Why is there no .22 Magnum ammo to be found?

P

Panoply

New member
Hello Y'all,

I am a casual shooter and so am not necessarily plugged into the grapevine, so I don't know what's going on here.

I recently purchased (2 days ago) an NAA mini-revolver that has cylinders for both .22mag and .22LR. I cannot find .22mag ammo anywhere. Is there a reason for this? Please enlighten me.

Thanks!
Pan
 
All through the 'panic', and into today, .22 Mag has been available locally...

Pricey, but was never missing from shelves (other than Wally World)...
 
Wal-Mart is severely lacking such calibers as .22lr and .22mag, but its been on LGS shelves for some time. I doubt there is a big run on .22mag because it costs as much as 9mm per round from the prices I see in my area.
 
because it costs as much as 9mm per round from the prices I see in my area.
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That is true today but it wasn't yesterday. It was always a little pricey, but nowhere near as ridiculous as it is now, pity.

If you can't find it in a local guns shop, you can always purchase from an online source, you just have to take into account shipping costs. There are numerous places that offer ammo on the internet. One good resource for finding them is http://gunbot.net . However at the moment 22wmr is showing a scant representation there too.
 
"There are numerous places that offer ammo on the internet."

And apparently .22 magnum isn't one of them unless you think paying Lucky Gunner $48 for a box of 50 rounds is a "great" find.

Sportsmens Guide 48 items
None of which are available for order.

Lucky gunner 1 item - S & B, 40gr jhp, 50 round box
$25.75 + $15 shipping = $47.75

Midway 29 items
Out of stock, no back order

Ammunition to go
Out of stock
 
Panoply said:
I am a casual shooter and so am not necessarily plugged into the grapevine, so I don't know what's going on here... I cannot find .22mag ammo anywhere.
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.22 rimfire ammunition has been undergoing a self-sustaining shortage for several years now. The underlying causes are disputed, but IMHO the main cause is hoarding. Another major contributing factor has been strong sales of more-profitable centerfire ammunition, which has prompted manufacturers to prioritize centerfire production over rimfire production.

The supply of .22LR and .22 Short is on the rebound but .22Mag seems to be lagging behind, likely because it sells slower than .22LR under normal circumstances, so production capacity is probably lower.

Suggest using .22WRF (the less-powerful parent cartridge of .22Mag) if you want a power upgrade over .22LR; although not many stores carry it, those that do seem to have more of it than .22Mag. Demand is lower because it generally can't be used in semi-auto .22Mag firearms, but there should be no problem using it in a revolver.
 
That is the beauty of http://gunbot.net , you don't have to shop around. They update list pretty much hourly and have more than 75 retailers included in their list. They do the shopping for you and list which sites have it in stock and break down the cost to a 'per round' amount. They even allow you to set your own threshold of what you consider a good price and list those that fall below in red so that you can scan the list of a given round and quickly pick out what you're interested in based on price. It is an outstanding FREE resource to use.

Their own words "Near realtime tracking of who has ammo, mags and reloading supplies in stock"
 
Hmmmm....

I like that gun.bot doesn't have adds and such, it is a beta program. But I now see that ammoseek rates the shipping costs low to high, I like that.
May have to start using both, thank you CWKahrFan !:D
 
THANKS!

I appreciate all your suggestions.

Turns out, Bass Pro is saying they're available in store only. There's a Bass Pro just a straight shot down I-10 from me, in 20 minutes I could go from my driveway to their lot (approximately of course). I'll call them tomorrow, and if they've got 'em, off I'll go! Just need maybe 200 rounds of the magnums. Enough to get the feel of how it is when I fire them. And, of course, to have loaded when carrying. I'll buy all 200 (or so) then, just in case of future scarcity. I'll probably buy a 500rnd 'brick' of long rifle to practice with. Even though I've got, approximately, 750rnds already of LR.

If they don't have them, I'll use y'all's resources. Thing is, unless it's a well known company it makes me nervous to do business with them and because I am a bit of an amateur, many will be unknown to me. But with all the things y'all gave me, I doubt I'll have much problem.

A question. Do y'all know if the LR cylinder can fire .22 short? I don't see why not but better safe than sorry. Also, are they hard to find?

Again, Thanks & God Bless!
Pan
 
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Lucky gunner 1 item - S & B, 40gr jhp, 50 round box
$25.75 + $15 shipping = $47.75
Click to expand...
Good load. Bad price.

Though, in your case, that's a load that I would probably skip. The S&B .22 WMR ammo is tailored more to rifles than handguns. So the short barrel is likely to significantly neuter the cartridge (more so than it already does).

Look for CCI-manufactured loads (including Fiocchi, Remington, Hornady, Federal, Speer, and Blazer), to get the most out of that short barrel.

(This is a recurring theme in the .22 WMR world: Some companies consider it a 'handgun' cartridge, while others consider it a 'rifle' cartridge. Crib note version: CCI favors short barrels [handguns]. Winchester and some others favor longer barrels [rifles].)
 
Last evening, I was in a "Dunhams" in DuBois, PA. Plenty of .22 mag, .17 HMR, shelves loaded with .22 LR (Remington "golden" bullets mostly and a few bricks of other brands). No posted limits on how much you could purchase.

Another small gun store about a mile or so away, really never stocked a lot of ammo, had their typical amounts. But what they did have was far more powder than I can ever remember being on their shelves.
 
If you have a Bass Pro nearby, you might be able to use a trick that I do with the Cabela near me. I look online for the ammo that I want and they have in stock, then have it shipped site to store for free. They then call when it is ready to pick up and I drive in to pick it up for just the cost of the ammunition as advertised.
It's a thought.
 
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