All panic buying related to the election - 2008 and again last year. As soon as that ended and supplies were there, a lot of folks started buying more on a regular basis to get thru the next shortage.
I tried to stock up on 22 but my son goes thru a brick every range trip - still have 8 bricks of bulk I'm sitting on, but I am almost out of the better ammo I use for informal precision matches (CCI SV or Win SSHP). I also bought a 1911-22 (GSG) and a conversion kit for my FAL (which should be here soonish - all parts are completed now its just the production run... well worth the wait), so I can afford to shoot all day for $30
... just like you could 10 years ago in the centerfire calibers
CCI stated they were shipping one million rounds of rimfire ammo a day ...