No, you cannot legally buy armor-piercing ammunition as a civilian. Federal law does not criminalize simply possessing it, but it shuts down every commercial channel you would use to acquire it: manufacturers can’t make it for you, importers can’t bring it in for you, and licensed dealers can’t sell it to you.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts State law can go further and criminalize the ammunition itself.
Why No Store Can Sell It to You
The Gun Control Act blocks the supply chain in three places. No one may manufacture or import armor-piercing ammunition except for a U.S. government agency, for export, or for testing authorized by the Attorney General. Licensed manufacturers and importers may only sell or deliver it for those same three purposes. And licensed dealers may not transfer any armor-piercing ammunition at all, with one narrow exception: business inventory held before August 28, 1986, which may go only to government agencies.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts2ATF eRegulations. 27 CFR 478.99 – Certain Prohibited Sales or Deliveries
Nothing in that framework leaves a lawful retail door open. If a seller offers you armor-piercing ammunition through normal commercial channels, either the ammunition isn’t actually armor-piercing under the federal definition, or the transaction isn’t lawful.
Possession Is Not the Same as Purchase
Federal law does not make it a crime for an ordinary civilian to possess armor-piercing ammunition. The prohibitions target manufacturing, importing, and selling. Rounds inherited from a collection, acquired before certain bans took effect, or received through a private transfer can sit in your safe without violating federal law. Anyone who is already barred from possessing any ammunition — convicted felons, people under qualifying domestic violence restraining orders, and other disqualified categories — remains barred from possessing this ammunition too.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts
So the answer to “can I buy it?” and the answer to “can I own what I already have?” come apart under federal law. Owning is technically permissible. Buying is a dead end.
What Actually Counts as Armor Piercing
The federal definition is narrower than the everyday use of the term. Under 18 U.S.C. § 921, a round qualifies only if it meets one of two tests.
First test: the projectile or its core is usable in a handgun and is constructed entirely from tungsten alloys, steel, iron, brass, bronze, beryllium copper, or depleted uranium. The word “entirely” is doing the work. A bullet with a steel tip and a lead core does not qualify, because the core is not made completely from the listed metals.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 921 – Definitions
Second test: a full-jacketed projectile larger than .22 caliber, designed for handgun use, whose jacket weighs more than 25 percent of the total projectile weight.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 921 – Definitions
Both tests turn on whether the projectile “may be used in a handgun.” The statute is aimed at concealable weapons capable of defeating body armor, not at rifles. Several categories are carved out entirely: shotgun shot required by environmental or game regulations, frangible projectiles designed for target shooting, projectiles the Attorney General determines are intended for sporting purposes, and rounds used for industrial purposes such as oil-well perforating charges.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 921 – Definitions
Common Rounds That Aren’t Actually Armor Piercing
Plenty of ammunition will punch through soft body armor when fired from a rifle. That does not make it armor-piercing under federal law.
M855 Green Tip
The 5.56mm M855 “green tip” is the most frequently misidentified cartridge. Its projectile has a steel penetrator tip, so people assume it’s armor-piercing. It isn’t. The core contains both steel and lead, so it fails the “entirely” requirement. The ATF has also granted M855 and the related SS109 projectile a sporting-purpose exemption, giving it a second layer of legal protection.4Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). ATF Framework for Determining Whether Certain Projectiles Are Primarily Intended for Sporting Purposes
Full Metal Jacket and Hollow Point
Standard FMJ rounds have a lead core wrapped in a copper or brass jacket. Lead isn’t on the list of metals in the armor-piercing definition, so FMJ doesn’t qualify regardless of caliber. Hollow points are built to expand on impact, which is the opposite of armor-piercing design. Neither is restricted under the armor-piercing provisions.
7N6 — the Cautionary Example
Russian 5.45x39mm 7N6 went the other direction. For years it was freely imported under a sporting-purpose exemption. In 2014, the ATF tested samples at Customs and Border Protection’s request, confirmed a steel core, and found that a commercially available handgun (a Polish Fabryka Broni Radom pistol approved for import in 2011) could chamber the cartridge. Because a handgun on the market could fire it and the core was entirely steel, the round now met the statutory definition. The ATF classified it as armor-piercing and blocked further importation. Existing supplies already in private hands stayed legal to possess, but no new 7N6 could enter the country.
The lesson for anyone shopping: a single new handgun chambered in a rifle caliber can flip the legal status of ammunition that was previously unrestricted. The same pattern has played out with certain steel-core 7.62x39mm imports.
State Law Is Where Possession Gets Risky
Federal law sets the floor. States can and do add restrictions. A handful ban civilian possession outright, not just sale or manufacture. Others impose lesser restrictions that still create criminal exposure. Some state definitions sweep more broadly than the federal standard and cover ammunition that federal law would leave alone.
Penalties vary widely. Some states treat possession as a misdemeanor; others make it a felony carrying years of potential prison time. Because federal law does not prohibit simple possession, this is where the real risk sits for anyone who owns armor-piercing rounds. What’s legally in your safe under federal law can be a felony under your state’s statute. Check your state’s specific law before assuming anything.
Penalties If You Try to Sell, Make, or Import It
Willfully manufacturing, importing, or selling armor-piercing ammunition in violation of the Gun Control Act carries up to five years in federal prison, a fine, or both.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 924 – Penalties A licensed dealer who willfully transfers armor-piercing ammunition to a non-government buyer faces revocation of the federal firearms license.2ATF eRegulations. 27 CFR 478.99 – Certain Prohibited Sales or Deliveries
The stakes rise sharply when armor-piercing ammunition appears in a violent crime or drug trafficking offense. Under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), using or carrying a firearm loaded with armor-piercing ammunition during such a crime carries a 15-year mandatory minimum on top of the sentence for the underlying offense.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 924 – Penalties A separate statute, 18 U.S.C. § 929, adds a five-year mandatory minimum for merely possessing armor-piercing ammunition capable of being fired from a carried weapon during a violent or drug trafficking crime; that term cannot run concurrently, be suspended, or be replaced with probation.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 929 – Use of Restricted Ammunition If a death caused by armor-piercing ammunition during one of these crimes amounts to murder, the penalty is death or life imprisonment.
Put it all together and the practical picture is straightforward. There is no lawful way for a private citizen to buy armor-piercing ammunition as federal law defines it. Much of what shooters casually call “armor piercing” doesn’t meet that definition and is sold normally. Anything that does meet it is off-limits at retail, and in some states, off-limits to hold at all.