Claims for Deadlier Bullets Shot Down : Guns: Ammunition said to be capable of piercing bulletproof vests, cause maximum damage to human tissue. Lawmakers to seek ban.

Two lawmakers said Tuesday they would try to ban new bullets that would maximize damage to human tissue and penetrate bulletproof vests.

But top firearms experts said the novice arms manufacturer’s claims of a better, deadlier bullet are full of holes.

“If they are really out there, I think we would have seen them,” said David Boyd, director of technology for the National Institute of Justice in Washington, D.C. “I’m trying to get a hold of some. That’s assuming they exist.”

And the chief lobbyist for the National Rifle Assn., which supports the rights of gun owners, dismissed “the dubious claims of a would-be manufacturer.”

Federal regulators said such bullets likely wouldn’t be approved for at least another month.

The Rhino-Ammo and the Black Rhino bullets would fragment into thousands of pieces when they hit human flesh, says creator David Keen, a research chemist.

The Black Rhino would have a convex point to penetrate bullet-stopping material such as Kevlar; since it would be made of carbon-based plastics called polymers, it would sidestep current federal law banning metal-based, armor-piercing rounds.

Keen, chief executive of Signature Products Corp. in Huntsville, Ala., called Rhino-Ammo “a strictly defensive round. The beauty behind it is that it makes an incredible wound.”

Keen said his bullets would be sold only to law enforcement agencies and federally licensed gun dealers; gun-control advocates fear the ammunition would fall into criminals’ hands.

Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) each said he would propose legislation to ban Keen’s bullets.

Keen’s product wouldn’t be the first to trumpet its ability to pierce protective vests. One South Carolina distributor was advertising last year that customers could order 12-gauge slugs that had previously been available only to law enforcement.

“When fired from 50 yards, not only did the ‘Sabot’ go through a car door and out the other side, the slug had also penetrated a very high-quality police vest in the process!” an ad boasted.

Los Angeles Police Protective League board member Dennis Zine said: “We don’t see any need whatsoever for (Rhino bullets). I’ve checked with our SWAT operations. The SWAT personnel are satisfied with the weapons and ammunition that they currently use. . . . There is absolutely no reason and no sense to manufacture or distribute this type of bullet. There is no need whatsoever.”

The Huntsville Times said that Keen claimed he had received $250,000 in orders for the new bullets and named Larry’s, a mega-sporting goods store in Huntsville, as one of his clients.

But the store’s owner, Larry Barnett, said Tuesday he had spoken with Keen but never placed an order.