22lr penetration test on aircraft aluminum

[dom1104]

here are the results of various 22lr rounds delivered to aircraft wing material via a 22 inch barrel from 40 ft away.

Oh, before anyone gets smart and asks why I am hunting airplanes, its where I work and what I had available.

Remington Golden Bullet



rear





Sniper Subsonic



rear



Aguila Interceptor Solid Point



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CCI Velocitor



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Aguila Supermax



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CCI Stinger



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Rifle







draw your own conclusions, but there were a couple surprises there for me.


1. the 60 grain SSS performance via this aluminum plate was terrible.

2. the faster the projectile, the cleaner and more ... penetraty it was. it seems when penetrating metal, speed is EVERYTHING. the 60 grain projectile did horribly, the 40 grain ones did moderatly well, but the best were by far the 30 grain high velocity rounds.

3. The only round to penetrate both the aluminum plate, the hay bale behind it, and the 1/2 inch wood board behind that was the Aguila Supermax. The Velocitor did not, the Interceptor lodged into the wood, and the stinger was nowhere to be found. alot of this is very anecdotal because of the possibility of a lot happening inside that hay bale, however I have not found it changed the trajectory of what you shoot thru it AT ALL. if I had a half inch group on paper in front it it, it will be only slightly larger if I put paper behind it.


so. moral of the story is, if you are hunting 747s, faster is better.

 

[Jerry D]

They did a test somewhere sometime... and found faster is better - I beleive it was between the .223 ad 308 - maybe the military versions... idk, anyways it was found that the .223 penetrates thicker metal...

I've always believed that Rem Thunderbolts hit the hardest, I wonder what they would do.

There's some big differences in the penetration there. Thanks for sharing!

 

[tju1973]

I like the SSS for targeting and rat duty, but I agree, the penetration on thicker material is bad...

Nice rifle BTW, but your scope choice is unique...was that just for the test?

Either way, sweet rifle!!

 

[franconialocal]

That Aguilla ammo looks great. The first one you showed looked like a great blend between velocity and spread. Great damage.

Nice test weapon too!! Keep it up!!

 

[gidaeon]

Interesting post! I enjoyed reading it Much better than arguing what different rounds of .22lr might supposedly do; or how thick cheese would supposedly stop it ect.,

 

[Guvnor]

Nice test.

About those Aguila Super Max, are they hollow points or round nose?

 

[DMK]

I'll bet they wish they tested this in 1939. Just think, we could have used 22LR in all those fighters instead of six Ma Deuces. Imagine all the ammo they could have carried!

But then again, I guess you'd have some difficulty getting that Mustang a mere 40 feet behind an ME109 before you could take a shot.

 

[numaone]

What was the thickness of the Aluminum?

 

[shotgunjoel]

You know the Brady Bunch will pick this up now and talk about how this whole forum is planning to shoot down planes with red sniper rifles with evil reflex sights, just perfect for the job.

 

[Float Pilot]

Were the pieces of aluminum hanging or mounted solid?

 

[dom1104]

the aluminum was propped up against the hay bale. so I would say mounted solid, it didnt move one bit

I have no idea how thick it is, I work in IT, not out in the shop. I will ask tomorrow and have someone micrometer it.

I intend on getting some more different types and continuing this test, I will find some thunderbolts.

I will also repeat the test with a pistol, instead of the rifle, and see how the short barrel affects it.

the supermax were round nose.

as far as the scope goes, its a cheap red dot I use for bowling pins. currently thats what this rifle is set up for. long weighted barrel + crosshair red dot.


thanks for responding with questions guys, I intend on continuing this fun aluminum blasting tests, it is just so darn fun. if anyone has any other ammo suggestions, I am going to pick up some more tomorrow.

 

[Sunray]

"...the .223 penetrates thicker metal..." Depends on the range and bullet. A .308 bullet needs about 300 yards to stabilize. Penetrates better at 300 than it does at 100 with a non-AP bullet.

 

[rangerruck]

the thing is, of your superfast rounds, only the interceptor uses a standard 22lr case, the other hyperfasts use stinger cases, which is .010 longer than a 22lr case. Hope your semi auto chamber doesn't get tweeked up from using the longer stuff.

 

[jpwilly]

Sensational, now I know what to feed my 22lr when hunting thick scraps of aluminium!

 

[saturno_v]

.....Try to explain your test results to the "momentum" crowd....:banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:

 

[Sunray]

"...when hunting thick scraps of aluminium!..." You'd still have to select the right bullet. M113's, IAV Stryker's and Scorpian light tanks all use Al armour.

 

[jpwilly]

You'd still have to select the right bullet. M113's, IAV Stryker's and Scorpian light tanks all use Al armour.

...I'm not planning to hunt any of those with any rifle in my inventory. Certainly not a 22lr.

 

[Sunray]

"...Certainly not a 22lr..." Head shot on the crew commander. snicker.
Shooting at slabs of metal can be and is fun. Bianchi Cup, etc.
Not really much point in calling it a test though. Shot a LR at an old, abandoned(it was in the middle of a field), fuel oil tank, long ago. Dented it, but bounced off from less than 20 yards. That wasn't a test either. More of a target of opportunity.
Mind you, when the hyper-velocity .22's first came out, Stingers, Expeditors and Yellow Jackets. A few of the guys who haunted the gun shop I worked in, then, tested them on an M1 helmet. Haven't a clue about what distance. Stingers and Expeditors went through one side and stopped. The Yellow Jackets went right through the steel hat. Not that helmets are made to stop bullets, but still, they're .22's.

 

[rcmodel]

it seems when penetrating metal, speed is EVERYTHING.

Yep.
Should have ask.

Hatcher's Notebook includes a blurb about how surprised Army Ordnance guys were when the .220 Swift (46 grain bullet at 4,100 FPS) was first tested against steel armor plate before WWII.

It penetrated more armor then 30-06 168 grain Armor Piercing bullets at 2,700.

rc

 

[dom1104]

Man. shooting stuff is fun.

Well part 2 of my little testing is as follows,

NONE of those rounds fired at the same metal from the same distance from a pistol, managed to penetrate, and most barely dented it. the SSS and the remington golden bullets, you can barely tell it impacted at all.

Apparently, they call it 22 Long RIFLE for a reason. they pretty much suck from a pistol barrel.

Anyhow, shooting stuff is fun and I do enjoy shooting at something other than paper.

 

[jpwilly]

Anyhow, shooting stuff is fun and I do enjoy shooting at something other than paper.

I agree, shooting stuff is fun...I was just being a wise @$$ hope you didn't mind.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Proves the old theorum that velocity is king when it comes to penetrating thin hard targets, but sectional density and construction are king in penetrating less dense materials. Thanks for the info.

 

[ThomasT]

Interesting test. I have found that the 60gr 22s will penetrate twice as far in phone books. In sheet lead most are are stopped at the same depth and that includes remington CeeBee rounds.

They replaced the cross ties at the local RR tracks several years ago. I picked up a few of the old tie plates. I think they are about 5/16" thick. We set these at 100 yards and shot them with a 30-06 and a 270. The 150gr SP hunting rounds blew right through the steel plates. A 223 fired from a mini-14 made a crater and bulged the back.

We also shot a 55 gallon barrel to make air holes for a burn barrel. A 22 would go in one side but not exit. A 22 mag would easily blow through both sides. I wish I would have had several barrels to line up. I bet it would have went through at least one more barrel. Maybe more.

Your right, its fun to shoot something besides paper.

 

[Gryffydd]

.....Try to explain your test results to the "momentum" crowd..

Try explaining this to the "People/Animals are the same as a thin sheet of aluminum" crowd

 

[JohnBT]

"Man. shooting stuff is fun."

That's the truth. 15 years ago two friends bought an old place in the country and it came with a 1960ish vintage bus that had been sort of permanently converted to a hunting cabin.

We used it for target practice for months before they finally paid someone to haul it away and tore down the lean-to additions and little cinderblock walls and stuff.

We weren't scientific like you though, we just shot it up. It looked worse than that bus in the old Eastwood movie, a great deal worse. Had to look it up; The Gauntlet...