What does special ammo do, and where can it be bought and equipped?

Special ammo changes a firearm's damage, armor penetration or accuracy. Per TornLife's 2025 wiki findings, the ammo locker sells only basic ammo. Special ammo comes from Mission Credits, the Big Al's Gun Shop benefit, Gun Shop job points or crimes. To equip it, click the box with its count on the ammo page.

What each type does

• Hollow Point: +50% damage and -50% penetration, so enemy armor value is increased by 50% (2025 wiki, per TornLife's findings).
• Piercing: +50% penetration, so enemy armor is reduced to 50% (2025 wiki).
• Incendiary: +40% damage (2025 wiki).
• Tracer: +10.00 accuracy (2025 wiki).
• Staff described the same directions in 2018 and 2019. The 2015 Missions announcement did too: hollow point raises damage but lowers armor penetration, tracer raises accuracy, piercing raises armor penetration, incendiary raises damage^[1].

Where it comes from

• The ammo locker sells only basic ammo (2025 wiki).
• Mission Credits: special ammo has been a mission reward since the 2015 launch^[1].
• Big Al's Gun Shop stock benefit: 1x Ammunition Pack of special ammo matching your equipped weapon type. It holds 6x for Heavy artillery, 100x for calibers like .380 ACP, .44 Special or 12 Gauge, and 250x for .45 ACP, 5.45mm, 5.56mm, 7.62mm, 5.7mm High Velocity and 9mm Parabellum.
• Gun Shop job special Surplus: 15 job points for random special ammunition, supplying equipped weapons if applicable.
• Crimes: Shoplifting Big Al's gives 20, 50 or 70, with a unique outcome of 2,500 (cameras disabled and guards on break only). Search For Cash, Graffiti and Burglary can also give it.
• Big Al's price table lists no ammunition, so it is not sold over the counter there.
• One player reported that 7,944 nerve of Shoplifting and pickpocketing with 9mm and 5.56mm weapons equipped gave 7,000 targeted special ammo.

Equipping

Click the box with the special ammo count on the ammo page. It turns green when actively loaded. Ammo is loaded automatically before each attack and must match the gun's calibre. The ammo locker is on the items page (wiki, 2020 and 2025).

Not every special type exists for every calibre; there are no Incendiary Snowballs. Shoplifting can give special ammo for equipped weapons, weighted slightly toward them. In 2016 the mission shop priced ammo in mission points (for example 9mm hollow point 61, 5.56mm piercing 189). Those prices are outdated. Special ammo cannot be sold on the market.