Law enforcement only Ammunition

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Snarlingiron

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Ok, I think I know the answer, but here goes. A friend just told me how he came into posession of a quantity of Law Enforcement Only ammunition, that is illegal to own. "Illegal to own"? I suspect that it is marked Law Enforcement Only, as is a lot of stuff that I have seen for sale at Ammoman and many other places. It occurs to me that how a manufacturer marks a box has little to do with what is and is not actually legal. My question: Is there any ammunition that is legal only for law enforcement agencies, and not the general public?
 
take

it out the box, I really don't think it's illegal to own.

I'm sure CA AG Lockyer wants to dig up his great great grandparents
for an inquisition though.

The only exception I can think of is that "five seven" ammo some of that really is illegal...what caliber is it?

some silly states like NJ have weird laws too...where does he live?
 
A friend of mine told me that some ammo is illegal, like steel tipped bullets. Maybe this is only by state? But if you got it pre-ban, then it's okay. He told me the reason the steel tipped bullets were outlawed is because they can go through the bullet proof vests that police officers wear.

He was also telling me that some kinds of bullets that break up easily are outlawed because they're designed to fragment when hitting a person and they cause more damage. He then showed me a magazine article showing how to file a "X" symbol on the tip of a lead bullet to get the same fragmenting effect. The theory is the bullet hits the bad guy, then the bullet breaks apart, and each little fragment of the bullet spins around inside the body cutting many capillaries. That way, no doctor can sow the bad guy up in time because too many capillaries have been cut and the guy will die.

Who knows where all the gun laws come from. But if my buddy is any indication of what people know, then it seems like every law has a loophole of some kind.
 
This thread makes me think of another question. I was in a gun store once, and almost every magazine was 6 bullets. They did not have any super large magazines. Is there some law which makes it illegal to own a magazine that can hold 14 or 16 bullets or a large amount of ammo?
 
Ok, where to start...

Armor piercing ammunition in pistol calibers is illegal to sell to anyone but law enforcement or the military. This would apply to anything made in the last 20 years.

Carvng an X into a bullet doesn't enhance anything. Redesigning the entire projectile with an appropriate jacket to create a controlled expansion, however, does. Such rounds are refered to as Jacketed Hollow Points (JHPs), and are commonly sold as self defense ammunition for both ordinary citizens and law enforcement. Ammunition marked "Law Enforcement Only" is usually not regulated by law. A number of JHP rounds are sold this way, but it is done by contract with the retailer. Usually "LE Only" ammo is loaded to a higher pressure, which can damage some guns. Generally speaking, police officers carry modern weapons capable of handling this hotter ammo. Restricting the sale will, in theory, prevent an ordinary citizen from stuffing extra-powerful 9mm ammo into a 60 year old Luger. If a police officer decides to give you a box of "LE Only" Winchester Ranger ammunition, nobody is breaking any laws. If your local gun shop sells it to you, they can lose their contract with the manufacturer.

Now, on to magazine size... There was a law, enacted in 1994, that restricted the sale of "high-capacity" magazines. Law enforcement and the military could purchase these magazines, but ordinary citizens could not purchase a magazine, made after the ban was enacted, that could hold more than ten rounds. The ban ended in 2004, so we can again purchase magazines of any size for any weapon.

Now, everything I just said applies on the federal level. Some states prohibit the purchase of magazines of various sizes. For some, it is ten rounds, for others, it is twenty. In most states, however, there is no such restriction. If I recall correctly, some states also prohibit hollowpoint ammunition. In that case, a box of "LE Only" hollowpoints, or indeed any hollowpoint ammunition would be illegal for an ordinary citizen to buy.
 
Depends on where you live ;)

I see 30 round mags for sale commonly at shops nowdays, but you have to remenber the AWB is gone (hopefully) for good.


I have a question however, I've seen these stocks and ghost ring sights at gunshows marked "Law enforcement only". Are these illegal or can you put the remington over folder on a stock 18 inch shotgun legally?

Oh and I'm in a very red state :neener:
 
You can do pretty much anything you want to a shotgun, if you do it properly. If you want a shotgun with an 8" barrel, it's perfectly legal so long as you obtain a short barreled shotgun tax stamp (you'd go through this process before breaking out the hacksaw). There are similar tax stamps for short barreled rifles as well as some particularly odd firearms that don't really meet the definition of a pistol, rifle, or shotgun.

I suspect what you're seeing at gunshows is either a dealer with a policy about selling particular weapons (or parts) to private citizens that are not otherwise restricted, or a dealer who is selling some of the aforementioned items who does not want to go through the additional legal hassle of selling them to private citizens. There is a minimum overall length requirement of 26" for a shotgun, and the folding stock may put it under that length, making it a SBS.

The various laws and regulations surrounding NFA items (that's stuff like machineguns, SBSs, SBRs, etc.) are so wacky that a dealer who does not deal in NFA weapons is wise to restrict the sale of items which can be easily used to make an NFA weapon. If you happen to own a shotgun with an 18" barrel and a plain fixed stock which brings its length to 34", but you also own a folding stock or pistol grip that could cut its length down below 26", even if it's attached to nothing, you can still get popped for owning a SBS without the stamp.
 
Im not sure about ammunition. We use Speer HP .45's. Says nothing about LEO only. Ive seen some Remington 870's at my gun store that are stamped "LEO only" on the side. But they are still for sale to anyone.
 
Thank you Azreal. That is pretty much what I thought. I live in Texas, and my friend in Oklahoma, two of the more gun friendly states with little in the way of nonsense laws regarding ammo, etc. I wasn't however, aware of the restriction against armor piercing ammo in a handgun. Good to know.
 
Handgun ammo marked "Law Enforcement Only" is usually hollowpoint +P+ type, loaded to higher than normal pressures. For example, standard 9mm Parabellum ammo is loaded to a maximum pressure level of 35,000 PSI, whereas the LE +P+ ammo I've seen is loaded to 40,000 CUP. (CUP and PSI are not exactly the same, but 40,000 CUP probably is more than 40,000 PSI.) Law enforcement agencies are presumed to have modern, well-maintained pistols which will take this, whereas they don't know WHAT kind of junker John Q. Public may be using. There's nothing illegal about this ammo in civilized jurisdictions, it's not armor piercing, it's just the way it's marketed.

There might be some issues about excise taxes if the ammo was originally sold to a police department which then "surplused" it (government agencies are exempt from ammo excise taxes) but that's not a concern for the end user to worry about, it's a matter for the seller, probably somewhere above the retail level.
 
All the above covered it pretty well.

However the largest factor in boxes of ammunition marked "Law Enforcment Only" is marketing.

Liability concerns, and the LEO exemption from the Federal excise tax, as HankB states are probably minor factors too.

It's mostly just a ploy to make LEO's in charge of purchasing feel like they're getting "better" ammunition than everyone else can, and increase sales, and justify a premium price-point.

Placebo effect, pure and simple. With some brands you can even buy the exact functional equivalent in a different box. At a minimum, you can certainly buy ammunition just as effective, if not more so, from other brands. (such as hot-loaded Cor-Bon...)

In 95% of the U.S. the only force the "Law Enforcment Only" label has is the say-so of the manufacturer and the distributor.
 
so what caliber?

is it the much feared and hated "five seven"
or an ancient box of "Black Talon" that I see at gun shows for enormus $$?
 
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