Hi,

Winchester Western Super-X .357 Metal Piercing cartridges.
I know that the bullet itself would most likely be considered truncated; but my research points to the cartridge having a soft lead core. I would like to reach out to any of you guys who are familiar with these cartridges and if you could please let me know in your opinion or experience what their core is made of.


Thanks a million,

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Read the definition! That ammunition has Lead cores, by that definition it is not "armor-piercing".

__________________
Gunsmithing since 1961

Those are fairly collectible and worth a pretty penny. You can always post them for sale here. I bet that a collector would love to have them.

Don't risk your future career over a grey area in the law. Good luck in your practice

__________________
On the Oak Savannah

I have sectioned one of these bullets and they have a very soft lead core with a thin copper case. It really surprises me they were metal piercing. And metal is not armor.

Where do you see that this ammunition has lead cores? Is there a reference somewhere? I have been looking for an official source.

Thank you for your well wishes.

As mentioned before, the Winchester (and Western brand) Metal Piercing (MP) bullets do have lead cores but a much thicker jacket at the tip of the bullet to aid in penetration.

State laws vary on definitions of what is considered "armor piercing". These particular rounds may not strictly meet FL's definition, no doubt that if you get caught with this ammo they'll treat it as AP out of sheer ignorance.

Thank you for your response. That is interesting about the thickness of the jacket at the tip of the bullet. I did notice that it says "metal pointed" which I guess is what you are referring to?

OP: ATF won't tell you if that ammo is 'armor piercing' as Florida defines the term: they are a federal agency and don't do state law.

I believe that ammo is lead core, however I'm satisfied that a Florida LEO would arrest you first and figure it out much, much later.

As a future attorney it's important to recognize the difference between a case you would ultimately win from a fact pattern that would cause a client a ton of trouble to straighten out.

I'd advise a client of mine in your position to get rid of that ammo unless the client wants to risk paying me a bunch of money to 'win' a case that could be avoided in the first place.

1. Is the bullet magnetic?

2. If I read paragraph (b) correctly, even if it was steel cored or considered "armor piercing", it's not a problem until it's loaded into a handgun.

3. I don't believe I would be contacting the ATF concerning the legality of something I currently possess if I thought there could be an issue with it.

Unless you are a collector or had some other compelling reason to keep it, I would probably pass this stuff on to someone who is and replace it with something I know to be OK.

I really don't see a need for you to section a sample bullet yourself. If you just Google your ammo there is plenty of articles and photos of sectioned bullets. Here's just one link to some of this ammo you might find interesting.

International Ammunition Association {iaaforum.org} - View topic - .38 Special Super-X Metal Piercing

The box says "metal piercing" right on it. Like mentioned before, LE will arrest now, figure it out later. Do you want to be a lawyer? Ditch the stuff, don't play internet definition games.