I went to the pistol range at my club yesterday, and found plenty of empty .22LR casings at every firing point, and little or no

[99explorer]

I went to the pistol range at my club yesterday, and found plenty of empty .22LR casings at every firing point, and little or no big bore casings. I got the impression that shooters have been hoarding their big bore pistol ammo and practicing with .22LR ammo. That would explain the shortage of .22LR ammo on the shelves of our gunshops. Have you found this to be true in your area?

[Edward J. Palumbo]

The shortage of .22LR is chronic is my area. Shelves are cleared shortly after a (limited) supply arrives. The supply of smokeless powder, brass, primers and many of my favorite bullets has slowed to a trickle as well.

[pudgexl29]

Same story here. Out local places get small shipments of ammo in and its sold out quickly. We can't find 9's, 45's, 38's, 357's, .22's, 40's, anything that is common.

[Greenhead]

It is probably also due to people picking up the centerfire brass to reload, but I think there may be something to your theory.

[mike0714]

people at the ranges around me are picking up centerfire round to reload or sell so that is one of the reasons you are probably seeing only 22's

[Guest]

.22 LR brass is the only brass I don't police up, religiously.

[FirstBubba]

The shelves here aren't "stacked" with 22 ammo by any means, but I can get pretty much what I need. The selection isn't big, but there is some ammo.

[jhjimbo]

The last time i was at WalMart in N.Ohio they had a little of about everything, pistol,rifle and shotgun with a 3 box limit.

[scratchgolf72]

ive been able to get ammo on a decently frequent basis though it is all ordered through the mail, cant find it on store shelves. but the missing piece of my handgun reloading puzzle is primers. YOU CANNOT FIND SMALL PISTOL PRIMERS ANYWHERE!!!!! 180 grain .40 smith bullets are a close second to the primers.

they just opened up a new cabelas 15 minutes from my university, i went on the opening morning and was able to snatch a box of 650 rounds of 180 .40 cal for $250 bucks. price per bullet was actually a pretty good deal compared to what you find elsewhere.

[FirstBubba]

I can find primers, but they're like $8/100! I can remember primers being $9.50/brick!

[scratchgolf72]

firstbubba, forgot which website, but somebody was privately selling 5000 small pistol primers. let the BIDDING begin at $70!!! talk about a rip off!!!

[Amflyer]

Scratch, dirt-cheap pre-Obama (2008) prices for 5000 primers would be around $100 American money.

[Safado]

Actually my closest local indoor shooting range is the only place that I can find .22 lr or 9mm ammo. They sell reloads of all pistol rounds but have factory 9mm annd 22 lr. If this is like the shortage after the election in 2008 it may take as much as a year for the shortage to end.

[Gary Devine]

Another reason your brass could be disappearing at the gun range is because some people scrap brass and copper items. They can get cash money at the junk yard with brass, including old faucets and chrome plated traps found in the trash.

[DakotaMan]

The cost of center fire pistol ammo is causing the sale of .22 ammo to rise as well.