Having read no end of stories about depression era kids who were sent afield with a single round of 22lr and expected to come back with dinner, or not at all, I hold out hope that the current shortage--by cutting down on mindless 10/22 influenced "plinking"--will lead to the next great generation of American Marksmen.
There is more than a bit of truth in that, and it's an unfortunate reality, in at least a couple of ways. A generation of kids raised with the instant gratification of video games is not going to be interested in starting shooting from a rest, learning sight picture, breathing, and trigger squeeze. As a range officer I see it all the time, a dad bringing excited kids to the range, loading up a banana clip or even drum, turning the kid loose offhand, and it's bang, bang, bang "Hey, Dad, I hit the target", more bang, bang, bang. Sure, it's fun, but the kids don't learn much about riflery. Best I can hope for as a RSO is that some safe habits become ingrained.
To the present point, I would be very doubtful that traditional basic quality standards of American RF ammo are going to survive the heated demand. Too much money to be made producing cheap .22s in volume. It's a sad day when shooters talk about such basics as misfires, dirty residue, leading, etc. Even more so when manufacturers warn against using name brand ammo in their guns. Too many shooters are happy if it goes "bang", at least most of the time.
Paul
