I run several shooting programs. Federal has always been a big supporter of youth programs but even that ammo had dried up. Federal said that .22 ammo, which they sold to these programs for $16.50/500, was put on hold during the shortage. They stopped making .22 and focused on the big money, 9mm, .45 and .223, which was out of control.
They were told that youth programs across the country wer going to go extinct, if there was no ammo. My programs had enjoyed semi auto .22 rifles and handguns, shot on resettable target racks and was a lot of fun. We had money, but could not find ammo. I was down to only putting out single shot rifles and single action pistols with metered ammo just to preserve my dwindling supply.
Federal listened. They activated 5% of their production for .22 only for these programs. It took 4 month to bring it together, but they delivered on their promise. .22 ammo, $16.50/500 plus shipping. The pallet of 55,000 rounds arrived just in time. We hold a Family Fun Shoot every year, open to the public where people can come out, get some safety instructiong and shoot a wide variety of firearms and calibers. Federal saved that event from being greatly downsized.
It proved that manufacturers are responsible for the .22 shortage by focusing on the high dollar calibers. That is supply and demand. It also shows that, at least Federal, understand unintended consequences, and did the right thing to keep a portion of this younger generation involved.
