Metal Penetration

[Puncha]

Much has been written about how much ballistic gel or water jugs certain rounds can penetrate. However, does anyone have any idea how the following firearms and ammo:

1) .22Lr rifle with 18" barrel shooting 40gr high speed sold nose ammo at 27 yards.
2) 9mm pistol with 4" barrel shooting 115gr +P FMJ at 15 yards.
3) .38 Special revolver with 4" barrel shooting 125gr +P SJSP at 15 yards
4) 12ga shotgun with 18" barrel shooting 2 3/4" 3.5oz dram equivalent 9-pellet 00 buck at 12 yards.

will do up against these metal objects:

1) 5mm of mild steel?
2) 5mm of aerospace grade aluminium?
3) 2 galvanised steel trashcans tied together?

 

[Firehand]

The others I don't know, but the .22 will be lucky to penetrate more than one, maybe both sides of a garbage can. I know for a fact it will not penetrate the side of an old oven, which was fairly thin sheet steel.

 

[NailGun]

I'll be happy to take a shot at this....

7mm, (.284") mild steel: Nothing you listed will poke a hole, the .22 lr. and 12 ga. won't really dent it, and the 9mm and .38 special will probably leave a very minor indentation.

With aircraft grade aluminum: Again, none of these listed rounds will poke a hole. The aluminum will be disfigured, however, by the 9mm and the .38 special.

Garbage can lids: Assuming that a garbage can itself is as thick as two lids, I can claim that all listed rounds will completely pass through an empty garbage can.

Recently, I shot a washing machine with my CZ 75 9mm. Using WWB 115 gr. FMJ, the rounds penetrated one side panel and one side of the inside drum. That's it! 2 thicknesses of porcelain covered sheet metal...hmmm. ....and yes, I'm a redneck.....

hope this helps.

 

[sfhogman]

Go here:
http://www.theboxotruth.com/

 

[Lupinus]

The others I don't know, but the .22 will be lucky to penetrate more than one, maybe both sides of a garbage can. I know for a fact it will not penetrate the side of an old oven, which was fairly thin sheet steel.

What the heck were you shooting?

Just last week my uncle and I put about 300 rounds of remington bulk through a steel drum. He needed a new burning barrel and shooting it was more fun then drilling holes in it for the air flow

 

[Puncha]

What about thinner metal?

Would it make any difference if the sheets of mild steel and aluminium were 5mm thick instead?

 

[dfaugh]

Well, my back yard shooting range is littered w/ old appliances (garbage guys won't take 'em) including a refrigerator, and coupla washing machines and a dryer. (note there's some internal plastic and junk in there as well)Behind them is a backstop made of a BIG tree (about 2' in diameter, that I had to cut down) Not sure of the thicknesses of the metal, but I'll relate my experiences, as best I can. I usually shoot at about 40-45 feet

1) .22Lr rifle with 18" barrel shooting 40gr high speed sold nose ammo at 27 yards.
.22 standard velocity (22 in barrel") will penetrate through-and-through in most cases, and still penetrate the wood backer, but not much (maybe an inch or so. High velocity doesn't seem much different)

2) 9mm pistol with 4" barrel shooting 115gr +P FMJ at 15 yards.
9mm "hardball" will penetrate through-and-through, and go a few (3-4) inches into the wood backer. HPs inclusing +P and +P+ will do about the same. this is from both a pistol(s), and a carbine.

3) .38 Special revolver with 4" barrel shooting 125gr +P SJSP at 15 yards
Never tried .38 Special

4) 12ga shotgun with 18" barrel shooting 2 3/4" 3.5oz dram equivalent 9-pellet 00 buck at 12 yards.

20" barrel, Mossberg, shooting S&B 3" Magnum 00 buck (15 pellet)--will penetrate through-and-through, and go a few (3-4) inches into the wood backer.

P.S. #4 birdshot will JUST penetrate one layer of metal...anything smaller will bounce off.

 

[NailGun]

Well..... .20" VS .284"....With those listed rounds....probably not. But now you got me curious.

Are you just curious, or do you have something up yer sleeve?

 

[rhubarb]

I have only shot 3/8" / 9.5mm thick mild steel and none of those rounds would even dent it. 12ga slug didn't dent it. .30-30 Winchester dented it from 50 yards. .30-06 penetrated from 150 yds but not 200.

I have seen pictures somewhere on the internets that someone posted of some 1/4" / 6.3mm mild steel penetrated by 9mm.

If you are thinking about using these for armor, better hope nobody shoots at you.





Why not just duct tape some mesquite logs over your trauma plates?

In my experience, 9mm FMJ will only penetrate 1-1/2 to 2 inches in dry mesquite. .45 Long Colt will only leave a gray smear on the bark - no penetration.

 

[Firehand]

You put .22s through a steel drum? Damn!

I'll add that the trash can I was thinking of was an old one, probably thicker metal. I do have to say I didn't try shooting one of them, just thought a .22 wouldn't go through both sides.

The oven a friend and I shot at was just a standard household type(Kenmore, I think) some idiot dumped. We were curious so put about 20 rounds each into it. That hammered a pretty good dent in the side in an area about 1" across, but none penetrated.

 

[Firehand]

I'll throw in that a standard British MkVII ball round at 50 yards will go through 1/4" mild steel and leave a hole so neat it almost looked drilled.

.303 MkVii, that is.

 

[Owen]

when you say steel, you really need to specify what kind of steel.

 

[svtruth]

Well,

I propped up a 12x2 and nailed an old strap hinge to it. It was about 1/8" mild steel. From about 30' a .357 bent it. Did not penetrate. Made severely deformed dents.
Just my $.02.

 

[Geronimo45]

Box o' truth needs to do a test on computers, too. Old computers with massive, junk monitors - to see if PCs or Macs are better bullet stoppers.

My informal tests, done with empty lids/cases for 386 computers (ceramicish plastic with tin backing, I think) proved that the .45 would rip through and leave an extra-big hole - maybe bringing some shrapnel to bear on the subject.

Mild steel? Aluminum? Beats me. I 'spect that any of those can go through trashcans.

 

[MachIVshooter]

None of the rounds listed are known for good penetration on hard targets; the product of low velocity with large frontal area. even the most powerful handgun rounds have trouble with thin steel. I have fired hot loaded .50 AE rounds into 1/8" plate at 20 yards. Not all of them got through. .50 AE is toward the top of the spectrum power-wise for handgun rounds. Rifle rounds fair much better on hard targets.

-Standard M193/M855 5.56mm ball ammo will penetrate 1/4" mild steel plate reliably from 100 yards when fired from 20-24" barrels. The AP stuff will go better than 3/8".

-7.62mm NATO M59 ball will pass through 3/8" plate with no trouble; M61 AP rounds will slice through 3/4" mild plate.

-.50 BMG M2 AP will penetrate well over 1" of mild plate at 200 yards reliably.

Obviously, not all steels are created equal. Plate steel that you buy at the hardware store is much softer than armor plate. Likewise, aluminum alloys will behave differently. Most light armored civilian transport vehicles (like armored trucks for currency transport) are aluminum clad. The aluminum does less resisting and more absorbing. It does take more aluminum to stop a projectile, but with the right alloy it is not as much as one might think.

The most effective anti-armor weapons do not use projectiles to penetrate. RPG's, for example, use an explosive charge and a "funnel" to create a very intense stream of super-heated metal (usually copper) to slice through better than 2 feet of steel; Basically, a super-fast cutting torch. This is why we now have reactive armor. It instantly creates distance between the inner and outer armor, drastically reducing the effectiveness of these liquid metal jet streams.

 

[rangerruck]

id say, the 22 is the only one capable of any penetration, the others just dont have the speed or s.d. to do it.

 

[shooter503]

A couple of data points from product tests.

Tests against 0.09 thou. mild steel at right angles to the bullet path.

9mm FMJ will penetrate 0.090 mild steel fired at 90 degrees to the plate. Regular 40S&W with a semi-flat nosed bullet fails to penetrate under the same conditions (just dents the metal then expands). Penetration depends on exact location of hit. For example, a hit on an unsupported sheet of metal seems less likely to penetrate than a hit on a firmly supported section such as close to a reinforcing member. It seems that flexing of the metal absorbs some of the bullet energy.

Tests against a piece of 3/16 steel plate positioned at 45 degrees to the bullet path.

With a glancing contact the 9 mm FMJ will leave a shallow depression about 1 inch long but it will not penetrate the steel. The 40S&W just leaves a line of lead, no apparent depression produced, no penetration.

The steel plate for the second test weighed about 15 pounds. It was folded at a 90 degree angle, like the corner of a box, and then placed on the ground with the "point" towards the shooter. Therefore, both sides of the plate were at 45 degrees to the shooter. The rearward folded edges of the plate provided support. Shots from 15 feet with both 9mm and 40S&W hardly moved the plate. The energy transferred to the plate was less than impressive.