Armor-Piercing Ammunition

Armor-piercing ammunition is designed to penetrate ballistic armor and protective shields intended to stop or deflect conventional bullets. Armor-piercing handgun ammunition is federally banned for civilian use or ownership in the U.S. Per 18 United States Code, § 921(a)(17)(B). The term “armor piercing ammunition” means:

• 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
• 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

One type of armor piercing ammunition is steel core ammunition, which, when fired from a handgun, can regularly penetrate an NIJ Level IIIA police duty vest because the harder steel doesn’t deform on contact with the high-tensile Kevlar.