Yep. Grandpa homesteaded the place and had twelve kids! A box of .22 Magnum ammo wasn't a trivial expense but it put many deer on the table.
My dad had business dealings with country stores (long story). These stores were way out in the middle of nowheresville Appalachia.
Little boys would come into these stores to buy a half-dozen .22 LR rounds. That was what the change in their pockets could buy. They turned the .22 rnds into rabbit and squirrel for the supper table. A bit of meat, taters, & poke greens = getting by. This is why I've always been fascinated by the life story of Annie Oakley.
Me, I've got a stack of life stories of profoundly interesting people. History will forget them, but their Creator will not.
Compared to the kids of today, I was raised poor. In my own mind however, we had it
good. This is because in my childhood I knew kids who were DIRT POOR. I've seen grinding hellish poverty. The young adults of today possess no understanding of what it is to just get by.
To a subsistence hunter, an accurate .22 rifle is gold.
High velocity ammunition? No, no, no. The meat-hunter wants accuracy, not necessarily power.
Among what I own, I have six firearms in .22 magnum. Could someone get buy on a .22 LR or a .22 magnum? Oh, yes! And do well, at that.
In this day and age, turn off the electricity and over 85% of the population would be dead in a couple of months. Scary sad, this.
.