[snowwdog]

so how many of us can get together and pool our money to start a .22 factory? How much could it cost? Its just lead wire swaged and copper plated. Brass disks formed to the brass. Seems simple enuff. We could do it. And the demand for .22's will never stop.

[XDRoX]

You shouldn't drink this early in the morning.

[freakshow10mm]

The machinery is relatively expensive but the hardest part is the priming compound manufacturing and loading into the cases. In order to either handle or manufacture the priming compound, you need to be licensed as an explosives manufacturer or dealer, since primers and priming compounds are explosives.

[snowwdog]

CCI states that they have been running 24/7 for years trying to keep up with demand. Why would they not add capacity? Is the equipment really that expensive? Or do the ammo companies keep the supply low to keep the prices up?

[freakshow10mm]

CCI has custom built machinery, not something like a Camdex or AmmoLoad for a couple thousand rounds per hour. CCI's machinery manufactures 4 million rounds of rimfire ammunition each production day. A setup like theirs is a few million dollars in machinery and support.

.22Long Rifle Ammunition Manufacture (Part 1 of 2) - YouTube

.22Long Rifle Ammunition Manufacture (Part 1 of 2) - YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&fe...&v=EdNkfTS0lOQ

Expansion on that production line means a new building, new machinery, new equipment support, and labor. It's not a snap your fingers move. The corporate board at ATK must give the OK for the expansion. Contrary to Internet belief, the profit ammunition manufacturers make on ammunition selling only to wholesalers isn't much. The wholesale distributors and retail dealers make more in profit per sale than the ammunition manufacturer does. Wholesale pricing isn't driven very much by retail pricing. Retail is generally set based on wholesale. The panic demand surges in recent years have no bearing on wholesale pricing, which has been stagnant for years.

If you want to make real money in this industry, you must manufacture it yourself and sell only to retail consumers and deal with the headaches associated with that (you better have a real good shipping department too). It's much easier for a business to sell wholesale than it is retail. Much less stress selling to only 20 companies than it is 37 million retail customers direct.

[freakshow10mm]

Furthermore, if you are selling every round of ammunition you can manufacture with current facilities and still have a demand for your ammunition from people that are willing to wait some time, that is actually really good. If you are barely meeting demand with no demand futures, it can be a scary position in business. Producing just less than demand in a market with very little competition yet high demand is a good position.

Aguila
Armscor
Eley
Fiocchi
Lapua
Remington
SK
Winchester
Wolf

That's the competition to the ATK ammunition families for rimfire (Federal, CCI, Speer). The only real competition is Remington and Winchester. The rest are junk or target only.