What thickness of mild steel plate will .30-06 M2 AP penetrate?

[.455_Hunter]

Greetings,

I have a gov't project coming up soon where I will need to know roughly what the expected mild steel (A36) penetration is for military specification .30-06 M2 AP.

Anybody have an idea?

Thanks!

 

[highorder]

I've fired M2 AP at A36 plates only once.

Clean holes in 5/8" plates @100m

Penetrator core (.200"ish) penetration of 2 plates half the time.
The other half, the AP core was sticking out the back of the second plate.

 

[ArmedBear]

A scrap engine block is one target people use for fun...

 

[tactikel]

I shot a .30-06 AP (WW II milsurp) load at 3/4" boiler plate at 100 yards and the core actually penetrated thru the plate, and bounced back out. The hole on the far side was about 1mm.

 

[bfoosh006]

Not trying to be a smart ass, but....http://lmgtfy.com/....

 

[bfoosh006]

http://www.odcmp.org/new_forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=70147&SearchTerms=ap,railroad...That might help...

 

[Fred Fuller]

What's the angle of incidence involved? Is it a straight on 90 degrees, or is it higher? Increasing the angle of incidence effectively increases the thickness of the armor, but most testing standards involve straight on impacts, but most tests are also conducted with armor plate.

http://www.inetres.com/gp/military/infantry/rifle/30_ammo.html might have enough info to help some.

Cartridge, Caliber .30, Armor Piercing, M2


Penetration, fired at 7/8-inch (22.23 mm) thick homogeneous armor plate at 100 yards (91 m), will be not less than 0.42 inch (10.66 mm).

The cartridge is identified by a black bullet tip.

Type Classification: OBS - MSR 11756003

lpl

ETA: http://208.84.116.223/forums/index.php?showtopic=2453 might be helpful also

 

[.455_Hunter]

The impact angle will be almost exactly 90 deg. at a range of 15 feet or so. Don't worry, the firing will be done remotely, so there will be no danger of ricochet.

Thanks!

Not trying to be a smart ass, but....http://lmgtfy.com/....

Ha, Ha, very funny...

Sometimes, you get much quicker and more intelligent answers here than you get with Google, especially when have wade through pages of "here, hold my beer" type of tests. See the post by "highorder" just five minutes after I posted the thread.

What happens when you Google "9mm versus .45"?

 

[bfoosh006]

.455_ Hunter...my apologies....but, I couldn't resist....

 

[R.W.Dale]

Ap, SP or hp

inside 100 3/4" A36 or A588 plate is toast from a 30-06

I know this from personal experiance.

A36 5/8" shot at 100yds soft point ammo

 

[MachIVshooter]

It'll penetrate 1" mild steel plate at close range. The testing I did was at 30 yards.

However, these tests were not large plates. Just pieces of scrap, most about 3 x 6 inches. Never measured, but I suspect it swelled the sides a bit. I don't think you could absolutely count on the penetrator getting through if there were the integrity of a larger plate.

My personal experience and available data lead me to believe that at relatively short range, it'd prolly be lethal on the back side of 3/4" mild steel or 1/2" armor plate.

 

[CYANIDEGENOCIDE]

at 35 yards I shot a plate that goes between the railroad track and the tie. I think its cast iron about 5/8 inch thick. Using a 18.5 inch barrel and M2 AP only 1 of the 3 shots penetrated completely the other 2 penetrators lodged in the plate but punched holes in the back. the angle of incidence was relatively far off 90

 

[R.W.Dale]

I don't know what the purpose of this test is (ammo or material) but be aware that on mild steel a 3000fps 150grn hunting projectile can and sometime does outpenatrate slower AP rounds on mild steel.

When it comes to bullets on mild steels velocity is king

 

[627PCFan]

"mild steel/hunting projectile can and sometime does outpenatrate slower AP rounds on mild steel." I regulary shoot 223 45gn Nosler Ballistic tips at a 5/8 mild steel target @ 200 yards with full pass throughs everytime. Custom Competitions (FMJ) just craters-

 

[Float Pilot]

I remember reading some testing data from WWII in which they were using rail road rails as the target. And in some cases the AP ammo would penetrate further at longer distances because the projectile had stabilized.

My dad said that when he was a young teenage Army troop in the Pacific, that all they were issued was AP ammo for combat purposes. It was better for going through trees and light bunkers.

While he never talks about it, he did once mention that several people opened up on a light Japanese tank at close range, using M-1 Garands and BARs. He said that they eventually disabled it and the crew, when some of the rounds penetrated what he called a pot metal tank.

 

[jkingrph]

Never tried my 30-06 on steel plate. I have a 458 Win Mag and my BIL wanted to see what it would do. We tried a 400 gr Barnes hollow point(all copper) at about 30 yards, It penetrated 5/8 boiler palate and transfered the pattern of the lands and grooves to the hole it made in the boiler plate.

 

[rcmodel]

Just a cautionary note here for the new shooters.

If you shoot a high-power rifle at steel at 30 yards, and it goes through, all is well.

But if it doesn't, the penetrator core or jacket frags will come right back atcha about half as fast as it went.

I had one friend in HS shoot a hole clear through the trunk of a 1959 Ford with a 30-06 AP core bounch-back. He was shooting prone right beside his car and it missed his head by inches!

Another lost his right eye when he was 20 years old from a 243 bullet jacket that bounced back at him off a steel bridge rail he shot at about 20 yards.

rc

 

[highorder]

Just a cautionary note here for the new shooters.

Right on, rc. It can't be overstated.

Steel shoots back.