How much .22 ammo is enough?

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Dc777

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Although I have a decent amount of .22 ammo I feel guilty when shooting some of it. It's found at Walmart in a regular basis if you have time to go to different weak arts every day, multiple times per day, Out of all of my guns I prefer shooting my .22's the most. Whether it's my m&p 22, my high standard, my squirrel guns, or my arm I just like shooting my .22's. Do any of you guys feel guilty about shooting your ammo? Me feeling guilty about it makes me not thoroughly enjoy shooting my guns. How many rounds in your stockpile before you don't feel bad about shooting it?
 
The only time I would feel guilty about my ammo is if I was hoarding it or cutting into my budget for other things. I don't do either, so I don't feel bad about shooting. I normally buy centerfire in 1000 round bulk packs when I get below 500. I buy 22 in 1000-2000 round bulk packs when I get below 1000. I shoot a lot of different stuff though, so I don't go through any single ammo super fast.

In a year, I normally buy ammo in bulk twice. I make little purchases at walmart whenever they have the big boxes of stuff as well, but not as often.
 
Buy ammo on a schedule, as available, and shoot whatever you want whenever you want.

Back in the day of "normal" ammo prices I bought a few boxes of ammo almost every pay check, or when I found it on sale. I never bought more than 4 boxes of anything at a time. To be honest I am still shooting .22 I bought 4 years ago. That is why I have no intention of paying the ridiculous prices some are paying today.

Thankfully I am seeing 525 round boxes of .22 for sale around here for between $24 and $30 dollars. Still twice what it used to be but not the $50 to $100 I heard people say they were paying for it.
 
22 ammo is available online if your willing to pay .10-.40 cents per round for it. I'm not willing to pay that. I guess you can say that I've hoarded it but I'm not one of the idiots that resells it to turn a profit. What I buy is for me and my family. I just don't know if/ when .22 ammo will be in walmarts shelves everyday like it used to be. I blame that on the idiots that are willing to pay what price gougers want.... There isn't a shortage.... If the idiots would stop paying ridiculous prices we could all go to walmart every day and have 5 different flavors of ammo to buy every single day.
 
Dc777

You said it Brother. I have been saying for a couple of years now if people would just calm down, buy what they needed, instead of buying everything in sight, prices would drop and supplies would return to normal.
 
Right now I have enough .22 ammo (about 300 left), I have simply rationed my rimfire shooting.
There are many who want to shoot it, but can't find any.
I gave my brother 300 rounds for his Boy Scouts to shoot because he couldn't find any.

If you are not shooting it, STOP BUYING IT. That is the only way the market will settle down.
 
I started buying it about 8 years ago. I shoot as many as I feel like loading. I to also very much enjoy the 22. It is just a fun plinker load. I just hate loading Mag's. I love emptying them:D. I would think I must be down to about 12,000 rounds left now. I do sell to some of my friends at my cost to help them out in these tough times, but will not go below 5000.
 
SocialAnarchist

That's the problem brother.... Scum isn't going to stop buying ammo because they can sell it for a huge profit. I can't control the scumbags, The real culprit are the people that buy the ammo on armslist and the rich people that bid it up on gunbroker. I'm not God.... I can't heal stupid people.
 
Around here it seems as if .22 LR ammo is delivered by honest politicians or unicorns. Dang hard to find. I still have some, I think the most I ever had on hand is about 5K rounds at one point when it was pretty cheap.
 
I've had a bit over 6000 rounds for a number of years now. I acquired this amount over time, when on sale. A few years ago you would frequently see 525 ct bricks of Federal on sale for around $18 and I would pick up one. I don't ever recall buying more than one at a time and at that rate I still gained ground. I was surprised when I did an inventory and actually had as much as I did, I was thankful considering the recent situation!
I've never paid over $25 per brick so I really even look much now though I have picked up an occasional box or two. Several months ago I did score a steel ammo can with 2100 rounds of Federal Champion for $99 with free shipping from Cabelas. About 3 weeks ago I passed on a 325 brick of Federal a shop had for $19 while my friend bought one because he was down to his last 800 rounds. During the summer months I go out and shoot 3-4 times a month and burn 200-300 rounds each time. In the winter I conserve ammo because I only get out once a month or so.
How much is enough? It depends on your situation, in my case probably about half of what I have would carry me over the lean times. So long as the lean times don't last too long. I certainly don't need the 80-100,000 rounds that some claim they have on hand!
 
I, too, got caught short.
Really, when was there ever hard times for .22s before?
Out of desperation, my trusty practice air guns became substitutes.
With the recent advancements and realism of blowback, semi-auto airgun pistols, and the accuracy and power of pellet rifles, I haven't bothered with .22s for a long time.
Don't even miss them.
Give them a try and see.
 
I have plenty of 22lr and other calibers. I DON'T sell it. I shoot it & have a reserve. I developed I habit years ago of picking up calibers I use when on sale every time a saw it. I assumed it would never go down in price. The shortage is something I hoped I'd never see, but was always in the back of my mind. I'm happy to say I'm not contributing to the current shortage.
 
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Do any of you guys feel guilty about shooting your ammo?
How many rounds in your stockpile before you don't feel bad about shooting it?
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I only hesitate (feel "guilty") when it's a hard to find load, or something I can't replace.
For example, ArmsCor recently discontinued my favorite .22 LR load - their 'high velocity' 36 gr HP. It was extremely accurate, consistent, and flawless in my rifles; expansion on game and reactive targets was great; and it was reasonably priced. Now, I don't want to shoot what I've got, because I'll run out eventually.
The same goes for .22 Short/CB Short. I avoid shooting it, because I hate having to buy more. The loads are not hard to find, but it can be difficult to find a reasonable price (the normal price of $10-12 for 100 rounds is ridiculous).

Other than that... I shoot it whenever I get a chance to shoot.
I recently unpacked most of my gear in my new gun room, so everything is fairly fresh in my mind. From memory, I'm coming up with about 9,800 to 10,300 rounds of rimfire ammo on hand right now.
But, the majority of that was not purchased "a box at a time" or even " a couple boxes at a time." Most of that ammo was purchased in bulk, at least 500 rounds at a time for .22 WMR (2k for the last purchase) and 2,500-5,000 rounds at a time for .22 LR (6k+ for the last purchase).

Even if I have to backorder it.... When the price is right, I buy what I want. As the panic buying of '08/'09 was settling down, and people were still complaining about only finding $25 / brick .22 LR, I paid half that for 7k rounds of semi-premium ammo .... shipped. ;)
 
My heuristic is to keep about a 1000 rounds per caliber and then buy to cover my shooting for the month.

I might shoot about 250 9mm or 45 or 38 and about 150 22 LR.

I'm seeing ammo being available so I'm not freaked as some still are. Wish it was cheaper though. What else is new?
 
In most of my calibers I have a stockpile of less than 300 rounds. 5.56 NATO, 7.62 NATO, and .22RF are the exceptions. I have more .22RF than any, as it is my favorite caliber, probably around 3000 rounds at this time. I was buying it when bulk packages became popular, to try it and see what worked best in my guns. Maybe had nearly 5000 rounds at one time, but that was as far as it went. Now, I'd probably be worried if I slipped under 1000 rounds of .22RF, as that can go in just a few fun days.
 
22RF ??????
I understand 22LR, Long, 22 Short, 22WM or winmag.
But never heard of 22RF. A bit of enlightenment would be helpful, if you please.
 
I recently unpacked most of my gear in my new gun room said:
DANG! You running s shooting school Stevie ?
I thought I had plenty reserve at 3k rim fire. I guess I don't get time to shoot enough
Click to expand...
 
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