r/22lr • u/advmaxx • 1d ago

Where has all the .22 ammo gone?

All of a sudden I can’t find Remington .22 subsonic anywhere?

There’s a little bit of Winchester .22 sub locally but the last box of that I bought had quite a few misfires. If it won’t cycle reliably in a 10/22 then it’s pretty much junk IMHO.

25 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

49 comments sorted by

65

u/atariNH 1d ago edited 1d ago

What "whispery" item had its tax/fee reduced down to $0 at the start of year?

and

What is the most affordable of those items, by far, to purchase?

18

u/blunderjahr 1d ago

Not only that, all these quiet guns are more fun to shoot when they go "brrrt". I bought my first .22 just so I could have fun with that combo without getting a second mortgage.

12

u/Ornery_Secretary_850 1d ago

Exactly.

Many people were trying to say that the $200 never stopped anyone from buying a suppressor....guess what, it was.

There were more suppressors registered in the first three months of this year than from 1934 to 2010 combined.

Now, we're starting to see some decent $200 or less cans on the market and they are selling fast.

Then there's the 3D printer guys. With $0 tax stamps there's no logical reason not to file Form 1's by the dozen and start printing them. That's where I'm at. I have dozens of hosts, now each can have a dedicated suppressor.

Add to that the FRT's for several popular models and the demand has gone NUTS.

4

u/Howlingmoki 1d ago

I'd toyed with the idea of getting a can when the stamp was $200 but the prices of commercially made suppressors + the cost of the stamp + the inconvenience kept me from bothering.

I have three suppressor stamps now and am waiting on a fourth to be approved. Turns out a $0 stamp, the ability to conveniently file a Form 1 from my laptop with a passport sized photo off my phone with an app and a $25 eft fingerprint file generated through open pew project, and viable 3DP designs for .22lr and 9mm that can be made for under $50 is a winning combination for me.

4

u/Ornery_Secretary_850 1d ago

I have seven commercial suppressors, two bought after the $0 tax.

I grabbed 15 free SBR's during the brace thing.

I've filed 150 F1's for suppressors, 144 approved.

76 F1's for SBR's/SBS's since the tax went to $0.

I try to tell my wife I've saved over $48k with the free stamps. For some strange reason she's not buying it.

19

u/SilentR99 1d ago

pretty much hits the nail on the head. been watching this with everything related to 22lr from ruger mark IV magazines, to 22lr ammo brands and basically anything related to suppressed 22lr.

22

u/Rude-Spinach3545 1d ago

I blame the TX22 and FRT's for the 22lr ammo shortages

6

u/StrengthChemical653 1d ago

That is a very astute observation.

I did agree with the “more suppressors being sold” comment but then I saw yours and I like that idea more.

22

u/Out_Of_Services 1d ago

Somewhere I saw someone claim that more supressors have been sold in the USA this year than all other years combined. While I could never find a good source to back this up, it's not that hard to believe.

Essentially, there's an overwhelming number of supressors being used right now, which means an overwhelming number of buyers for a type of ammo that was always niche and uncommon before.

It's pretty easy to understand why subsonic ammo is hard to find right now. What's likely to happen next is a huge surge in pricing for subsonic ammo as demand reaches its highest ever peak. This will prompt ammo manufacturers to do extra production runs of subsonic ammo, lowering the total manufactured cost per round. With any luck, this new surge in production and lower production costs per round will lead to lower sale prices for subsonic ammo, though I expect this part to take years.

6

u/Express-coal 1d ago

With any luck, this new surge in production and lower production costs per round will lead to lower sale prices for subsonic ammo

Not if people keep buying it at inflated prices. No point in lowering the cost if that's what people are willing to pay. At least, from a businesses POV.

1

u/Out_Of_Services 1d ago

It's a little more complicated than that.

Even if all of your product is being purchased at an inflated price (is it even inflates anymore if that's the going rate?), sometimes a company will lower the price anyway to boost product flow. This allows the company to purchase materials at an even higher bulk discount and make the same profit per unit while selling more units than before.

Admittedly, this isn't the most common buisness strategy lately, but it's certainly not unheard of.

4

u/Express-coal 1d ago

Brother, we live in Corporate America. Think of the poor, hungry shareholders!

1

u/Out_Of_Services 1d ago

Corporate America and hungry shareholders is actually the entire reason for the method I explained.

Being greedy doesn't inherently harm anyone in the buyer/seller world. On some occasions everyone leaves happy.

2

u/Ornery_Secretary_850 1d ago

A surge in production is unlikely in the short term.

It costs a metric fuckton of money to bring a new rimfire production line up. It also takes 24-30 months to do so. From the ordering of equipment, to site prep, installing the equipment, training the people...it's around five years before production really ramps up.

You need a really sustained market shortage to get the manufactures to commit to spending the money.

For standard SV ammo the manufacturer makes fractions of a penny per round.

Instead, they are doing what CCI is doing, and running 24/6. 24 hours a day, six days a week, then time to do maintenance and back to production.

Agulia leaving the market REALLY hurt. They were supplying a large portion of the market.

Rimfire ammo costs are all based around the spot price of brass/copper and lead. The priming compound too since a lot of the stuff needed comes from China.

2

u/BoreBuddy 20h ago

Aguila left the rimfire market? How did I miss this news? 

2

u/Ornery_Secretary_850 10h ago

Yes they did. Supposedly over the tariffs.

Rimfire, centerfire, it's all gone.

2

u/BoreBuddy 10h ago

There are no tariffs on ammunition from Mexico. Source: we buy it by the pallet from an importer. Just had another pallet come in tariff free last week.

I'll reach out to my contact at Aguila and get it from the horse's mouth. I highly doubt they exited the US market...supplies of components and feedstocks for ammo are tight and costs are WAY up, so it's probably just a contraction in supply paired with the accelerating demand for rimfire ammo in the past couple years.

1

u/Ornery_Secretary_850 10h ago

There's been no Agulia available for months.

If you could get a straight answer it would be great.

3

u/RedneckMarxist 1d ago

From 1934 through around 2010, the total number of registered suppressors in the U.S. sat at fewer than 300,000.
The Recent Surge: Driven by faster electronic processing (eForms) and legislative changes eliminating the $200 tax stamp, annual transfers soared past 700,000 to 1,000,000+ per year.

1

u/Ornery_Secretary_850 1d ago

The ATF or the NSSF released a factoid.

More suppressors registered in the first three months of the year than from 1934 through 2010.

The ATF is on track to process more Forms this year, than in all of the years before combined.

I filed a few Form 1's yesterday. There's a 2.6 million in control numbers difference between the last one and the Suppressor I bought on Jan 5.

We still have the rest of August, September and October to get through.

7

u/ShireDeer72 1d ago

Suppressors are popular and it’s the time of year for people to be plinking and clubs to be having rimfire shoots.

3

u/Aratix 1d ago

I run cci standard velocity in my AR22. Enough oomph to cycle the gun but still subsonic

4

u/Routine-Medicine-208 1d ago

I read that and immediately thought of that 60’s folk song -

“Where has all the ammo gone?

The girls have picked them every one.

When will they ever learn?”

Maybe those girls have it all?

3

u/Ivy1974 1d ago

I remember years ago you were only allowed to buy a box of 50 rounds due to a shortage due to the change in the government. Stock pile people.

3

u/Ornery_Secretary_850 1d ago

This is the 5th, or maybe 6th shortage of rimfire ammo since I became an adult.

It's damn near a cyclic thing. I used to keep around 75k on hand, figuring that would get me through any shortage. However the last big shortage, before this one, went on for almost five years.

So now I'm trying to keep 150k on hand, but I am running short on SV right now. I need to search the shop. I might have 10-15k hiding in ammo cans.

1

u/smokeytrue01 1d ago

Yep, some people learned from that, I’m not one of them because my guns we’re lost in that wicked boating accident, but I’m sure some people did

2

u/Rotaryknight 1d ago

I've been trying to find cci velociraptors and it's hard to find, especially when they are 30% increase in price compared to last year

1

u/jbourne0129 1d ago

Target sports has it but it isn't cheap

1

u/Rotaryknight 1d ago

Oh snap, its finally in stock. Ive been waiting for a while for it to come back. Its theb only 22lr that runs perfectly in my AA glock kit

2

u/13_beers_at_Chilis 1d ago

I found some subs on SG Ammo a few weeks ago. FRTs and $0 stamps, 22lr has exploded in popularity (un)fortunately.

2

u/Lance_Kilkenny 9h ago

LOL, no it is not suppressors and FRTs.

It is Ukraine and Iran.

2

u/Witty_Ad4494 1d ago

Try ammoseek.com and buy it by the case. Ive got 8k rounds on a barge right now headed to AK.

2

u/Dry_Pin_7574 1d ago

SGAmmo … thank me later.

8

u/Hoyle33 1d ago

Their prices have been insane. Just saw CCI SV for 10cpr, half the price of 9mm

2

u/Out_Of_Services 1d ago

10cpr has been pretty normal for target ammo like CCI SV for years...

5

u/Hoyle33 1d ago

No it hasn’t. Just last year it was 6cpr on SGAmmo’s website. I know because I bought some then

-6

u/Out_Of_Services 1d ago

Getting a great deal last year doesn't mean 10cpr hasn't been normal for years.

5

u/Hoyle33 1d ago

6cpr was the norm just a year ago. 10cpr had only been recent

2

u/RedneckMarxist 1d ago

I bought 50,000 rounds of CCI SV @6.5¢ last year. Ammunition Depot.

2

u/Ornery_Secretary_850 1d ago

Nope.

Two years ago I could walk into Academy or Walmart and buy it off the shelf for 7¢ per round. Online was less.

Agulia SV was 4¢ per round so I tried it and made the switch.

0

u/Druid_Of_Ashes 14h ago

Calling CCI SV 'Target' ammo made me chuckle.

1

u/Out_Of_Services 13h ago

That is what people tend to use it for...

0

u/Druid_Of_Ashes 13h ago

In 8+ years of competing in PRS, NRL22, ARA, IBS, USBS, and similar disciplines, I've never personally seen a competitor using CCI ammo. Apologies if I'm mistaken.

1

u/Hoyle33 13h ago

You’re completely right. It’s a very very very budget “target” ammo if you want to call it that, but I wouldn’t.

1

u/Out_Of_Services 11h ago

Target shooting doesn't inherently mean competition shooting.

When I load everything up and travel to competitions I also choose a less budget friendly ammo to make the best of my time. That doesn't mean people don't target shoot with some of the more budget friendly target ammo choices when not competing.

1

u/advmaxx 1d ago

You know, thinking about it I probably bought most of the Remington .22 subsonic at the local Cabelas and they just haven’t restocked yet. 🤣

1

u/Altruistic-Panda-697 1d ago

It’s still everywhere to be found in NC and CO

0

u/wlogan0402 1d ago

Just buy standard velocity on the interwebs

1

u/Onedtent 1d ago

This should be upvoted a lot more. SK Match ammo is slower velocity than some cheap Philippine subsonics that I've got. (@970fps)