American gun owners gear up for ammunition and reloading component price increases

03/21/2022 / By Kevin Hughes

American gun owners are gearing up for ammunition and reloading component price hikes in the coming month due to rising commodity prices.

Vista Outdoor, a major manufacturer of ammunition in the United States, earlier said that “supply chain constraints and increases in our raw materials” will result in “price increases to help offset those rising costs.”

The company announced the price hikes as early as December when the Bloomberg Industrial Metals Subindex was 40 percent lower than current prices. Meaning, ammo prices could be moving much higher than what was initially predicted. Bullets are made of different materials, namely copper, lead, steel and brass.

Price increases will start on April 1 for Vista Outdoor ammo brands, along with CCI, Federal, Hevi-Shot, Remington and SPEER. Primers are expected to increase by five percent; powders by five percent; handguns by two to eight percent; rifles by three to eight percent; and shotguns by three to 12 percent.

Vista Outdoor sets new high-level mark in sales

Vista Outdoor, parent company of 39 brands like Federal Premium and Remington Ammunition, recorded new high-level mark in sales during a three-month period that ended Dec. 26 last year with $795 million.

“Our record results demonstrate that we’re successfully executing on our Value Creation strategy and reflect continued high consumer demand for our products. The power of our brands, combined with our continuous introduction of innovative new products, and lean cost structure has allowed us to offset cost increases through targeted pricing action while absorbing some costs through operational efficiencies to maintain profitable growth across our portfolio,” said Vista Outdoor CEO Chris Metz.

“With the acquisition of Stone Glacier, our seventh acquisition in less than 18 months, Vista Outdoor is building a resilient and diverse portfolio and expanding our total addressable market across multiple outdoor recreation categories.”

In an earnings conference call last Feb. 3, Metz said the April price increase will affect the next fiscal year. But he expressed confidence that the company will work its way through the ups and downs.

“So, the inefficiencies that we saw with COVID-related vacancies or shortages in labor, we’re quickly working our way through it. And we’ve been fighting this for the better part of two years. Our team is very, very adept at working through those issues,” Metz added.

Americans are panic buying all kinds of ammo

Prior to the price hikes, Ammo.com related that Americans are panic buying all kinds of ammunition. The top U.S. online gun retailer said it has “recorded a recent surge in consumer demand for small arms ammunition – the onset of which perfectly coincided with the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.”

Ammo.com’s revenues rose 166 percent and transactions were up 110 percent over the past two weeks. Website traffic for the February 24 and March 10 period was up 59 percent.

The days of inexpensive ammo came to an end during the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic when people panicked and hoarded guns because of the social unrest in liberal cities. Another buying wave, rising commodity prices and a forthcoming price hike will make ammo all the more expensive.

And it’s all thanks to President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan, which has resulted in expenses of everything soaring even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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