Antimony and the Future of Ammunition Prices

Lead is an essential part of ammunition that gives us our bullets, but there is one characteristic that hinders its performance, its low density. Lead's low density causes issues with bullets marring, residue, and consistency. To help fix these issues, most conventional bullets have added an alloying material called antimony. Antimony is added as a hardening agent, which allows for full metal jacket (FMJ) bullets to have increased penetration and more resistant to deformation. Antimony even helps the military in producing armor piercing rounds. Those FMJs that you have in your bug-out kit more than likely contain antimony. Those bulk FMJ rounds that you buy for range day, same deal. Get where I am going with this?

But what is the current issue with Antimony? China recently announced an export ban on antimony, which they are responsible for nearly half of the world's supply of the material. The U.S. does not currently have a domestically mined source of antimony, but the U.S. has plans to start mining the only domestic reserve of antimony. Without a steady, low cost supply of antimony, ammunition prices are bound to rise.