I wondered for years why .22 ammo was so cheap since I was paying 70 cents per box of 50 rds. in 1962 because I could not afford to pay $7 for a brick very often. At that time reg. gasoline was usually about 28 cents a gallon, etc. etc. etc.

In recent years, until recently, I have been amazed at the low prices on .22 ammo and I always kept a decent supply on hand and of course now I wish I had really stocked up. My take is the .22 is a commodity item that for years was a loss leader for the ammo mfg. and the retailers just like bread and milk for the grocery stores.

And now it has flipped and become kind of like gold nuggets or something. I suspect that someday, kind of like Beanie Babies or Cabbage Patch Dolls which us parents years ago chased all over town to buy so our precious darlings would be happy for a day or two at Christmas.

I also remember working as a retail manager at TG&Y stores in 1974 when all of a sudden anti-freeze became in very short supply and suddenly we could put the amount we were allocated on an encounter for three times the normal price and housewives driving new cars who had no need for additional anti-freeze would buy two or three gallons of the stuff just because it was there. We also had a run on sugar around the same time and panic buying drove those prices up too.

I suspect that barring some unforeseen crazy unfortunate occurrence like in past few years that eventually we will reach a saturation point and we will all consider a few thousand rounds of .22 on hand to be an adequate supply. Then the market price will stabilize at point a point, I would guess around $20 to $25 if the price of brass and lead stay constant. If components go up then it’s anyones guess what will happen to ammo.