Vista Outdoors Warns "Global Shortage Of Gunpowder" Will Set Ammo Prices On Fire 

US sporting and outdoor products group Vista Outdoor warned in a letter to customers that ammunition prices are set to surge due to "an anticipated global shortage of gunpowder."

Vista Outdoor confirmed the authenticity of the letter to Newsweek days ago. The increase of ammo and gunpowder prices is expected on Jan. 1. 

"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," Vice President of Sales, Sporting Products Brett Nelson said in the letter.

Nelson continued, "We must, therefore, raise our pricing to help offset those increases."

Ammo and powder prices at Remington, Alliant Powder, CCI, Federal, SEVI-Shot, and Speer are set to rise in the coming weeks:

• Shotshell: 1-7 percent

• Rifle: 1-7 percent

• Handgun: 1-5 percent

• 22LR/Shorts: 1-5 percent

• WMR/HMR: 1-7 percent

• Primers: 5 percent

• Alliant Powder: 10 percent (limited availability).

The rise in demand for ammo and gunpowder comes as the Russia-Ukraine war nears the two-year mark while Israel is 1.5 months into a large-scale ground war with Hamas in Gaza. 

Here are the current retail prices for ammo scrapped off firearm websites by AmmoPricesNow:

9mm

22LR

.223

7.62x39

Is Vista Outdoor's Nelson hyping up an ammo shortage to drive sales, or does his statement hold some truth?