Who needs AR500 Steel when...

...a simple worn out circular saw blade is enough to stop the bullet?

I shot this at a friends range today and fully expected it to pass through with ease. The blade is maybe a 16th of an inch thick. 115gr 9mm shot from a 4.5" barrel from 15yds.

Interesting to me anyways...

 

Answer:mutliple hits will quickly diintegrate your saw blade. Also, angle of ricochet wil not be controlled.

 

Looks like the armored piercing round punched a clean hole through on the other side . Hey and if you miss, you can always say it went through the arbor hole.

 

A friend of mine welded a chain to a Harrow disk to shoot muzzleloaders at.

Rang like a bell for about 5 hits at 50 yds then cracked. Then broke in half at about shot #7.

 

Wow that's tougher than I would have thought. Wonder how they would hold up to 22lr?

 

After this one testing my guess is you could shoot .22LR's all day and it would just put dents in it. I was surprised by the outcome too.

Being a general carpenter for a living I have plenty of worn out blades lying around so I'm thinking I'm going to do some further testing.

Maybe see what happens with .22 through .45 and report back....

 

I tried some 1\2" plate steel from the local steel dealer. .223 fmj 55 grn at 100 yards put divots in it nearly all the way through and about 1\2" in diameter. I was shocked at the results.

 

Thank you for doing the test and posting thorough pictures of the results from different angles.

I would very much like to see how old saw blades hold up against .22 and the common pistol calibers.

I think the fact the third picture (the view from the edge of the blade) shows the blade very nearly didn't stop the bullet is sobering. Anything behind the blade would have suffered significant trauma.

 

I have a piece 5/8 - 3/4" thick. At 200 yards, dimples about a third of the way through, both with .223 FMJ and .30/06 SP. It should last a while, and it was free, so...

 

Those dimples "about a third of the way through" (we usually call them craters) will turn splatters and complete bullets and can send them back at you. I have a scar on my wrist from shooting a Garand (.30-06) at mild steel cratered plates at 100 yards about 20 years ago. Pulled the trigger and something knocked my arm straight back. I thought the gun had blown up. Turned out the mangled bullet had come almost straight back, went in my trigger wrist and stopped in my elbow. Orthoscopic surgery through the entry wound and down my arm to the elbow to remove it. Couple of inches higher and over to one side and it would have been in my eye, doubt if the shooting glasses would have stopped it.

We took the cratered plates down the next day.

 

LOL, You don't need AR500 for handgun ammo, but you do for rifle ammo.

Even so, cool (if not a bit dangerous) test!

Now we can make Level 2a homeade dragonskin-like armor out of circular saw blades!

 

Something that really surprised me, how tough it was, was an old plastic carpet protector. The kind you roll a desk chair around on.
Lexan???
It stopped .357 and .44 mag pistol round. Doubt if it would stand up to multiple hits though.

 

What I think is interesting is that it didn't so much dent, as just split. That hardened steel is impressive for what it's designed to do (make straight cuts in wood).

I wonder if a .22 would even leave a mark expect for lead splatter. A 5.56 might just punch a super clean hole.

 

Yeah, but it will be a lot more comfortable if you take off those little carbide tips first.

 

Be careful. The dimples can slide a bullet through the bottom of the depression and send it right back at the firing line. Especially with softer bullets. Without the dimples it would work great for pistol calibers under 1200 fps or so.

 

Tried it once, to see what all of the fuss was about. My hearing is so bad that I couldn't hear the impact while everyone else could, so it probably won't be used anymore. Thanks for the concern, this all gives me something to think about.

 

Looks like to me, it's a one shot deal. Multiple shots equate to a shattered blade with sharp shards of metal laying on the ground. Add to that, the increased risk of ricochet back at the shooter once the blade is bent/cracked and I'll stick with my 3/8" ar500 gongs that last a lifetime being shot with my handguns.

 

A big array of AR500 steel is one of the best firearms purchases I have ever made. I don't have to tape, reset, replace targets. Just a can of spray paint every now and again.