Yeah, that's about what I've seen.
Rimfire ammo availability and price has been important to a bunch of shooters since the Obama Shortages. I hadad a wonderfully accurate CZ .17 Mach 2 before the2, which made sense at the time, because .17 Mach 2 ammo coat about half as much as HMR--which was one of the justifications for the M2's introduction. Wonderful gopher round.
Then during the shortages M2 ammo became almost unobtainable, and when it was the price was close to .17 HMR--and even during the shortages HMR ammo sometimes went on sale. So I sold the M2, and bought .17 HMR ammo on sale.
.17 M2 ammo is now available again, but just checked the three websites where I bought most of my rimfire during the shortages. The average lowest price for 50 rounds of M2 was $7.58 and for HMR $9.15. Ain't buying another Mach 2.
I just sold the Whittaker special run RAR Mach 2 I purchased a few months ago. The rifle was fine, but otherwise promising groups were spoiled by fliers, and with the bedding system used, I couldn't see any way that could be the problem. I suspect the ammo just isn't being made with the same care as when it was originally, when Eley was making it and there was some talk of it becoming a match standard. Couldn't see spending $8 a box for ammo that didn't group any better than SV.
