.30-06 armor piercing?

[coosbaycreep]

I have a few boxes of the cheap greek M2 surplus ammo that seems to have vanished earlier this year. While looking online, I've seen other surplus .30-06 M2 (although U.S. made IIRC instead of greek made) that were listed as armor piercing, and even said armor piercing on the box. So is the greek M2 stuff I have considered AP? If so, is it just steel core, or is there something else fancy about it?

I've done a few unscientific penetration tests with it against steel, and none of the steel plates I had were thick enough to stop it. My AK wasn't able to punch through with any type of wolf ammo though (SP, HP, FMJ).

How does the M2 compare to the black tip AP stuff that gets sold online a lot? Most of it seems to be pulled from .308 U.S. surplus. Is there any other places selling the black tip AP bullets besides gunbroker, and if so, is it worth getting over the M2? I have a friend that reloads for .30-06, and that's currently the most powerful caliber I own (unless 8mm is more powerful).

If the black tip bullets outperform M2 with handloading enough to justify their costs, I wouldn't mine eventually picking some up. The gun I have is a Winchester 670. Are hot reloads even safe to shoot out of this model? The gun's in good shape, but from my understanding, the 670 is an economy model, and I don't want to shoot anything through it that might damage the gun or me.

thanks.

 

[PTK]

If the black tip bullets outperform M2 with handloading enough to justify their costs, I wouldn't mine eventually picking some up.

Good luck finding a supply of them. Seems to have dried up, mostly, a few years back.

 

[Jeff F]

The black tip AP rounds will blast through stuff that the regular ball wont touch. Its good stuff if you are going to be killing cars or the such.

 

[ldasr]

30-06 Ap

I've been looking for armer pearsing amo for my 30-06 can anyone tell me were to get some?

 

[bja5006]

i dont know about your rifle, but i would question why you would need to fire copious quantities of hot AP. you can join the military and get paid to do that.

 

[Jeff F]

Because its fun to poke holes in thick metal.

 

[oneshooter]

AP is 168gr, during WW2 most GI's wanted it as it was more accurate than ball. I have about 300rds in clips for my M1, don't shoot it much as it is hard on the rifle.
It puts real nice 30cal holes in 3/4" A36 at 200yds!!!

Oneshooter
Livin in Texas

 

[highorder]

i dont know about your rifle, but i would question why you would need to fire copious quantities of hot AP. you can join the military and get paid to do that.

Need has nothing to do with anything. This is America, the country of wants.

 

[1KPerDay]

Well put. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up whenever I hear someone start a sentence with

i would question why you would need

 

[Bwana John]

So is the greek M2 stuff I have considered AP? If so, is it just steel core, or is there something else fancy about it?

U.S. 30 cal M-1 AP ammo has a tungsten carbide core.
If the the Greek stuff has a steel core it is very soft steel. I would call the Greek stuff I shot standard ball ammo.

 

[K3]

i dont know about your rifle, but i would question why you would need to fire copious quantities of hot AP. you can join the military and get paid to do that.

Didn't a fella by the name of Wesley Clark utter a similar statement regarding assault weapons?

Need ain't relevant.

 

[Bill2e]

I think I saw some of this AP black tip 06 you guys are speaking of. I think I should have bought it. I want to say it was 200 rounds in a ammo can for a little over $100.00

 

[1KPerDay]

That was a screamin' deal if so... they go for about a buck a pop usually IIRC.

 

[alsaqr]

30 years ago I came into 15,000 rounds of .30 cal. armor piercing ammo. Most of it was made in 1954. Still have several thousand rounds that have been properly stored. My 03 Match makes 1.25" groups with it and a Remington 700 I have makes .75" groups.

.30 cal. AP was used in lieu of National Match ammo one year at Camp Perry.

 

[1KPerDay]

Wow... that's quite a stash. I think I have about 100 rounds or so... I may have to run a few through my garands and see how they like it.

 

[mljdeckard]

I would certainly grab some if I came across it, it would be good to have.

And trust me, you don't get to spend NEAR as much time in the army making holes in metal as you would think.

 

[MechAg94]

I thought the older surplus 30.06 AP was steel core, not tungsten carbide.

In my experience, it does not make 30 caliber holes. The steel core that does the penetrating is smaller than that.

 

[danweasel]

And trust me, you don't get to spend NEAR as much time in the army making holes in metal as you would think

I second that!

 

[ldasr]

I found a source for 30-06 AP

Thanks to everyone responding to my request. Those of you following the changes in are government aught to be prepared for what is yet to come.

 

[DirtyFrog1960]

I picked up two boxes of the M2 AP at a gun show -- almost $1.50/round in the post-election hysteria. Lots of people were commenting that they have no idea how Obama will perform as President, but that he has certainly energized the economy in the firearms sector I hope that I never need to use this ammo -- it is definitely in the SHTF category....

It looks like most places are out of the Greek surplus M2 ball. There is a lot of confusion about this ammo, since it is weakly attracted by a magnet, but it is still lead core with a copper jacket. They must have alloyed the copper with nickel or some other metal that produces this mild paramagnetism -- unfortunately I don't have an x-ray spectrometer handy to check out the composition. Since a lot of folks have noted that this HXP ammo seems to heat up the Garand very quickly, it seems likely that the alloy is slightly harder than pure copper. It would probably take an insider to know the real reasons for the particular choice of alloy in this round.

 

[Loomis]

Yes, 8mm is more powerful.

 

[rondog]

FWIW - I recently bought all this from a feller for $160, I think it was. There's a/p, tracers, M2 ball, blanks, empty milsurp cases, m/g belt links, an ammo belt with two pouches, both dated 1917, and a bunch of lead-tipped commercial rounds. I'll probably donate the blanks to a local VFW, I don't have a use for 'em, maybe their honor guard can use 'em.

 

[Still 2 Many Choices!?]

I hate you so much right now!! I was hoping to fi d some ap .06 ammo to reload for my FAL... I even posted a thread on the legality of reloading ap ammo for a different caliber. If the S ever does actually hit the fan( I'm thinking zombie uprising), it would be good to save ammo by shooting through multiple bad guys with one shot lol.

Still 2 Many Choices!?

 

[alsaqr]

Am lucky enough to have a few thousand rounds of AP. It was made in 1954, after the corrosive primers went away. That ammo is very accurate: I have shot .5" three shot groups and smaller with that ammo and a Remington 700 that I own.

AP was used in the National Matches one year after all the National Match ammo made for the year was found to be not so accurate.

 

[atlanticfire]

Because its fun to poke holes in thick metal.

This is just what I was thinking