my question is, since .22's were 4c apiece, why were you NOT buying them by the 5000 rd "case", and not getting another one every time your supply ran under 3000 rds or so? If you aint shooting that much, then why worry about it now? You should have built your skills LONG ago. Contrary to the hype put out by trainers and the gun industry, REALISTIC defensive skill is NOT all that "perishable".. and most of it can be retained, quite well in fact, with dryfire and AirSoft practice. Certainly 22 practice, in handguns, doesn't mean all that much, cause it's control of recoil and being able to ignore the blast effects that mean the difference between a master and a duffer, cause the ranges when it's for real are less than 5 yds, and usually, less than 10 FEET. So the small groups on targets mean nothing, hitting or coming close to soda pop cans means nothing. Being SUPER fast on the ccw draw and for repeat hits mean something, but the former doesn't require live ammo at all, and .22 practice doesn't help the latter much, if at all. Certainly, beyond a certain skill level, .22 practice actually hurts you, for control of lw, compact, powerful pistols, because the recoil fighting impulse in your hands is so different than what is needed.