Doubting what I saw at the LGS

[338 dude]

Which is why I quit using mild steel a long time ago. @500yds you're safe, but boy howdy are ricochets very possible. Be careful at closer range.

Several gents already beat me to the punch on steel penetration, velocity is king. I believe that is one of the major reasons PRS/NRL etc all have speed limits for competition. I think....




t

Yes AR 500 at other distances this was cheap ,actually free so I put it out at the farthest end of the range

 

[Outlaw6.0]

Yes AR 500 at other distances this was cheap ,actually free so I put it out at the farthest end of the range

All is good, I used to use a blind flange for 12" pipe at 1k. Problem is, it got so beat up I couldn't really tell which group was which



t

 

[G19Jeeper]

So, Saturday I was out and about when I stopped by the LGS.
The owner and a customer were looking over an AR and talking about the red dot on it.
The discussion turned to shooting a steel plate. I stood back and listened.
Not long the owner of the 223 went outside and got a steel plate he had been shooting at.
Now here is where my doubts took over. The plate was 3/8" thick and had over ten 3/8" holes in it.
The holes were evidently from a bullet as you could see the splatter around the holes.
I'm thinking he claims to have done this at 100 yards with off the shelf 223 ammo.
I left a bit skepical and have yet to convince myself what he claimed was possible.
Before I close, I owned many AR's and I find it difficult that his claim to be viable.
This bugs me, so can someone set me straight?

Mild steel can be penetrated by just about any center fire rifle. I had some 1/2" mild steel scrap and even it had a pretty good pocket pushed out of it from a 16" carbine loaded with soft points. I don't doubt his rifle did that if it's in fact softer mild steel. They say it's dangerous to shoot mild steel because of the splatter effect and the possibility of spraying yourself with shrapnel. Have you ever seen metal stands a lot of ranges use as a target frame? They get chewed up pretty good

 

[purpledragon]

Those 855's are some interesting lil buggers!!!

 

[338 dude]

So, Saturday I was out and about when I stopped by the LGS.
The owner and a customer were looking over an AR and talking about the red dot on it.
The discussion turned to shooting a steel plate. I stood back and listened.
Not long the owner of the 223 went outside and got a steel plate he had been shooting at.
Now here is where my doubts took over. The plate was 3/8" thick and had over ten 3/8" holes in it.
The holes were evidently from a bullet as you could see the splatter around the holes.
I'm thinking he claims to have done this at 100 yards with off the shelf 223 ammo.
I left a bit skepical and have yet to convince myself what he claimed was possible.
Before I close, I owned many AR's and I find it difficult that his claim to be viable.
This bugs me, so can someone set me straight?

 

[Mike D Texas]

223 will penetrate a mild steel plate and yes the hole will be larger than caliber diameter.

I can tell you that a Berger VLD will punch through 3/8" AR500 at 200 yards when launched at 3600fps from a 257 Weatherby.

 

[C-130 Dude]

So, Saturday I was out and about when I stopped by the LGS.
The owner and a customer were looking over an AR and talking about the red dot on it.
The discussion turned to shooting a steel plate. I stood back and listened.
Not long the owner of the 223 went outside and got a steel plate he had been shooting at.
Now here is where my doubts took over. The plate was 3/8" thick and had over ten 3/8" holes in it.
The holes were evidently from a bullet as you could see the splatter around the holes.
I'm thinking he claims to have done this at 100 yards with off the shelf 223 ammo.
I left a bit skepical and have yet to convince myself what he claimed was possible.
Before I close, I owned many AR's and I find it difficult that his claim to be viable.
This bugs me, so can someone set me straight?

Are you sure he was using .223 and not 5.56? IF he was using 5.56, it could be M885 green rip. They were developed to better penatrate windshields and vechicle doors and sides, etc. The M193 rounds were terrible at this. But I have seen 223 go right through mild steel and M855 and M193 rounds also. The 5.56 M855, M193, and .223 won't go through an AR500 plate that I have seen.

 

[Turpentine21]

Mild steel. Even varmint bullets will penetrate milder steel. If I'm gonna pick up steel from the farm to stop bullets it'll be either disk blades or coulter blades. They are a much harder, tougher grade of steel. A used coulter blade from a fire plow: Mathis, Fesco, or Hester works quite well And are heavier than most farm blades. Or you can use one from a no till drill or various other implements. You just have to weld another plate over the hole in the middle. Unless you shoot like me and don't hit the middle much. Or like my buddies that claim they all go through the middle like Jimmy Stewarts washer in Winchester 73.

 

[CDFrom]

So, Saturday I was out and about when I stopped by the LGS.
The owner and a customer were looking over an AR and talking about the red dot on it.
The discussion turned to shooting a steel plate. I stood back and listened.
Not long the owner of the 223 went outside and got a steel plate he had been shooting at.
Now here is where my doubts took over. The plate was 3/8" thick and had over ten 3/8" holes in it.
The holes were evidently from a bullet as you could see the splatter around the holes.
I'm thinking he claims to have done this at 100 yards with off the shelf 223 ammo.
I left a bit skepical and have yet to convince myself what he claimed was possible.
Before I close, I owned many AR's and I find it difficult that his claim to be viable.
This bugs me, so can someone set me straight?

I have several steel plates I have shot with many different calibers. On a machine gun shoot we had Auto ARs shooting green tip penetrators, M-60 , sterlings, mp5 and a MacTac .50. That shoot employed 1/4" and 1/2" plates at 200yds. All the 308 went through the thinner plates and a lot went through the 1/2", of course the .50 cratered the plate and penetrated every shot. The 5.56 penetrator ammo has a tungsten core and NOT ONE penetrated. Granted we were at 200 yds. They did leave an interesting little scar at each of the several impacts. My 03 had no trouble punching through even a 3/4 bar.

 

[Turpentine21]

I have several steel plates I have shot with many different calibers. On a machine gun shoot we had Auto ARs shooting green tip penetrators, M-60 , sterlings, mp5 and a MacTac .50. That shoot employed 1/4" and 1/2" plates at 200yds. All the 308 went through the thinner plates and a lot went through the 1/2", of course the .50 cratered the plate and penetrated every shot. The 5.56 penetrator ammo has a tungsten core and NOT ONE penetrated. Granted we were at 200 yds. They did leave an interesting little scar at each of the several impacts. My 03 had no trouble punching through even a 3/4 bar.

Love the 03. An older guy in town gave one to my son because he knew so much world war 2 history. He had a sporter stock with it too but that gun will never be sporterized if my boy has anything to do with it. He likes them original

 

[Chas1]

In side-by-side tests, PO Ackley used to shoot 220 swift through thicker steel than the old USGI .30 AP round could penetrate.

As far as the green tip, I've seen them loaded as accelerator rounds out of a 300 Win Mag, and their penetration was still negligible on good steel targets. Whatever their velocity was did not register on the chrony which the guy had there (just an 'error' message) And unfortunately there was no soft steel laying about on the day I saw these rounds tried out at the range.

Accelerator rounds in a 300 Win mag....bet they were really fast.

 

[Teri Anne]

So, Saturday I was out and about when I stopped by the LGS.
The owner and a customer were looking over an AR and talking about the red dot on it.
The discussion turned to shooting a steel plate. I stood back and listened.
Not long the owner of the 223 went outside and got a steel plate he had been shooting at.
Now here is where my doubts took over. The plate was 3/8" thick and had over ten 3/8" holes in it.
The holes were evidently from a bullet as you could see the splatter around the holes.
I'm thinking he claims to have done this at 100 yards with off the shelf 223 ammo.
I left a bit skepical and have yet to convince myself what he claimed was possible.
Before I close, I owned many AR's and I find it difficult that his claim to be viable.
This bugs me, so can someone set me straight?

Punching holes in mild steel is nothing unusual. I have punched holes in 1/4 inch steel plate with both Lake City Match with 173 gr military target FMJ out to 300 yards. When I was shooting silhouettes many years ago FMJ ammo was prohibited because of damage to the silhouette targets. Chickens were really badly damaged and the rams even exhibited damage. That is one of the reasons that Tanks are not made of mild steel anymore.

 

[BrentM]

Highly possible with 223 and soft steel. I made that mistake.

 

[Oddbod]

Standard 5.56 ball @ 100yds vs 2 pieces of ¼" steel plate welded together. Non penetrating hits were cheap Russian stuff - definitely underpowered.: