...as a married adult, I could buy a brick of decent 22 LR ammo at under 2¢ per round; I got it less expensive than that in my adult years before marriage but cannot recall the price then.
To my amazement, I was at a gun show (of all places) in Yonkers NY or White Plains in the mid to late 1990s, NY when I found bricks of CCI Blazer 22 LR ammo for sale @ $9.00 per brick - making it .018¢ per round. At that time, prices had recently increased and bricks of 22 LR were going for at least $12.00 to $15.00 at similar shows. I think that was the first time I bought, let along had heard of, CCI Blazer ammo. I was impressed enough with it to buy more over the years. It went bang like 99.9% of the time with only rare failures to fire, was pretty accurate in most of my 22s, was inexpensive & plentiful and those attributes made up for the fact it was and remains one of the dirtiest 22 LR rounds I have ever fired.
Those days are long gone but 22 LR ammunition is still one of the best buys in the world of ammo purchases as you can find it widely available at, or a bit under, 6¢ per round and even can find it from several dealers at 5¢ per round.
All the best,
GB