P.J. Marx established Liberty Ammunition in 2005. The company’s primary focus was producing lead-free, lighter-in-weight rifle cartridges that deliver attack-stopping energy on target and penetrate barriers. The company expanded its line to include handgun ammunition in 2011.
The company is based in Bradenton, FL, and holds more than 15 patents to date. One of them, applied for in 2005, is for a rifle bullet with a copper slug, steel core penetrator and reverse copper jacket. The U.S. Patent Office signed off on it in 2010, making the design officially the intellectual property of Marx.
That same year U.S. Army began issuing the M855A1 enhanced performance 5.56 NATO cartridge. The bullet it wore, according to a court ruling in early 2015, infringed—if not duplicated—the now-patented design. Documents produced by Liberty Ammunition in the case included non-disclosure agreements signed by military officials and vendors to test and review results of Marx’s invention long before mass production ever began for military use. The judge ruled in favor of the company and the Army began paying 1.4 cents per infringing cartridge. The original patent expires in 2027.