Agree. What state do you live in? In California I have to arrange with an FFL for them to receive the bulk shipment and for me to pass the background check before I can pick it up. The days of bulk ammo arriving on my doorstep are gone.
I have a Walther P22. I love shooting it. It’s also a great handgun for training beginners, including children. What’s really sad is that Walmart no longer carries the Federal .22LR in the “550” boxes. I remember buying those boxes for $9. 
One of the reasons I gave up competitive handgun shooting (I did steel and action). I had a Dillon press but couldn’t get components. Then the Winchester white box became hard to get and too expensive when you could. Loaded up what I had on hand and sold the press. Thinking of selling the competition gun. I also didn’t have the time to participate so I was slowing down.
I bought a bunch of those a couple years ago, mostly the blue box. I learned my lesson 2008 on, I wasn’t hurting for .22 but it gave my pause. And sometimes I was forced to resort to buying shudder Remington Golden Bullet.
Late to the thread, and I haven’t read all of the replies.
I have a bit of a collection. I like my .45 caliber 1911s (actually, I’ve only fired my 1991 A1; but I have a 1916? civilian serial numbered Government Model). No problem handling .45. I have a Ruger Blackhawk in .45 LC. A former coworker, who’d been an SP in the Air Force, thought it had too much recoil compared to the .38 Specials he was used to shooting. I thought it was fine. I used to have a 1942 Mauser-built Luger P.08 in 9 mm, and it was fine too. I have an Italian-made Beretta 92FS, and an ex-Polizei P.1 (P.38). And a Walther PPK/S in .380 Auto, and a .38 S&W among others.
Although I have a Concealed Carry Permit, I do not carry a firearm. No need or desire to. But if I were to be put into a situation where I needed to defend myself with a firearm, I’d choose the Beretta. I like the idea of having 15 shots. 9 mm doesn’t have the ‘stopping power’ of a .45? Who cares? If I need a firearm to defend myself, I want to stop the assailant. I don’t need to blow him out of his socks. I just need to deter him from attacking. Anything in my collection would be enough. Remember that in the '30s a .32 ACP was the weapon of choice for a lot of people, and European police were equipped with .32s for decades. Heck, James Bond in Dr. No liked his .25 ACP Beretta! That may or may not be as powerful as a .22 LR!
As far as ‘choice’ goes, I think 9 mm is the most popular choice. But anything is better than nothing. It’s how you use it, not how big it is. [Insert penis joke here.]
As Wyatt Earp said, “Fast is fine but accuracy is final.”
Here’s a question, we’ve had at least 4 ammo panic buy events in the past 15 years or so and are still chronically short on cheap ammo.
Where is all that ammo going? Is it really just hoarders hoarding? But if so wouldn’t in theory they run out of storage space for their ammo? I haven’t seen any real uptic in people at my local gun ranges which you would think would happen if people are buying ammo for shooting.
Bwhahahaha! Surely you jest.
We can’t keep guns in stock. We’re all making money hand over fist.
And as mentioned, ammo is available. You’re just going to have to pay for it. For a while we had next to no ammo but people still bought firearms.
Certain less commonly used ammo is a bit on the scarce side. But I know few people who carry something like a 41 Action Express.
Then the laws of economics would say that your prices are too low, and need to be raised.
You think I would be better off with unsold inventory sitting in a display case than selling at a decent profit. What kind of thinking is that?
The rush has slowed down a tad, but people are still buying up everything in sight. My prices are comparable to a Cabelas that’s 5 miles down the highway, yet they’re higher than they were just 2 years ago.
Yeah, I won’t knock merchants who follow the market but do not try to shake down the consumer. pk may have been just using a standard figure of speech to signify his business is hovering close to market equilibrium where supply just meets demand at prices people are willing to pay. And we are in a time where a lot of things are going to be acquiring a new baseline expected price point.
(some merchants did take advantage of 2020-2021 to gouge… but that will happen)
Internet scalping was -quite- the thing for a while, but currently, online prices from various resellers are slightly cheaper than the average store. Although there are/have been quite a few complaints that some of the ammunition being sold as new is actually reloads in appropriate brass.
Again, at the current cost point, I haven’t bought any in the last two years, because I can’t bear to spend $100 ish for a short shooting session. As for where it’s going, it takes up surprisingly little space, especially in a gun safe, and many of the people who hoard it, -are- willing to practice to keep up proficiency, so they buy enough to practice, store the new stuff, use the old stuff (which makes sense, even if modern ammo is likely to be good for decades if stored well) for the practice.