What is your theory? I figure there's the following possibilities:
- Production is running at normal output and it is simply being bought up as fast as it can be made
- Production is running at normal output and it is being hoarded somewhere, before it can reach the retail market
- Production is running at reduced output, resulting in shortages
I suppose Occam would dictate that the first possibility requires the fewest assumptions, since we do know that demand is at historic levels. But it does seem hard to believe that there would be that much rimfire being bought. Maybe there is though? People are buying up pretty much anything that will go bang.
The reason I figured on it being something like reduced output due to resource reallocation is that they, like any good business, should have a very good idea of what product line is giving them the best yield for a given investment of resources. In the present climate stuff like 5.56 and 7.62 NATO are most in demand. So if they have these huge rolls of brass sheet that they stamp cases from, maybe take the rolls that would have been used to produce something moderately profitable and instead shift it to another product line that is currently three to four times as profitable as it was just a few months ago.
I dunno, it's all just idle speculation for me. Brass is a common commodity, but it is nevertheless 70% of the cost of a loaded round of ammunition. If it were me and my zero years of non-existent experience in the manufacturing business, I'd be maximizing the raw materials devoted to the most profitable product lines in as close to real-time as possible.
I know I never thought I'd see a scenario where even the ubiquitous .22 LR is cleaned off the shelves.