Garand M80 bullets vs AR 500 steel?

C

chris in va

New member
I have a 3/8" AR500 steel target I normally use copper jacketed 223's on but curious what magnetic M80 147gr bullets will do at 300 yards?

Will it damage the steel enough to make it not worthwhile? I've taken a shine to shooting my M1 at longer distances and would like to target something else besides small rocks on the hill.:cool:
 
You mean the standard 7.62mm NATO M80 147gr ball ammo?

If so, it won't do anything to AR500 armor plate.
 
The steel jackets may start to knick the plates after a while. 3/8 is a little thin for my liking, but may be ok... You can do a test and shoot the back side of the plate to verify if any damage does occur. If so you still have a useable target for other bullets that you know won't damage the steel.
 
If they are unknown gunshow bag-o-bullets I would probably cut one in half and make sure there isn't a steel penetrator inside.

Then again I shoot my AR500 targets with steel-core 7.62x54R ammo, and haven't seen any appreciable difference in hits from that and lead core stuff.

If it is just a steel jacket, I wouldn't worry about it at all.
 
The thing about bigger calibers is they hit harder. Most steel shoots are limited to .308 or smaller bullets and a MV of less than 3000 fps. At 300 yards is seriously doubt you'll punch through the steel plate or crater it with your bullets since they aren't steel core. What might happen is denting of the steel plates. That could cause potential problems because the bullet isn't hitting a flat surface, and could cause it to do strange things.

The only way to know for sure what is going to happen is to shoot it and see. You could call the manufacturer and see what they think. My first steel plate was ⅜ and it didn't take long to decide to buy ½ or thicker plates from then on.
 
Those steel jacketed ones will dig a 3/4" deep hole in AR-500 at less than 100 yards. Be careful. I shoot mine from .308 at about 2715 fps. Past 300 they still leave pretty good sized gouges.

Save them for paper, they are pretty accurate. I think mine came from PRVI and ranged from 145-149 for a batch of 2100.
 
Alrighty, reporting back.

I don't know how 'mild' the steel jacket is but they hardly left a mark on the steel at 100 yards. I don't think my AR500 is anything uber special so this surprised me.

So...bonus!
 
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