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Doug J. Swanson NT News Wire It is a Teflon-coated, green-ti bullet called the KTW. Fired from a ts a policeman’s bulletproof vest as if it were a cotton undershirt. Even some rigid armor, the material used to reinforce limousines for assassinary general s in banana republics, can’t stop the Authorities across the country are worried about it. Police realize how useless their vests can be a criminal with the KTW. ‘The may sound like the sort of exotic ammo available only to police or via the underworld, but it’s not. It can be purchased over-the-counter in gun shops — from .25-caliber to .357 Magnum legally and with no questions asked. Although the KTW container is labeled ‘‘for police use only,” there are no federal laws restricting its sale. ‘When it first became available it was to be just for law enforcement or ganizations,”’ said Dennis Grey, a firearms specialist for the Sheriff's Department of Broward County, Fla. ‘‘Now we have dirtbags lining up with this ammunition. “It’s a nasty one,”’ said Don Dougherty of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Mi ami. “We're going to have to come up with earm . KTW has been around since the late 1960s, when it was invented by a coroner from Ohio and two assistants. The slugs are made of machine steel and nonferrous alloys, making them much harder than conventional lead slugs. Because they are harder, the KTW slugs do not deform as much on impact, so they do not slow down as much. Also, the Teflon coating — the same no-stick surface found on frying pans — eases friction. According to literature printed by KTW’s manufacturer, North American Ordnance Corp. of Pontiac, Mich., a KTW slug fired from a 357 Magnum handgun can pierce 1% inches of cold-rolled steel. “Shocking power,’’ the company’s advertis eists check, and an automobile cosinn, cases Ge have some KTW piercers. A for aa Klein, North Ameri can president, said he refuses to “The whole once ‘of the ammunition was jalist Grey. “This stuff just pokes a hole spec rey. “ I es a hole in you. It goes right through you. You use it to stop automobiles, because it can go right an engine block.” Or a bulletproof vest. ‘They get through those vests like butter,’ Grey sai Most police-issue vests are made of 16 to 18 layers of a DuPont material called Kevlar. A .357 Magnum KTW, tests have shown, will fly through 72 layers of Kevlar. For th fe few paid much attention to the unsold bullets collected dust on gun sg iron males It was uncommon, police said, to criminals with KTW. Things changed several weeks ago, when NBC Magazine ran a prime-time television feature on the KTW. The bullet was a deadly secret no more. ‘Its use had not become any kind of a major problem,” said Robert Angrisani, director of communications for the International Associa tion of Chiefs of Police. “‘But it looks now like the publicity really may cause it to become more widespread.’ Gun shops have found a sudden demand for it. “Since that TV thing, everybody’s been tearing us up on it,”’ said a gun shop salesman. eat is growing, too. ] in Congress that would fund a Treas ay study of the KTW, similar to a t died for lack of interest in 1980, is now as And a Sou Borda man is planing to market a shield that he says defeat the KTW when added to a policeman’s vest. hakenae eae iuteear Mich: Te eocnpenu acturers near ; company bulletproofs limousines — customers are said to include King Juan Carlos of Spain, West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and an assortment of Latin American dictators — and makes Kevlar vests. Medlin said he has developed a ‘trauma shield” that slips into a pocket on conventional vests and covers the chest. ‘It’s a combination of Kevlar, aluminum oxide, silicon and armor plate (a high-pressure reinforced polyester),”’ Medlin said. ‘It stops the KTW, blunts it and fractures it.”’ Demonstrating his product, Medlin first fired a .357 KTW round at a square of Level III armor plate. Level III plate generally is effec tive against all handguns and submachine guns. “It zipped right through it,” Medlin said, smiling and pointing to a hole clean through the plate. Then he fired a .357 KTW at his trauma shield. The slug went in the front but never came out the back. While Medlin prepares to market his shield, US. ee Mario Biaggi, D-N.Y., moves toward a complete ban of the KTW. Biaggi, a former New York policeman wounded 10 times in the line of duty, is the sponsor of the KTW study bill. The House Subcommittee on Crime probably will hold hearings on the bill ‘in the very near future,” a Biaggi aide said. Also, Biaggi staffers are drafting a bill that Ma session of the KTW. “We're going for actual . “We're going for a penalties and banning theft,” said aide So Bege ther that would do any good is de natable. ‘‘They also outlaw machine guns, but everybody in the goddamn world’s got one,” aid an organized crime officer.
Newspaper Details
Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph
Colorado Springs, Colorado, US
Sun, Feb 07, 1982
Page 37
Full Page
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USA 16 Jun 2026
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