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The Range
Rifle & Shotgun Discussion
Rifle penetration 1/4 steel plate
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<blockquote data-quote="358norma" data-source="post: 2850130" data-attributes="member: 10178"><p>Long ago, in a land far away, I used to get to "test" a lot of ammo/ bullet combo's on fun stuff like cast iron tubs, RR track, shooting range backstop's that I had access to, and other "hard" targets let's say. What I learned during those FUN years....</p><p></p><p>Speed is KING. If you can get a bullet moving fast enough, it will go through stuff it really shouldn't in theory.</p><p></p><p>Hard bullets penetrate. Doesn't matter if it's a critter or steel, if the bullet is hard enough it's going to penetrate.</p><p></p><p>Combine Speed and a hard bullets and some crazy stuff starts to happen. Load an old school black tip bullet (AP w/tungsten core) in a 300Wby and you would be amazed at what that will go through. Like VERY substantial trees, more steel than I could afford at the time, basically had a hard time stopping that stuff. These went through 1/2" plate steel like it was warm butter at 100 yrds. And YES, you would NOT be safe hiding behind a tree big enough to cover you at 100 yards. Those tungsten core bullets were tough to stop in about anything I put them in, from 308 to 300wby.</p><p></p><p>22 cal. Nosler ballistic tip bullets (50 grains) have a little magic where steel is concerned when you get them moving fast enough (speed). This is one of those weird ones. Take one up to 22-250 speed, and they start going through stuff they shouldn't. A cast iron tub won't slow one down (100 yrds). They will go through RR track web, but not the thick top (50 yrds). I saw them go through a plate steel backstop at an indoor range rated to 30-06, (very short range only 30 yards or so). That was a surprise, the concrete block wall behind the plate steel shut it down before it got away thank goodness. A "new" rule was in place the next day about ammo inspections. This is the only 22 cal bullet I saw do this with the plate, and RR track. I didn't have any green tip stuff back then, I don't think it was around when I was doing this "testing". Other "soft points" wouldn't go through the RR, let alone the plate. 223 wouldn't make it go fast enough (safely anyway) to go through the steel.</p><p></p><p>7.62X39 all depends on the bullet. With lead core bullets, they don't have any advantage vs. 223 in the penetration department. Shooting a cast iron tub, you are shooting through 4 layers of iron. 223 with lead core bullets would go through the first 2 layers, hit the inside of the tub on the back side (3rd layer) and stop every time. 7.62 with lead core do the same thing (3rd layer). Now add Chinese steel core 7.62 (hard bullet), and about half would go through all 4 layers. The other half we found inside the tub (stopped by the 3rd layer again) or on the ground between layer 3 and 4. I wish I would have had some green tip 5.56 to test back then.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="358norma, post: 2850130, member: 10178"] Long ago, in a land far away, I used to get to "test" a lot of ammo/ bullet combo's on fun stuff like cast iron tubs, RR track, shooting range backstop's that I had access to, and other "hard" targets let's say. What I learned during those FUN years.... Speed is KING. If you can get a bullet moving fast enough, it will go through stuff it really shouldn't in theory. Hard bullets penetrate. Doesn't matter if it's a critter or steel, if the bullet is hard enough it's going to penetrate. Combine Speed and a hard bullets and some crazy stuff starts to happen. Load an old school black tip bullet (AP w/tungsten core) in a 300Wby and you would be amazed at what that will go through. Like VERY substantial trees, more steel than I could afford at the time, basically had a hard time stopping that stuff. These went through 1/2" plate steel like it was warm butter at 100 yrds. And YES, you would NOT be safe hiding behind a tree big enough to cover you at 100 yards. Those tungsten core bullets were tough to stop in about anything I put them in, from 308 to 300wby. 22 cal. Nosler ballistic tip bullets (50 grains) have a little magic where steel is concerned when you get them moving fast enough (speed). This is one of those weird ones. Take one up to 22-250 speed, and they start going through stuff they shouldn't. A cast iron tub won't slow one down (100 yrds). They will go through RR track web, but not the thick top (50 yrds). I saw them go through a plate steel backstop at an indoor range rated to 30-06, (very short range only 30 yards or so). That was a surprise, the concrete block wall behind the plate steel shut it down before it got away thank goodness. A "new" rule was in place the next day about ammo inspections. This is the only 22 cal bullet I saw do this with the plate, and RR track. I didn't have any green tip stuff back then, I don't think it was around when I was doing this "testing". Other "soft points" wouldn't go through the RR, let alone the plate. 223 wouldn't make it go fast enough (safely anyway) to go through the steel. 7.62X39 all depends on the bullet. With lead core bullets, they don't have any advantage vs. 223 in the penetration department. Shooting a cast iron tub, you are shooting through 4 layers of iron. 223 with lead core bullets would go through the first 2 layers, hit the inside of the tub on the back side (3rd layer) and stop every time. 7.62 with lead core do the same thing (3rd layer). Now add Chinese steel core 7.62 (hard bullet), and about half would go through all 4 layers. The other half we found inside the tub (stopped by the 3rd layer again) or on the ground between layer 3 and 4. I wish I would have had some green tip 5.56 to test back then. [/QUOTE]
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