Steel Plate

[Lupinus]

I've been wondering latly about just how much steel plate a bullet could puncture.

I know it depends on various factors such as bullet design (FMJ, HP. AP, ETC.), the hardness of the steel, the weight and shape of the bullet, the caliber, etc.

So does anyone know (roughly or has a website that would list it) how much stell plate it takes to stop a bullet in some of the more likly calibers? 9mm, 40, 45, 308, 30-06?

Half inch? Inch? Two inches?

Agian I am speaking of fairly general guestimation.

 

[fecmech]

I have a piece of I believe mild steel 1/2" thick 4'X10' that I use as a pistol backstop set at about a 60 degree angle. Hard cast pistol bullets at 1300-1400fps have left very slight dimples in it over the years(about 35). Jacketed pistol bullets leave nothing. A 30-30 left a pretty fair pock mark in it and military fmj .308 went right on thru leaving about a 3/8" hole. Nick

 

[Azrael256]

Looking for something like this? Look about halfway down this page for a little more info.

 

[f4t9r]

I know a 223 will not shoot through a 1/2" steel plate not sure of hardness of steel

 

[Lupinus]

It isn't for a backstop its more for just out of curiosity how much steel can your average pistol go through and how much can a rifle like a 30-06 go through

more a curiosity situation then a plan to put a piece of steel somewhere and unload on it.

 

[TallPine]

more a curiosity situation then a plan to put a piece of steel somewhere and unload on it

I just assumed you wanted to know how thick of a steel plate to wear under your poncho ....

 

[Lupinus]

or how much to put in the walls of my house so they cant be shot through when the SHTF

 

[RyanM]

It depends on the steel too. Mild steel, like the stuff used in cars, will barely stop anything unless it's really thick, or you use fragible ammo. Heat-treated high carbon steel of reasonable thickness will stop just about anything made of lead.

 

[Jeeper]

Normal handgun loads like 9mm through 45 wont go through a 1/4 inch piece of mild steel. Velocity is really the key until you start using AP ammo.

 

[jmorris]

¼” mild steel will do for most downloaded non-magnum pistol rounds out of a 5” barrel. .223 non-AP will not penetrate ½” mild steel (will welt it badly). 30-06 will pass ½” with 185grn sp’s, but just welt ¾” mild steel. A .50 BMG will shoot through 1” mild steel with AP, makes punched looking holes with AP incendiary rounds. I have a neat looking 2” X 3” piece of 1” mild steel with a 50BMG ball stuck halfway through, I cut it out with a pantograph flame cutter (I placed ice on the bullet to keep it from melting.
Once you go to T1 hardened plate or “rifle steel” ½” should stay nice but no AP or 50BMG.

 

[STW]

My uncle was manufacturing .454 Casull revolvers back in the early 1970's and had a display he liked to tout. 1/4" cold rolled steel with a dimple from
a .357, a dent from a .44 Mag, and a hole from a .454. It's always impressed me.

 

[chris in va]

I bought some small steel plates from Home Depot recently, 1/4" thick. As you can see 9mm and .40 FMJ didn't do squat to the plate, hardly making any impression other than the starburst.

 

[Hawken50]

factory loaded .243 will go clean through 3/8" hard faced plate, and will almost, but not quite go through 1/2", handloads will penetrate 1/2"

 

[Cortland]

I have a number of armor plate (AR500?) targets. I think they're 3/8" thick.

They have taken countless rounds of .223, .308, 7.62x39, .30-06, etc. and bazillions of handgun rounds. I don't know what AP would do to them, but targets aren't all that cheap so I'm not planning on finding out.

 

[exoduster18]

Steel....

I've shot 1/2 in. thick steel plates at 100 yards with a 7mm Rem Mag and a .300 Win Mag. The 300 wouldn't penetrate through (left a hell of an indentation though) and the 7mm Rem Mag went right through it like a hot knife through butter. The 7mm Rem Mag cut some nasty holes right through.....

 

[FNFiveSeven]

Check it out:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=117053

I know from personal experience that a AP .50 BMG round can go through an inch of just about anything at close (less than 100 meters) range.

 

[Lupinus]

sweet lol

 

[benEzra]

It also depends on whether the steel is free to move. A small steel target that can move with the impact is more resistant to penetration than a target clamped in a vise, for example.

 

[mcosman]

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=117053

I know from personal experience that a AP .50 BMG round can go through an inch of just about anything at close (less than 100 meters) range.

THis is my first post. I just had to. I have taken a BMG out to find the upper limits for various loads. My real world "tests" show that ball ammo will penatrate 1 5/8" mild plate unbraced. if you use an APIT you can clear up to 2 1/4" mild plate unbraced. Hornady AMax has little penetration due to the aluminum tip, but is by far the most accurate of what I have fired. (I don't reload - Yet) Most of these plates were in excess of 100lbs and were shot at ~150 yrds. THIS IS DANGEROUS!! This rifle is such that you will get fragments at this distance. After recieving a neck injury I have abandoned the notion of shooting at steel. At the time I thought we had enough distance and protective gear. We thought we were being safe, I was wrong. Please be safe and don't shoot @ steel in a manner to get injured. Otherwise it was a great deal of fun.

 

[Mugsy90/10]

8mm mauser AP will punch right thru 1/2" thick stainless plate nooo problem.
.308 AP will almost make it thru