Getting Old and .22 Short

[Macd]

I and two of my friends combined to buy a collection of older .22 RF rifles. They include pre-war and post-war models none made after 1965. Three are single shots which from my experience really like .22 shorts. So I went down to my local ammo source and asking for a couple of boxes got the "look" from clerk. They haven't stocked shorts for years he informed me. NP I drove to another store and got the same response. A few phone calls later and still no luck. I can get them online but even then only limited choices. The prices were a bit on the high side and shipping ammo is not cheap. I finally got the first store to bring 10 boxes of Winchester Super X shorts for a decent bulk price.

The older I get the more I realize I am becoming an "antiques" expert by default

[mr surveyor]

that's strange ... or a coincidence of experiences. I was in the shop of one of my FFL buddies last week to get some powder and primers and we were discussing factory ammo. It seems that his most in volume sales of factory ammo has been, of all things, .22 shorts. Apparently there's a lot of folks shooting them subsonic and/or suppressed.

I miss my old 1892 Win (original model) octagon, pump .22 short rifle. The barrel was well worn and pitted, but it was a real shooter. Lot's of squirrels and rabbits over the course of having it for some 35 years. And shorts will take coyotes as well. (I gave it back to my old high school friend that I got it from in 1969)

jd

[cj8281]

My 8 year olds like shooting the shorts out of momma's Ruger Bearcat. Fun times. I think every store here that sells ammo sells 22 shorts.

[GasGuzzler]

When the shortage started in late 2012, rimfire was hit the hardest. When it got down to 20 year old inventory shorts were the only thing left on the shelf, they too went way up in price. I'm guessing the manufacturers stopped making shorts to amp up production of LR. The fact anyone wants them now is odd to me. Modern LR in reduced loads work better in almost all cases and the short only rifle population must not be huge.

My Old Model Single Six loves shorts.

[farmerjim]

I remember buying shorts because they were cheep. If we had a little extra we would splurge and buy long rifle.

[RBHarter]

I remember shorts . I even shot a few . It's probably been 10 yr since I saw any , but I haven't been looking for them either . I used to look for BB & CB caps but those at some point becam either unknown or very expensive too .

I found a box of longs in Dad's stuff so I expect before I get it all settled out I'll find most of a carton of shorts and maybe a couple of tins of BB caps too .

[Ohio3Wheels]

I managed to get a 100 round box of CCI CB at of all places my local Walmart. I wanted them to try on squirrels as I need my hearing aids in the woods and the LR were a little unpleasant. I discovered that the CCI Quiet LR are quieter than the CBs out of my old 69A.

So it goes, Make smoke,