Mexican cartels use .50 caliber ammunition manufactured at a U.S. Army plant to attack police and civilians in Mexico, an investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and The New York Times has revealed. The report states that the cartridges are produced at the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant and have been smuggled across the border and used in attacks against civilians and police. The investigation reveals that in attacks such as the 2019 one in Villa Unión, Coahuila, authorities found .50 caliber casings with the Lake City mark. The army plant has been a significant source of the destructive ammunition used by cartels to fight military-style battles against Mexican authorities. In that attack, four police officers, two civilians, and 19 cartel members were killed. The national market for ammunition in the United States is small: .50 caliber rifles, which have limited civilian applications, often retail for thousands of dollars. While .50 caliber ammunition from other companies, mainly in Brazil and South Korea, has also made its way to Mexican cartels, the data clearly shows that the U.S. is the primary source. Standard firearm cartridges average between $3 and $4 each and are rarely purchased by American gun owners. Similarly, the ICIJ and NYT report indicates that since 2012, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has seized over 40,000 .50 caliber cartridges in border states with Mexico. U.S. authorities confiscated more than 36,000 of these caliber cartridges on the southern border. During the same period, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized nearly 21,400 units of .50 caliber ammunition. This included 2,850 armor-piercing incendiary rounds. Experts cited by the ICIJ and NYT warn that the .50 caliber tips the scales in confrontations, allowing attacks from over a mile and a half away, even against helicopters and armored vehicles. Nearly a third came from Lake City, more than from any other manufacturer. Seizures increased between 2019 and 2024.
