When you take all things into consideration, it's really no wonder there's a shortage of 22 ammo.
a.) The 22 LR has been an entry level gun for shooting since forever.
b.) The 22 LR offers LOTS of affordable entry level options, probably more options than any other single caliber.
c.) The 22 LR offers LOTS of high capacity options, semi-auto loading options.
d.) The 22 LR used to offer lots of affordable ammo, and still does (sorta), with respectable dealers. So...
e.) Pretty much everybody that owns a gun has one, or a dozen.
For all the above reasons 22 LR ammo is in very high demand setting up all of the other issues.
When gun bans were being talked about, and everyone was buying crazy, existing gun owners probably didn't rush out and buy up all the 22 LRs in the world, that was probably more inclined to be young first time gun owners.
Young first time gun owners:
a.) Don't have any ammo, let alone have any ammo stock-piled.
b.) Want to shoot their new guns.
c.) Shoot lots of rounds when they do shoot their guns.
d.) Don't know how cheap 22 LR is supposed to be.
Therefore young first time gun owners:
a.) Are willing to pay much more for 22 LR ammo until they become educated.
b.) Learn that if you want to shoot, you should have a stockpile, while trying to find ammo.
c.) Pay the gougers' prices, since they want to shoot, which keeps the gougers in business.
d.) Burn up lots of ammo feeding their new toy, when they can find it. Which compounds the problem of building their stockpile of not so cheap ammo.
Add to this the facts that:
a.) ALL stores are out 22 LR and need to restock their shelves.
b.) Hundreds of millions, if not billions of rounds were placed on backorder when things started crashing in this market, and likely millions still are backordered on a daily basis as this shortage continues. Wherein...
c.) You enter the gougers and hoarders who buy everything that hits the shelves because they still have a market. Which...
d.) Creates more gougers and hoarders, as folks become frustrated trying to find 22LR ammo. And...
e.) This is not a reloadable cartidge, so no one is able to ease demand on the few manufacturing plants by reloading.
In a nutshell, demand for 22 LR ammo has increased exponentially, and ammo manufacturers aren't going to spend millions to build a new factory to produce $2 a box ammo when they think this bubble is going to bust, and their existing plants are going to meet day to day demand again. It just isn't going to happen.
The only way the problem is going to get fixed is:
a.) Raise the price to $1995 for 500 rounds, across the board. Which will...
b.) Allow the store shelves to be restocked,
c.) Allow backorders to catch up, and...
d.) Allow the manufacturers to restock their stockpile.
After which, the prices can slowly back down to reasonable and even cheap again, assuming we can trust retailers to price their ammo fairly, rather gouging everyone. Allowing everyone to reenter the market at what "they" consider fair prices, which will slow demand, allowing the market to keep up with sales. Unfortunately, as long as the respectable dealers refuse to follow the business model of increasing prices to meet the lack of supply, therein slowing demand, and continue to sell 22 LR cheap, we're going to keep seeing the gougers and hoarders feeding on each other. The hoarders will see the need to increase the size of their stockpile because of the shortage they are creating. The gougers are going to keep reaping the profits. The store shelves aren't going to fill back up, the backorders aren't going to catch up, and the manufacturers aren't going to be able to rebuild their stockpile.
Bottomline; honestly... The only way it's going to get better is for it to get worse.