.22LR Shortage

22 Long Rifle ammo is finicky. Tell us all about it here.
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snaketail2
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Re: .22LR Shortage

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I'm still not over Homeland Security ordering 7 Billion ("B") rounds of ammo. That's more than were fired in all of WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War I & II...and homeland security are the guys who check you underwear at the airport and the Border Patrol. Sure the Border Patrol shoots someone ever so often (usually someone just across the border, still in Mexico - or each other), and the airport guys need to know what a bullet looks like...but 7 BILLION rounds! If it were 7 billion sheets of toilet paper someone in congress would be upset.

When I was in Arizona I wrote to Senators Flake and McCain. Flake answered: Said it was ammo for practice - really! McCain did not respond.

And in a related matter:
I'm an architectural photographer. The latest development in my field is low-level aerial photography. People put cameras on quadcopters and fly over the property making photos from a unique perspective.Great idea! But, the FAA and Homeland Security say this is illegal. A camera on a small helicopter is considered a drone and it it illegal for a civilian to fly a drone for commercial purposes. A judge threw a case out saying the FAA did not have the authority to make laws nor the ability to prosecute. The FAA responded by saying they will continue to arrest those who do this - even thought there is no law against it. {People still do it - under the radar} A photographer filming people at a Washington Nationals game got busted - the Nationals spokesman asked if they need FAA "permission" to hit pop-flys - that go higher than the copter...

The next big thing:
Squirrel hunting with your WiFi image transmitting Quadcopter armed with a short barrel .22 semi auto.

M
Overheard at the Dairy Queen "I live in Port Aransas,but I'm not from here...you can tell because I have all my own teeth."
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Ghostofwar
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Re: .22LR Shortage

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The .22lr shortage has me worried about having enough ammo to shoot matches just like everyone else, but I refuse to pay the crazy prices some ammo is going for these days. I was lucky enough to get some SK Standard + from Good Shooting Inc a while back that has lasted me to this point. I probably have enough to shoot a few matches/practice, but I'll have to conserve what I have to have enough left for Southern Nationals. If I run out, I'll just have to cough up the money and buy Tenex. At least then I will know its not the ammo that caused me to miss.


As for this stuff about Homeland Security buying billions of rounds of ammo, it really isn't as big of a deal as its being made out to be. Homeland Security has lots of agencies under one roof and this is a multi year contract to buy ammo for those agencies to use in training. The Federal Law Enforcement Training center falls under DHS, and they shoot a lot at FLETC.
I work for a government agency and we train on the range at least once a month. We have many different weapons that we train and qualify on. We qualify on each weapon during the day and during the night, twice a year for a total of four qualification courses per weapon, per year. Considering some of the weapons are belt fed machine guns and can fire at a rate of three thousand rounds a minute, its easy to see the numbers start to add up pretty quickly. Its not some big government conspiracy to take up all the ammo on the market.

Aerial photography is pretty cool, but I sure as hell don't want anyone flying a camera over my house and recording what I may or may not be doing in my backyard. That is topic of discussion that is probably best for the club house or behind the berm.
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Ghostofwar
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Re: .22LR Shortage

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Oh, and I found this article online. It made me pretty mad reading through it and I bet it will upset you too. Its from a website that a friend of mine works for. I don't care for the website. I have actually read several articles that could be taken as downright anti gun or anti second amendment. It is based out of Chicago… I try not to promote the website or even read anything they post, but this article came up in a web search and I had to share it here.

http://www.guns.com/review/2013/05/28/2 ... -invasion/
Jerry G
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Re: .22LR Shortage

Post by Jerry G »

I read the article twice..................... what's the problem with it? I have been shooting Eley (everything from 'red box' on down) for 30 years now. It never was cheep but it always has been good.

I think the ammo shortage here in the US is two fold. 1- Government is buying way too much. 2- Civilians hording. It has haqppened several times in the past 5 years. DHS is buying more than the DOD. Figure that one out.
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Ghostofwar
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Re: .22LR Shortage

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I guess my problem with the article is that it is encouraging the casual shooter to go out and buy match ammo (Eley specifically) to shoot cans with. So that pushes the price of match ammo up along with the rest of the .22 ammo and creates a shortage of match ammo for guys like us that shoot it in competition. I'm never going to deny anyone the freedom to shoot, but it just seems like a waste of good ammo to me. Kinda like using a bottle of fine single malt scotch to make mixed drinks. :shock:
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snaketail2
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Re: .22LR Shortage

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Several years ago I took my father-in-law to a silhouette match. He said he'd like to try the game using his golf clubs rather an a rifle. He's gone now, but I'm beginning to think his idea has some merit. Hunter's Pistol targets with irons and Long Range targets with woods. Can you take a 200 yard ram with a 4-wood?
Well, its a better idea that archery silhouette.

M

Just for fun - and abuse to our shoulders - we staged a 20-shot slug-gun match with the long range targets. 20 rounds, any gauge, any sights... a 20 gauge single shot with a red dot was best of the 7 shooters. We never did it again, but it was Texas and there was plenty of ammo back then.

I just found out that 65-year-olds don't need a fishing/hunting license in Missouri. I'll come back to shooting with there is something to shoot with.
Overheard at the Dairy Queen "I live in Port Aransas,but I'm not from here...you can tell because I have all my own teeth."
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snaketail2
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Re: .22LR Shortage

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Went to "Goose" Mountain today - it was three trips in one: My First. My Last. And My Only trip.
The flyer I got in the morning paper said they had 8 thousand boxes of .22 ammo - but not a single box on the shelf at 8:30 - musta been a hell of a rush at 8:00
OK - I can shoot my shotgun at Sporting Clays - the Federal I usually pay $53 a case was marked $73!
OK - I can get some reloading supplies - no, nothing - not gonna carry any of that.
OK, last chance - I'll take a look at the new Remington 9mm they advertise for $299...Oh, sorry, we didn't get any.
Gee guys, are you sure your ready to open the store?
Overheard at the Dairy Queen "I live in Port Aransas,but I'm not from here...you can tell because I have all my own teeth."
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Trent
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Re: .22LR Shortage

Post by Trent »

Sierra offers up an opinion on the ammo shortage.

http://sierrabullets.wordpress.com/2014 ... mmunition/
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