay fiscally afloat or could get more, they would raise the prices. But look at how much of the plinking grade ammo is being scalped for 2 to 3 times retail. Lots. Now look at how much of the medium to premium grade true match grade ammo is being scalped - far less, almost nil. The limit is about $50 a brick to most shooters. And that is being bought out of desperation to shoot most of the time.

Amoung shooters the demand for standard plinking grade ammo is high, but in the overall scheme of the economy, it is not in the upper tier of sales numbers. I wish it were, we'd have more political allies.

We all know one individual feels minimags are worth $0.17 to $0.20 per round because he has them and he is a budding oil baron. Federal and Tula both produce 9mm for 2 to 3 cents per round more. Not difficult to figure out the most bang per buck there unless one NEEDS the MiniMags. Throwing in some time, I am ahead of the curve reloading 9mm and not using 22's at 'justified market values'.

Docster · Oct 6, 2014

Here are some articles addressing the issue; I've read more that had specific data regarding numbers of rounds produced, etc. but cannot find it right now. The following articles all point to the same conclusions;

--manufacturing is at max capacity
--consumers are buying at levels higher then normal due to real or perceived shortfalls, or concerned for the political climate
--as consumers slow their panic/hoarding buying, prices will drop and supply will increase
--the government isn't buying up all the world's centerfire and rimfire ammo

http://www.ammoland.com/2013/06/this-whole-ammo-shortage-thing-by-the-numbers/#axzz3FN1qCFNh

http://www.ammoland.com/2013/06/this-whole-ammo-shortage-thing-by-the-numbers/#axzz3FN1qCFNh

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2013/12/13/22-ammunition-shortage-official-statement-atk/

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2013/12/13/22-ammunition-shortage-official-statement-atk/

GunLvrPhD · Oct 8, 2014

I was walking around with a little .22 ammo at the Chantilly show and a dealer offered me $20 per brick (these were 350-round Federal boxes). He had the same bricks for sale on his table for $70.

22LR Ammo Prices

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