Trade wars are having a significant impact on premium nonlead ammo availability—and could hinder the ability for waterfowl hunters to purchase shotshells with tungsten and bismuth loads, with at least one major ammo producer discontinuing its bismuth offerings entirely.
Brandon Cerecke, founder and owner of Boss Shotshells, tells Split Reed that his company was forced to stop producing and selling its flagship bismuth-based shells due to supply chain issues related to recent trade wars between the United States and Asian suppliers of the niche metal. According to the Critical Raw Minerals Alliance, 68 percent of the global producers of bismuth are in China, with 17 percent in Vietnam, and 5 percent in Japan. Those countries—and China in particular—have been targeted by the Trump administration with steep tariffs and have responded with retaliatory moves of their own.
China, for instance, began limiting its bismuth exports in February. According to Bloomberg News, the price of the metal surged by 500 percent by March alone. The high prices have made it difficult for ammo producers to acquire, let alone sell at reasonable price points.
“Our metal supply dried up almost overnight,” says Cerecke. “Then the same thing happened with tungsten. So, we had to pivot.”
Boss Shotshells discontinued production of its bismuth loads and began the involved process of developing all-copper shotshell loads, which Cerecke hopes will have greater availability because the metal is more broadly produced in America and can be derived from recycled materials.
Not all ammo makers have discontinued their tungsten and bismuth loads, though prices for those shells have risen over the past year—and may continue to do so as ammo companies sell through their preexisting inventory. For instance, a box of 25 20-gauge, number 6 shot Hevi-Bismuth shells is going for $72.99, up nearly 11 percent year-over-year.
Meanwhile, steel shells will likely see price increases, too, though steel remains the most accessible pellet metal. Additionally, prices for steel shot may fluctuate less than for niche metals like bismuth and tungsten because the U.S. is the fourth-largest steel producer globally. That said, tariffs have led to opportunistic price hikes from American steel producers in recent weeks. If those costs persist, ammo production companies will have to reduce their margins or pass on the extra costs to consumers.
Cerecke remains hopeful that all-copper shells—the first of the kind produced by an American company in recent memory—could provide a more accessible premium alternative to U.S. hunters. “The density of copper is similar to that of bismuth. It is soft and malleable still, so it can be shot in the vintage guns that a lot of our customers use. So far, copper is performing better in all our tests with ballistic gel pattern testing.”