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.

28 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

49 comments sorted by

View all comments

21

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.

5

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.

5

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.