Stopped at 4 Dallas/Ft. Worth Walmarts: 3 had .22 LR

As I drove around the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex during Christmas season, 2016, I stopped at four area Walmart stores.  The first one was a couple of days before Christmas.  I did not have a car until the 24th, so I only looked in the Walmart at Frankford and Marsh Ln before Christmas.  I have written about .22 at that store for a year and a half.  It has had .22 LR in stock pretty reliably during that period, so I was not surprised to see a a couple thousand Winchester Super X, a couple of thousand CCI Stingers, a thousand CCI .22 short CB caps, and five  hundred CCI minimags.  They all seemed over priced, with the minimags the best buy of the lot at 7.47 cents a cartridge.

Benbrook Walmart Display

I stopped at the Benbrook Walmart next, on the other side of the metroplex, at the far South West edge.  I have been watching it for a year or so, and have never seen any .22 LR in it.  It was no surprise either.  The prices were the same as on the North Central edge, but there were only a few boxes of .17 rimfire.  No .22 LR.

Display at Dallas Parkway and Beltline Walmart

After meeting my Daughter for lunch, I stopped at the Walmart at Dallas Parkway and Beltline, a more central location. I did not expect to find any .22 LR. I thought the Frankford location was a fluke. I was wrong.  The Parkway and Beltline store had a fairly good stock.  The prices were the same.  You can see .22 Magnums on the left of the picture, some CCI .22 LR shotshells, plenty of Winchester SuperX, and some CCI .22 CB shorts.  I talked to a friendly Walmart employee who explained the situation.  For a period of time this year, the Walmart had been closed for remodeling. During that period, .22 ammunition kept coming fairly regularly, but it could not be sold.

When the store when back into operation, the employees keep the shelves stocked with .22, and they have not run out since.  SuperX is the most common .22 LR round they get in. They get some CCI, and a little bit of both Remington golden bullets and Federal .22 LR. They do not have a three box limit on purchase.

Plano Store Display

The last store I stopped at was in Plano, off the George Bush Turnpike.  The nearest cross street was Park.  This store was not as busy as the others, but it was a weekday afternoon between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. I did not expect to find any .22 LR there.  Surprise! There, tucked down in the lowest shelf, with no price showing was nearly 2,000 rounds of Winchester SuperX, some CCI .22 Magnum and a carton of CCI .22 LR shotshells.

I was pretty sure I would find .22 LR at the Frankford store, but I was surprised to find significant quantities at two of the other three stores where I stopped.

The prices were nothing to smile about.  8.37 cents a round for Winchester SuperX seems a bit high to me.  Using a constant dollar calculator, it would translate back to about 1 cent a round in the early 1950′s. It is not completely out of line.

I expect .22 LR to become more plentiful and cheaper in the coming year.

None of the .22 LR was in bulk packs, and that is where the best deals for blasting ammunition is found.  The Internet sellers have .22 LR as low as 5.6 cents a round, but you have to pay shipping.

©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.

Link to Gun Watch

Source: http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2016/12/stopped-at-4-dallasft-worth-walmarts-3.html