Explosive Ammo is a great upgrade but also one of the hardest upgrades to obtain. It is not necessarily hard, but it is costly and takes a lot of time and effort. However, according to people who got the Explosive Ammo, it was all worth it. So if you are determined to get it, we have a detailed guide below on how to get explosive ammo in GTA 5, both Online and Offline.

Table of Contents

1. What is explosive ammo?

Explosive Ammo does exactly what the name suggests. Upon impact, they will cause a small explosion. They are mostly used with the Pump Action Shotgun and the Heavy Sniper MK2.

With Explosive Ammo, the Pump Action Shotgun can one-shots most passenger vehicles and players while the Heavy Sniper MK2 can even blow up an aircraft with 2 shots. Because of its power, many players want to know how to get explosive ammo in GTA 5 Online.
Explosive Ammo in GTA 5 will explode on impact and significantly increase the damage output of your weapons.

2. How to get explosive ammo in GTA 5 Online

Overall, there are four steps to get explosive ammo in GTA Online. First you have to get a bunker and assign staff to research in it for explosive rounds. Then, buy a mobile operations center and finally go to the weapon workshops to upgrade your weapon to explosive ammo.

Below are details of the steps.

Get a Bunker

There is a total of 11 Bunkers in GTA Online. Players can purchase a bunker from the Maze Bank Foreclosures website. You have to register as a CEO, VIP, or Biker Club President in order to buy a Bunker and you can only own 1 bunker at a time. The price of a bunker range from $1.1 million to $2.6 million.

You should refer to GTA 5 bunker research guide to see which bunker to acquire in GTA 5.

You need to buy a Bunker in order to unlock Explosive Ammo in GTA 5.

Assign staff to research Explosive Rounds

After having the bunker, you need to assign staff to research explosive rounds in your bunker. You cannot control what research will be done. You just have to keep researching until you get the Explosive Rounds.

Each research will consume 4-6 hours. You can also use $180,000 to do Fast-Tracking Research and complete the current research right away. You also need to find supplies to research.

Reaching in Bunker is totally random so it is going to cost you a lot of time and effort.

There is one trick that will save you from randomness. Before you confirm the Fast-Tracking Research, disconnect your internet and see what the next research is. If you see the next research is the thing you want then get back online and research it. If not, quit the game and reconnect do it over again. You might want to set your respawn location to your bunker to save time.

Get a MOC

You can buy a Mobile Operations Center (MOC) from the Warstock Cache & Carry website for $1,225,000. You must own a Bunker first to buy a MOC.

You need a Mobile Operations Center to add Explosive Rounds to your weapons.

Go to the Weapons Workshop and apply the upgrade

In the last step, open your interaction Menu to call your MOC to a location near you. You need to pay $245,000 to unlock the Weapon Workshop.

Go to the Weapon Workshop inside your MOC, choose an MKII weapon and apply Explosive Rounds to it.

You can add Explosive Rounds to your weapons in the Weapon Workshop in the MOC.

Check out the video for more details and to see the power of the Heavy Sniper MKII with Explosive Rounds.

3. Which weapons can have explosive ammo?

Only MK II weapons in GTA 5 can use explosive ammo. Players need to upgrade a base weapon into an MK II weapon in the Weapon Workshop in the MOC. Different weapons have different upgrade costs.

Here is the list of all MK II weapons in GTA 5 and their upgrade cost:

  • Heavy Sniper MKII - $165,375
  • Special Carbine MKII - $135,000
  • Carbine Rifle MKII - $107,500
  • Assault Rifle MKII - $98,750
  • Pistol MKII - $73,750
  • Combat MG MKII - $119,000
  • Bulllpup Rifle MKII - $105,750
  • Heavy Revolver MKII - $99,000
  • Marksman Rifle MKII - $149,000
  • Pump Shotgun MKII - $82,500
  • SMG MKII - $85,500
  • SNS Pistol MKII - $79,575
You need to upgrade your weapons to their MK II versions to use Explosive Rounds.

About which weapons you should upgrade to MK II and add explosive rounds, it is all depend on your playstyle and which types of weapons you use the most. Generally, the best weapon to upgrade to the MK II variants are Pistol, Shotgun, Rifle, MG, and Sniper Rifle.

4. How to get explosive ammo GTA 5 Story Mode

Now you know how to get explosive ammo in GTA 5 Online but that method cannot be applied to GTA Offline. To get explosive ammo in GTA 5 story mode, you need to use cheat codes because all the things above are not available. This cheat can add explosive rounds to all of your weapons.

Here are all explosive rounds GTA 5 cheats:

  • PC: HIGHEX
  • Xbox One: RIGHT, X, A, LEFT, RB, RT, LEFT, RIGHT, RIGHT, LB, LB, LB
  • PS4: RIGHT, SQUARE, X, LEFT, R1, R2, LEFT, RIGHT, RIGHT, L1, L1, L1
  • Phone number: 1-999-444-439

>>> Read more: Kortz Center GTA 5: Location, Missions, Collectibles, Real-Life Version & More