The world's using more ammo, and Alberta gun owners are paying the price

Inflation has taken a bite out of many wallets over the last few years, whether it's the cost of beef, housing or fuel.

The cost of ammunition — of interest to the thousands of Albertans who use firearms — is no exception, though the reasons for the price spike may come as a surprise to some.

From war to election cycles to supply chain troubles, there's a complex web of issues behind the doubliing of prices over the past three years.

For example, the most popular calibre for handguns and rifles in the country, 9-mm ammunition, was selling for $13 for 50 rounds two years ago. Now, 50 rounds costs $24, said Wes Winkle, president of the Canadian Sporting Arms and Ammunition Association. 

"It's got way more expensive to shoot a gun in Canada," he said.

In Canada, around 80 per cent of ammunition is imported from the United States, which is also the world's lead exporter, followed by South Korea and then Poland.

And that reliance on external supply chains is one of the main reasons retailers and industry representatives say costs are at an all-time high. 

For starters, the components used to manufacture ammunition have become more expensive, and in some cases, harder to get a hold of. 

Winkle said the price of materials such as copper and lead, used to make shell casings and bullets, has gone up, while nitrocellulose, a material used to make modern smokeless gunpowder, is in short supply. 

Tony Bernardo, a spokesperson for Canadian Shooting Sports Association, said there are only a few manufacturers of the product in the world, with China being a major player. 

Bernardo added that global conflicts have driven up the costs and reduced the available supply of ammunition components. 

"The war in Ukraine is … shooting [155-mm shells] at rates that are just seemingly difficult to maintain. Each one of those shells uses enough nitrocellulose powder to last most shooters 10 years," said Bernardo. 

"The components that are being used in these shells just, you know, hugely gobbling up any availability of anything on the market."

Canada's own stockpile of military ammunition has been depleted through weapons donations to Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, with the federal government last spring pledging $9.5 billion over 20 years to accelerate ammunition production in the country.