assateague wrote:Flightstopper wrote:I still have not found a person that can answer why 22 is what everybody is stocking up on.
Most versatile round there is. It's common (well it was, anyway), easily transportable (I can carry 1,000 rounds of .22 and not even know it's there- the same can't be said with any other rifle caliber), can be used to kill anything from squirrels to deer (I know, I've done it). So in an ugly situation, you get the benefit of having a LOT of rounds, for food of any kind (try shooting a squirrel with a .308 and see how much you have left for dinner) and for protection (no matter what anybody says, if I shoot you in the face with a .22 you're gonna change your mind pretty quick about whatever it is you were doing)
Just my opinion, though.
This. Although I would make the argument that .22 WMR is probably the best survival round, for all the same reasons but just a little more oomph.
As far as the "shortage", at this point it is literally panic buying that has fed back into itself. There is no shortage, there never really was. All that is happening now is people are buying .22 because people are buying .22, most ammo companies have made 2-3 times more .22 ammo than they do in any given year, but they can't keep up until people stop stockpiling it. The guys who used to buy a brick that would last them 2 years are now buying every box they can, and the market can't accommodate that. I bet I've repeated this dialog over 1,000 times in the past year (no exaggeration), and I want to punch every single person that I've had it with.
Customer: "Do you have any .22"
Me: (Some version of) "None today"
Customer: "That's okay, I have plenty, was just going to buy it if you had some. Wonder why that stuff is so hard to find?"
If you're going to stock up, fine, there's nothing wrong with that. It just absolutely baffles me that people can't figure out (or refuse to acknowledge) that the reason .22 is so hard to find is because they won't quit buying it the second they fucking see it. It's absolutely ridiculous that I've had to witness customers sprint from the parking lot, up the stairs to the counter and have to catch their breath because they heard we only had 2 boxes of .22 left. That has happened no less than a dozen times over the past year. Don't even get me started on the fact that we sold damn near 500 bricks of .22 on Black Friday in less than 15 minutes. One box, one customer, 500 fucking people standing in line for a $25 brick of .22. End rant.