ATTENTION: Show attendees get a shot at cheap, hard-to-find ammunition!!!

1/30/2015
Bill Monroe

At least 15,000 gun owners will get cheap shots at the upcoming Pacific Northwest Sportsmen’s Show, opening Wednesday at the Portland Expo Center.

That’s how many permits will be issued on a first-come basis to show attendees — exhibitors included — allowing them to buy inexpensive short “bricks” of .22 caliber long rifle ammunition.

22 rimfire ammo, the most popular recreational shooting caliber, has been in short supply for years.

So short, in fact, it flies from the shelves of most sporting goods stores as fast as it is stocked, and usually for high prices. Few major sources in the Portland area had any at all in a cursory check this past week. Prices for those that did ranged from 16 to 20 cents per round. American ammunition manufacturers are racing to keep up with demand, but some retailers are importing 22 ammo from Mexico.

“Brick” is a term for a small container, usually cardboard, holding smaller boxes of .22 ammunition, usually 40 or 50 rounds. Total shells in a 22 bricks vary from 300-500 rounds.

Each day of the show, Cascade Farm and Outdoor of Walla Walla will sell 6,000 short bricks (300 rounds) for $20 each, or 6.7 cents per round. They’re CCI, 36-grain, copper-plated, hollow-point cartridges.

Rules are posted online at www.milliondollarammosale.com. The site also gives sale hours and other types of ammunition for sale by Cascade Farm and Outdoor.

The 22 rimfire ammunition offer is by far the show’s (and the region’s) biggest news Feb. 4-8, but it’s far from the only attraction.

Also returning are the indoor steelhead river with live steelhead and expert anglers (yes, the fish actually bite, but the hooks are pointless), the annual Head and Horns Competition for those old forgotten antlers out in the garage (and a special display nearby of the biggest trophy white-tailed deer taken in the Northwest), camp-cooking demonstrations and the ever-popular kids’ trout pond.

Peter Kummerfeldt, a retired survival instructor for the U.S. Air Force, will give his last series of survival seminars. Kummerfeldt is retiring from the show circuit as well. Over the years, more than 40 people have told Kummerfeldt they owe their lives to what he taught them.

Dozens of hunting, fishing, camping, etc., seminars are presented each day. A schedule and other show details (and a discount coupon) are online at: thesportshows.com.

The show costs $12 for adults ($18 for a two-day pass) and $5 for youth aged 6-16. Discount coupons are also available at Baxter Auto Supply, Les Schwab Tires and Bi-Mart. A Fred Meyer rewards card shown at the ticket window will get $2 off on weekdays and $1 off on the weekend.

Hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Parking is $8 at the Expo Center ($7 for carpools of three or more) and $6 at Portland Meadows (free shuttle).

Copyright 2015 Longview Daily News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

source