...Unfortunately, by that time some people had figured out how to profit from the .22 ammo shortage...
...because of cell phones and the Internet. Nowadays, every time some .22 ammo or hard-to-find powder or bullets appear anywhere, there's a feeding frenzy and they're gone. That wasn't happening nearly as much during the previous two panics. So this one's at least partially information-driven.
It's interesting how many people post here (and no doubt on other sites) when stuff appears in stores or on websites. Apparently they think they're doing everybody a favor, but it feeds the buying frenzy, and thus prolongs the shortages...
All excellent points.