22lr replacement

[Devdev08]

I'm looking for a new gun that uses cheap ammo like the 22lr and is good for plinking and squirrel and rabbit hunting. I was thinking maybe a .410 singleshot shotgun maybe. The reason behind this is I can't find 22lr ammo where I live unless I want to pay $75 for a brick of 500.

[gyvel]

.410 isn't exactly cheap, either.

[Robk]

I am in the same boat as you in regards to .22lr ammo. Getting hard to find here also. Set me to thinking about an alternative. Came up with .22 air rifles. They go larger also, .25,9mm,.357,10mm,45. They start from not to bad price wise to WOW, that much for an air gun? Most .22 air rifles(good ones) will produce a respectable 975 fps or more. Decent for squirrel I guess not so sure about rabbit. Look down a few threads, you will find another of my threads and an older much more responded to thread about pellet rifles. Pellets are very cheap and still availbale amost anywhere. Just food of thought.

Good place to start if interested:
www.pyramidair.com

[Devdev08]

Good point on .410 isn't cheap either.
And I have a .177 caliber air rifle but I can't get it to hold zero might need to get a new scope for it with locktight but only problem with air rifle is they don't work well in cold either. But there is also just something about having a real gun if you ask me.

[2ndsojourn]

I've been shooting my air guns more often. The plus for me is I can shoot them in my back yard.

[SerenityNetworks]

The new gas piston air rifles do well in the cold.

[Pathfinder45]

....if you reload, that is: 22 Hornet with a bullet mold.

[WV_gunner]

20 or 12 gauge

[Slopemeno]

Any air rifle that makes 12-ft/lbs or better will do that, and quietly. Beeman R-9, for instance.

[darkgael]

There two ways to go..... maybe more.
One is to go with a modern airgun..... maybe not so modern also.
The Benjamin Marauder is a very handy air rifle. The older pump up Benjamin and Sheridan are no slouches either.
Also... a muzzle loader in .32 or .36 caliber is cheap to feed and very accurate.
Go with a flint gun and you don't need percussion caps. Available in both pistol and rifle form. With the right size patch, you can shoot 000 buck pellets in the 36.
Pete

[ejb69]

I have switched from 22Lr to 17HMR for small pests.

[CCCLVII]

Posts like this make me afraid. I have a large stock pile of 22lr but what happens when its all gone? Do I need to go buy different guns?

[Sevens]

This may be heard in entirely the wrong way, but that's not something I'll get bent outta shape over.

Last thing in the world I want to do (truly!) is to support some of the prices we have seen by actually paying that kind of money for rimfire. I had a few boxes set aside and my master plan through this ridiculous drought & corresponding erratic market is to shoot far less .22LR than I typically do. Used to be that I'd be on the range twice a month and burn roughly 1-2 bulks packs of rimfire per month in addition to my centerfire ammo. I've cut that down to about 25% of what I used to do, and now I'll have some trips where I don't do any rimfire at all.

So what I don't want you to hear is that we should "accept the way it is now..." because I don't believe that.

HOWEVER... if you can force yourself to quit comparing the old price for rimfire up against the new price... and instead compare the NEW price of rimfire up against center fire, you'll find that there's still good reason, FINANCIAL reason, to choose to shoot rimfire.

A brick is 500 rounds. Bulk pack is same thing, 525 perhaps.
The cheapest center fire ammo on the planet (not including chi-com surplus crap dug up from a dirt hole and manufactured in the 1950s...) is 9mm FMJ range ammo. Typically, 9mm FMJ ammo from a reputable brand is running like $13-$14 a box before tax.

So a brick of .22LR is the same number of shots as -ten- boxes of 9mm, and would cost $130 - $150 for the same shots fired. Sure, it's not the same thing, but depending on what you are asking the ammo to do, it's not a bad comparison.

Gun shows around me are selling the bulk packs or bricks of rimfire at $50-$60 and some sell, some don't. None of them priced at $65 or $70 sell at any show I've visited. So the rimfire is absolutely ridiculous when we have to pay twice or three times what we always have paid, but you're still talking about HALF the price, shot by shot, as the cheapest center fire caliber out there.

The bottom line with my argument is that trying to replace .22LR because the market just plain SUCKS isn't going to be done in any tidy method if your plan is to replace it with any other caliber.

If it's about being indignant and taking a stand against horrendous pricing, then brother, I stand with you 100%. But if it is simply about the math and the money, replacing your shooting with .410... .9mm....38 Special... or even .22WMR, it's a losing proposition.

.22LR is nowhere near the cheap deal it used to be. But that's the secret. Until this market, most didn't really recognize what an outrageous STEAL .22LR ammo has been for all of our lives.

And here's something else...
I was buying .22LR when I was in HS, that was 25 years ago. I paid $10 for a brick, but only when it was on sale. It was $16 a brick when it wasn't. And before the first Barackolypse (and for short bit before Sandy Hook, IIRC), I was getting Federal 525 bulk packs for $15.99.

I can't think of another thing on this planet that held the same price at retail over the last quarter century. Maybe table salt... but I don't recall buying a lot of that.

[tahunua001]

the next cheapest that is readily available is probably 9mm.

[Woodslab]

I gave up on 22 lr and went with 38 special and 357 magnum but I reload them for about $ .20/plink. Bigger boom and longer distance. I had a revolver and picked up a 357 Henry.

[Art Eatman]

What with Remington's expansion of ammo production in Arkansas and the new manufacturing operation getting going in Carolina, odds are that by late this year the supply will begin catching up with demand.

Prices will likely stay somewhat higher due to metals costs and more expensive ingredients for powder.

[Sevens]

Oh sweet release of death, please come and get me if REMINGTON is going to be our answer to the rimfire crisis.

[idek]

I gave up on 22 lr and went with 38 special and 357 magnum but I reload them for about $ .20/plink

I also reload but estimate my costs to come out at 14 cents a round (not counting brass that I can use many times).

I shoot them out of a lever action and a revolver, and I plink with these as often as I do with .22lr.

[Woodslab]

I shoot jacketed and load with 22grn of w296 which would up the cost

[g.willikers]

My handgun reloading costs are about the same, at about 15 cents per.
For general practice, it's mostly airguns at home and centerfire handloads at the range.
Seems to do the job, ok.
Then there's always archery, shoot it, go get it, shoot it again.......

[waveslayer]

Check out the new air guns by Gamo. Cheap to shoot and faster than most. 22lr

[cslinger]

Faster is not always better with airguns.

That being said a high quality airgun will likely give you lots of enjoyment. Just be prepared to spend firearm money to get an airgun that will feel like a "real" gun. Also understand that spring guns are a totally different discipline but will absolutely teach fundamentals like trigger, breathing, follow through, repeatable technique etc.

I have airguns that are better guns than any stock 10/22 or model 60 IMO

[darkgael]

Cheap to shoot and faster than most. 22lr

Not with a 40 grain bullet they aren't.
The very high velocities are done with very light pellets. The biggest complaint that one hears is that accuracy is so-so. YMMV.
Pete

[Vt.birdhunter]

Look at a PCP type air rifle- More consistent in cold weather than springers, CO2, pump pneumatics.

My Air Force Talon SS groups right around 1 MOA out to 80 yards or so at any temperature.
So quiet it makes you giggle.
Costs per shot are low if you are willing to work a hand pump.

[coldbeer]

I've been seeing 17hmr ammo on sale for between $10-$12 a box lately. It's still more than 22lr but at least I can find it.