Before we get started I’d like to point out as of right now this is purely speculation based off of what we’re seeing currently in the market. A few days ago at the start of December, Vista Outdoors, the principal owner of several popular brands of ammunition, powders, and primers, announced a price increase due to begin at the start of 2024. This increase is in reaction to what Vista Outdoors calls an unprecedented demand for and anticipated global shortage of gunpowder. The full press release has been posted below.

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Is A Global Gunpowder Shortage Coming In 2024?

December 1st, 2023 

Dear Customer: 

Thank you for your business and for your continued support of American jobs and 

manufacturing. Due to world events our suppliers have notified us of unprecedented demand for and an anticipated global shortage of gunpowder, and thus has increased our prices substantially.  We must therefore raise our pricing to help offset those increases. 

Effective January 1st, 2024, Alliant Powder, CCI, Federal, HEVI-Shot, Remington and SPEER will take the following increases: 

• Shotshell 1-7% 
• Rifle 1-7% 
• Handgun 1-5% 
• 22LR/Shorts 1-5% 
• WMR/HMR 1-7% 
• Primers 5% 
• Alliant Powder 10% (Limited Availability) 

Unless you notify us to cancel an order, we will reprice all existing and future orders shipped on or after January 1st, 2024, to the new prices. New pricelists will follow in the coming weeks. 

Thank you for your continued support of our brands and our American workforce. 

Brett Nelson 

VP of Sales, Sporting Products  

Curious about this press release I poked around a couple of my usual places where these types of things are discussed and found that most people are not only clearly upset but also in disbelief that there could be anything that would or should warrant a price increase like this. However, we’ve already seen small events, such as the black powder explosion in Mindon, Louisiana, that can have long-lasting ripples through the firearms industry. Similar to the black powder shortage of 2023, this shortage seems to be mostly driven by a sharp increase in ammunition consumption – my theory is that it may be due to the several armed conflicts that are currently taking place wherein the US Government is supplying arms and ammunition which is certainly having a drain on the availability of components on the civilian side.

While we may see an industry-wide price increase in ammunition and reloading components, for now, the only hard evidence we have of price increases is from the Vista Outdoor Group which includes some of my favorite brands like Federal Ammunition, and CCI (for my rimfire addiction). Obviously, we’d like to hear your thoughts on this bit of industry news. What do you think is the cause for the sudden demand and shortage of gunpowder and do you think this will affect the entire ammunition and reloading industry?