Steel core round vs 1" steel

Years ago we had a bunch of 12 ga shells, not fit to hunt with so my bud said if we cut them they would be able to go thru a car rim. Well I said no way and cut the shell, well it went right thru that car wheel. Then a old timer I knew was a ww2 vet gave me some 30-06 steel core rounds, he said the ywere armour piercing. Well he was right they went right thru car engines, plate steel etc.

So one day about 15 years later my cuzz shows up wit hsome rail road tie, this stuff is very heavy steel, we cut a shell and shot it, looked like the steel plate you shot. Didnt go thru but made a hole like that one.

Fun stuff.
 
mild steel

If I understand it right, the surplus, silver tipped "light ball" steel core round is not necessarily intended as an AP number. How it would compare to a lead core bullet on various mediums might be interesting.

I think the mild steel core is a result of a cheaper manufacturing process (cheaper than lead) than any AP intentions on its performance.
 
Someone gave me a handful of 30-06 AP rnds. I shot them into 7/8 HR steel plate. Ended up with 1/4" holes through. Very impresive IMHO
I would love to see what a heavy mag would punch through with Ap rnds.
 
AP

DSCF5386copy.jpg


.30-06 AP WWII & Korean war vintage approx. 60 yds. away. Some passed right thru the back and into the RR tie nearly intact!!
 
Careful, dude...

No one recommends shooting high power FMJ rifle rounds- especially steel core- at steel any closer than 200 yards.

What direction did the frags fly? Don't know? Exactly.

Not tryin' to be your momma, just sayin.

You're flirting with some unnecessary danger.
 
The steel not being mounted still allows the bullets to pretty much fall where they impact at 100 yards. In the end of the video I show a steel core round that hit the metal. They don't fly further than 5 or 6 feet away from the steel. I would not ever shoot at a steel plate that was mounted under 200 yards, that indeed is a formula for disaster. I believe you are correct bamaranger, from what I've gathered it was cheaper to produce these mild steel core rounds, than to produce all lead rounds. The true AP rounds have a little tungsten mixed in them.
 
From what I understand, the steel core 54r rounds made in bulk were pretty much designed to go through as much soldier-and-soldier-related material as possible, WWII still had remnants of trench warfare in the form of deeply-stacked charges (forgot the real term), butbasically the mosin round was designed with mild steel to be cheaper in production and have the added external benefit of being able to deform significantly less on impact with a human target than a lead round.
 
Very cool.

To OP: Did I understand you to say that the projectiles were recovered in near proximity to that target?

Must be a heck of a M/N to shoot two round so close together at 100 yards! You must be a heck of a shot to pull that off, too.
 
Thanks stubbicatt! Your correct, I found the rounds no further than 5 or 6 feet beyond the target. I suppose If it were a bigger piece of steel that didn't budge much when shot, the rounds would have a chance to ricochet back at the shooter.
 
I shoot my hand loaded .300 Win Mag AP rounds at steel about as thick. The rounds either go right through, or stick out from the other side. Its fun to watch them put a clean hole right through a section of railroad track with no trouble!
 
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