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The problem is that .22lr at 8 or 9 cents a round isn't expensive.
What are you going to do to replace it? Air gun is an idea, but I am not sure it really is equal to .22lr. You could loading a centerfire to 1000 fps is going to cost near 20 to 25 cents a round. If you cast your own bullet and have the brass....then you could do it around 5 to 7 cents. Figure in time (a lot of people will consider that) and unless you are super high volume... dropping $50 for a .22lr brick isn't that big of a deal.
The problem is sticker shock! People just see the price as double a few years ago. A few years ago .22lr was a steal.
There just isn't a .22lr replacement that makes sense money wise.
I think the demand is actually there. Say there is 4 billion .22lr rounds made each year with 50 million gun owners. That is 80 .22lr rounds per person a year. When you think about it that way...there is a actual .22lr shortage.
Every gun owner that stores a brick in reserve just stored almost 7 gun owners annual production.
Cost of production only matters if someone else will make enough of it that the market price drops back to 20-25$ a brick. Gas doesn't cost $3 per gallon to produce...A 20 oz coke doesn't cost a $1.50 to produce, but people pay those prices.
You think .22lr is going to stabilize out anytime soon?
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