I have heard all the excuses for ammo prices, but it really comes down to the ammo companies getting greedy. Why on earth would they produce more ammo at lower prices when they have a monopoly and are making the biggest profits in industry history right now by producing less? They learned well from the Big Oil companies when hoarder sales skyrocketed after the last election.
Thing is, sooner or later the hoarders will either have what even they consider "enough" or they will be broke, too.
In the meantime, the traditional backbone of the ammo market, sport shooters such as trap, skeet, and other competition, are being forced to either cut way down on participation or even just quit entirely. A large part of the sport and market may be lost eventually due to ammo producer greed.
Even reloading is horribly expensive. I can only be thankful for my still-cheap-to-shoot bow as my own guns suffer extreme disuse. But I still have sons competing in High School Trap Shooting. Reloading 12 ga target loads now costs $5 per box!! And that doesn't include the price of any hulls or the reloader itself. And 100 rounds apiece per week is minimal for their practicing. That's $40 every week just for reloads!