I haven't bought .38 Special or .357 for some time now. I got several molds, started casting and back in 2010 when ammo started to inch up there I got going more. When the 2012 election came around I got what I could for supplies prior to the election because I wasn't confident of a positive outcome. Now ammo especially here in parts of NY is very hard, in some cases impossible to come by. So I load my own still. I haven't priced a box of .357 in a while, but I'm willing to bet its more than I am willing to pay.
As far as .22 lr goes, that is in the stratosphere where I am. The last time I saw any was on a shelf about two months ago. It was Federal high velocity and the shop was asking $23 for a box of fifty rounds which to me is extortion. I have heard some guys talk about the overhead and the cost from the wholesaler and then I see gun shops gouging their own clients. There is a woman locally who was taking bricks of Federal .22, breaking them up, putting 100 rounds in a ziplock bag and selling those for $15 each. She was selling Remington 50 rounds boxes for $12 each. When I went to the last gun show, I was told that there was a guy who had ten bricks of Winchester .22 and he was selling them for $85 each, they all sold in the first thirty minutes of the show. I found a guy who was selling a brick of 555 Winchester rounds for $75. I had to swallow alot of pride to buy that but it was the last brick in the whole place. I snagged one or two boxes of fifty rounds for about $5 each from the older dealers. The problem is that there are some who are looking to make as much as they can off of the ammo crisis, and its the same with the guns. I am seeing where I live AR-15's selling for twice retail, the same with AK copies. There is one dealer who has a bunch of .22 ammo. He won't sell it to you unless you buy a .22 rifle. Those are fifty round boxes so when you burn that up, you can't go back to him and buy because he won't sell it. The local Walmart has been caught holding .22 for a gun shop owner. He drives thirty minutes from his town and buys whatever he can get, goes back and slaps a price on it and sells it all in a day or so. I know this because people have tried buying .22 at Walmart first thing in the morning only to find him there and he has been seen walking out with a big bag of them, people have complained about the three box limit to the manager and it falls on deaf ears. I fear we have not seen the worst. Here in NY eventually they will get the background check on ammo up and running, even if Cuomo loses, the Dems control the Assembly and I don't see any way to repeal the Safe Act unless its defunded. It's not a lost cause, but its an uphill fight. People also smell something coming. They know our economy can't hold forever, they fear civil unrest, a catastrophe, little green men whatever but there is a lot of tension out there and its rising. All that comes into play, and we are seeing the result of it.
As far as reloading goes, you don't have to buy a lot. After I got hurt I couldn't sit at a bench like before so first I got a Lee Hand Press than a Lyman 310. I actually combine the uses for both. I find that it's easier to resize cases with the handpress and then everything else is done with the 310. I can load a box of fifty rounds for the .38 or .357 in no time from my recliner. I think I got the 310 with the dies for .38/ .357 on ebay used for only $45.
