ARMOR-PIERCING AMMUNITION
Federal law prohibits the manufacture, importation, sale or delivery of armor-piercing ammunition, with very limited exceptions. Armor-piercing or metal-piercing ammunition is designed primarily to penetrate metal or armor, including body armor commonly worn by police officers. (18 U.S.C. § 921, 18 U.S.C. § 922 and 27 CFR § 478.37)
The term “armor-piercing ammunition” means:
(i) a projectile or projectile core which may be used in a handgun and which is constructed entirely (excluding the presence of traces of other substances) from one or a combination of tungsten alloys, steel, iron, brass, bronze, beryllium copper or depleted uranium; or
(ii) a full-jacketed projectile larger than .22 caliber designed and intended for use in a handgun and whose jacket has a weight of more than 25 percent of the total weight of the projectile.