I like a good conspiracy as much as the next guy, but if there is any involved here, it's just additional fallout from the giant scam known as Covid.
Some contributing events that I can think of offhand:
1. Covid BS severely limiting business to run at full capacity.
2. Resulting supply chain issues. -- Keep in mind that very little powder is produced in the USA.
3. Labor shortages, mostly because many people decided they prefer the .gov teat.
4. Millions of new gun owners.
5. Remington (big time ammo and primer maker) collapsed.
6. Trend toward Just In Time (JIT) manufacturing. Manufacturers don't want to store a shitload of product. They want to produce roughly as much as they can sell in a given time period. -- This is very efficient until there's a huge spike in demand. Then they can't catch up until demand subsides.
All of these things lead to scarcity across the board, which only feeds into more hoarding. The guy that normally only stocks a brick or two of primers now buys 10 because who knows when you'll be able to get them again. -- Multiple that behavior x a few million and it's easy to see why we're still here.
Yep.
Along w/Remington being down, Italy was especially hard hit w/CV-19, that's where lots of Fiocchi ammo is made. Also, lots of Federal/American Eagle/Estate ammo made in MN. MN was downright draconian w/their CV-19 reduced workforce mandates for a VERY long time.
Regarding #6, it's not just manufacturers who don't carry inventory anymore. Wholesalers and retail outlets don't carry big stocks anymore either.
Just my opinion, but, I suspect we're 2-3 years out from anything resembling "normal" regarding reloading components. Ammo aisles are beginning to "look" full, but take a close look. There aren't 20-30 choices of 270/30-06 ammo, there's 4-5 with decent numbers. None of the seasonal run stuff has been run since 2019. 32 Special, 284Win, 25-35, 7x57, 35Rem, 358Win, etc, etc, etc. Until you see the ammo aisle back to pre-pandemic shape, there'll be spotty availability of reloading components.