Well, suddenly running into the shortage when expecting to easily pick up 100 rounds or so is certainly a factor.
But there are lots of people in my part of the world who shoot LOTS of .22 rimfire, whether in varmint hunting, target shooting, or just plain practice plinking. In fact some often shoot a brick a day in varmint shooting. So it depends a lot on where you live.
I don't shoot ground squirrels as much as I used to, but 20 years ago expected to go through several bricks each year just on them.
