Sounds like once he opened the door, he was done for. Since nothing was hidden, warrant wasn’t needed.
My question is this: Is a home-grown bullet-making operation illegal? That’s what it sounds like he had to me.
Here in Nebraska, everyone makes their own cartridges all the time. Open any Cabella’s catalog and you’ll discover all manner of reloading equipment.
I sounds like he was reloading cartridges, not "making bullets". This is a common activity in most of the country.
Possibly he was casting lead bullets, which can be used in lighter loads for pistols and revolvers.
225 lbs of powder is a lot more than is usually found in a home, and it might be a fire code violation. Other than that nothing is out of the ordinary.
I bet that what they actually found was a combination of new powder containers and a lot of used containers which when they were full held 225 lbs. A 5 lb. container might have 8 ounces left in it and the cops would say it was 5 lbs.
I’m guessing he ran afoul of some law on the proper storage of the powder, since they said some of it was out in plain sight.
His bullet making operation, given the ignorance of most reporters, might have been anything from reloading to actually casting lead bullets, neither of which is illegal in most places.
Reloading and casting is illegal in NY? Who knew?