I STILL think the ammo companies are geared up to make more expensive stuff to meet the needs for all of the Unconstitutional police forces Obama and his predecessors have established.
Per given man-hour, you can make more money on 9mm, .45 ACP, .223, .40 S&W than you can make on .22LR.
I remember reading that the ammo companies only made x-amount of 22 LR per year. The problem comes from all the gun owners getting "an extra brick or two, just in case", which wipes out any availability (I'd do the same, but I haven't seen any bricks in over a year.)