You could explode the combined meshes into it's elements via script, and use - for example - Instance Tool from scriptspot to turn the bullets into instances. Great timesaver when it works.
I doubt I'll go learn how to use blender in my current position, but when I have more time I do see the benefit. Max has scripts including regularizer which can convert both edges and faces into a perfect circle. I do notice the ugly distortions of the preserve UVs in Max, but it seems like I can combat these by adding new…