A Drummond Street homeowner wants the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals to allow him to make and sell ammunition from his home.

Dennis Coulter, 3300 Drummond St., wants the board to reverse a decision by zoning administrator Dalton McCarty denying a business license for his company, Ballistic Enterprise LLC, which would sell custom-loaded small-caliber ammunition over the Internet and by telephone.

The board is scheduled to hear the appeal on July 10 at 5 p.m. in the City Hall Annex, 1415 Walnut St. If the board denies Coulter’s request, he may appeal the decision to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen. Further appeals would go to Warren County Circuit Court.

McCarty said his decision was based on a section of the city’s zoning ordinance for home-based occupations prohibiting using or storing highly explosive, corrosive or combustible material on the property.

Coulter, an engineer and senior technical instructor at Grand Gulf Nuclear Station, said the business is a part-time occupation. He has a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms permit to manufacture and sell the ammunition that prohibits keeping more than 50 pounds of smokeless gunpowder at his home. He plans to keep about 40 pounds, he said.

“If I were loading ammunition for my own use, there would be no problem,” he said. “I’ve been loading my own ammunition for 20 years.

“Now, I want to sell it, and I have to get a license from ATF to do that,” he added.

“In some states, smokeless powder is considered a solid flammable,” Coulter said. “The energy of 50 pounds of smokeless powder is equal to the same amount of energy as 7/8 of a gallon of gasoline. If you emptied the powder from a shell and set it on fire, it would burn very slowly.”

Vicksburg Fire Chief Charles Atkins said National Fire Protection Agency regulations allow people to keep up to 20 pounds of powder in a home for personal use, such as loading their own ammunition, but it must be kept in its original container and in a wooden cabinet or box with 1-inch thick walls.

NFPA regulations for 50 pounds or more, he said, require a portable wooden box with 1-inch-thick walls.

He added Coulter’s request is something new for the department. Coulter said a box is being built for the powder.

He said his business’s operation hinges on receiving a city business license.

According to a letter accompanying his license application, the ammunition he makes is accurate target-grade ammunition designed primarily for professional target-shooters, the military and law enforcement.

“This level of accuracy can only be obtained by carefully loading each round on hand-operated presses,” according to the letter. “There are no automated or motor-operated presses in my operation.”