wow knock down power

Knock-down power is a myth.


If you want to kill something effectively you want to put a big hole through it and all the way through it. Otherwise we'd just run around the woods pushing deer over by hand.
 
Well, it depends on what type of steel you were using and what type ammo. Depending on the steel, regular soft-nose cup-and-core ammo might or might not go through the plate, but again, it's dependent on the steel. All steel is not the same. All bullets are not the same.
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I'll be. I've never shot at steel targets and I wouldn't have thought that a 30.06 would have went through a steel plate no matter what.
 
Kreyzhorse said:
I'll be. I've never shot at steel targets and I wouldn't have thought that a 30.06 would have went through a steel plate no matter what.
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Back in the late '70s I was a young lieutenant of Armor at Fort Knox, KY. The Weapons Department at the Armor School conducted some studies of ammo penetration against armor. Ammo from 7.62 to 105mm was used and the results were very interesting. Ball ammo penetrates plate steel very well, moreso than most people might think. It also ricochets like a ********. For the more impressive results, they cut the steel into display-sized chunks and mounted them on frames for display and put those chunks in the lobby of the building. Students could walk around and look at the damage done.

When we shot that little piece of 7/16 mild steel, I wasn't sure if the softnosed ammo would penetrate. Several things mitigated against it. First, we were shooting softnosed ammo, designed to mushroom. Second, the steel plate wasn't firmly attached, it was designed to swing from the chain you can see welded to the top of it.

Designing steel targets so that they're safe is an exercise in caution. Weird things happen when bullets hit steel and you've got to have room for ricochets and splash. The designer should consider exactly what is going to happen at the moment metal strikes metal, and that is often hard to predict. This hobby we pursue has hazards that are often hard to predict.

Let's all be careful out there.
 
I think it was PO Ackley's first book that had some pictures of some armor plate that had been shot with .30-06 AP and his .220 Swift copper bullets, and while the .30-06 made a dent/dimple/gouge, the .220 Swift went right through. I may have some details mixed up, but it made quite an impression on me. There's more to punching holes in steel than power/kinetic energy; he went on to discuss velocity, rotational speed (imparted by rifling twist and velocity), bullet construction, sectional density, and some other things I don't recall.
 
I found this section of I-beam at a scrap yard and have put it to good use at 50 yards with pistol calibers. It never fails though, someone on the line just *has* to take a shot at it with their rifle.

A little hard to tell but there are a couple good craters and holes in it. I know for a fact one of the craters is from a 22 magnum rifle.

I got my Garand last year and wanted to see what a surplus bullet would do. Went clean through *both* plates.



 
I looked at your target...

It looks like u missed! :). Be safe will ya though? I'll diddo the concerns of the others.
 
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