Introduction
As an offshoot of a recent report on the use of hardened steel targets, I decided to do a quick investigation on whether steel core M855 military rounds would damage an AR500 grade steel target.
The full report on Fragmentation and Steel Targets can be found here:
Fragmentation_Patterns
Approach to Testing
This test wasn't planned out days ahead with careful consideration of how each step should be performed. There isn't even a spreadsheet involved! However, I still think that there were a few learning points at the end of the day.
One pleasant late-fall afternoon, I decided to try to answer one of the questions that came up in the Fragmentation test. A poster wanted to know if it was safe to use M855 rounds on steel targets.
I gathered up a rifle, ammo, steel target and camera and started shooting stuff.
After confirming the zero on this rifle and scope, I shot rounds at 50 yards (because that is a common zero distance for me), 100 yards, 211 yards, and then as it got dark, at 25 yards. Pictures were taken along the way as well as one video that I think you'll enjoy.
About M855 Ammunition
You can find mountains of information about this military round on the Internet. I don't plan to duplicate that here.
This 62 grain round is considered as steel core, but not armour piercing (AP). It was specifically exempted from that designation by the BATFE. It does not meet their definition since it is made of both lead and steel and lead is not on the list of materials included for AP construction.
An easy way to test for steel core construction in this or any bullet is to get a standard magnet. If the bullet sticks to the magnet, it has a steel core. If it doesn't it's not steel.
Testing Set-up
As I mentioned, it was a beautiful afternoon a few weeks ago; the kind of day you know will soon be extinct for the next four months or so. This was the view from the shooting bench. The little white spot at the far end is the full-sized IPSC target at 211 yards.
It was about 4:45 pm with the sun low to the west. There were light clouds overhead with a temperature of 68 degrees F. Occasionally a mild swirling breeze would pass through.
I set up a sand bag on a shooting bench on the top of the dam.
The rifle was a friend's Daniel Defense AR-15 in 5.56 with a Vortex Viper PST 1x4 scope. (See Vortex_PST for the review.) It was set at 4X magnification during the test. I used the illumination on the reticle starting at level 10 and incrementing lower as the sun was setting and the background got darker.
I was shooting military M855 steel core ammo. I purchased this ammo a few years ago from INGO member Walt_Jabsco. I have found this to be a very accurate ammo for use in the AR line of rifles.
I retreived an unused 6" round AR500 hardened steel target I had. It was made by Bobcat_Steel. This was mounted on a steel tripod and set at 50 yards.
50 Yards
I fired 10 rounds at the new steel with these results.
I sprayed the target with white paint. I find the paint helps to bring out the surface of the steel. I've had hits that looked like they left a mark, but after touching the spot or painting the target I could see that there was no damage.
In this case, I could see that this ammo did leave some shallow dimples.
Looking back, I should have shot some factory ball ammo to show that the typical .223 leaves no marks whatsoever at 50 yards. [In the Fragmentation thread, we shot some angled Bobcat steel with .223 at less than 50 yards (not generally recommend due to safety) with no marks at all.]
100 Yards
I don't have an established 100 yard shooting position due to the layout of the property. (That's a future project!) For this test, I walked back to a point I estimate to be 100 yards and laid down to use a semi-rotten stump as a prop.
My hits were a bit low, but they were adequate for this test.
Once again I added some white spray paint.
211 Yards
The steel target stand was moved to the far end of the pond for this distance. I have some IPSC steel targets hanging at this position so I shot them too. (They are all AR500 steel from Bobcat Steel.)
I went prone on the top of the dam.
The Viper PST optic did a good job of gathering light as the sun was setting.
I hit the steel a few times. The mounting bolt took a hit. That happens fairly often. I just keep lots of 1/2" bolts around (thank you Rural King!).
The marks left by the rounds were noticeably lighter. I'll provide a better comparison later.
I shot the full-sized IPSC a few times.
Here's a blurry close-up of two of the hits on the big steel. The following picture shows those hits after being spray painted.
Being a reloader, I of course picked up the brass from this round of shooting!
I noticed that the Daniel Defense rifle ejected all the cases in a circle no bigger than 2'. I think it's a sign of a good action when a firearm has consistent ejection performance.
25 Yards
There was a little light left in the sky and it occured to me that I had shot at 50, 100, and 200 yards and the steel had held up well. So what about 25 yards?!
Here's the disclaimer. I don't recommend shooting steel with rifle rounds at 25 yards. Most target makers recommend 100 yards as a minimum. I'm comfortable with good steel at 50 yards because after the test on fragmentation, I know that good hard steel will have a predictible shallow fragmentation pattern. The steel will cause the round to shatter, not ricochet.
So anyway, I wanted to test the steel outside its normal limits. I took what I thought was a minor risk and set up the target stand at 25 yards.
I also tried to use the video camera as I had seen the characteristic sparks from the steel cores hitting the targets at 211 yards as it got darker. I decided to hit the target with 20 rounds of M855 ammunition. It was dark enough now that even the Viper PST was struggling to pull in enough light.
The camera had some trouble focusing. It moves in and out but the clip is fun to watch!
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PqSWO88s_4[/ame]
Here is a screen capture from the video. (The sparks may seem to come toward the camera, but I'm pretty sure they were spraying out between 0-20 degrees from the steel surface.)
Back in the barn, I could see where the 20 rounds hit. They left some noticeable craters. However, when you consider the violence going on at that close distance, I think it's remarkable that the steel stood up so well!
I also noticed that all the rounds hit low. At that moment I realized that in my concentration to get the target, camera, and rifle set-up, I forget about the effect of barrel-to-scope offset. At that close range, the distance between the optic centerline and the barrel centerline must be accounted for. I didn't and you can see the result. I'm about 1.25" to 1.5" low.
Conclusions
In the picture below, I tried to create a graphical summary of the typical damage the steel core makes on AR500 steel.
The bottom line is that is does leave marks. It's not surprising that the closer you are, the deeper the marks are! Duh.
At 200 yards plus, the marks are very shallow dimples. I wouldn't hesitate to shoot M855 at my targets at 200 yards.
At distances of 100 yards and less, the marks are significant. However, it would take hundreds if not thousands of rounds to wear out this target. (Remember, it has two sides!)
I don't like using a target with much surface damage for pistol targets since they are used at much closer distances and with slower projectiles. I want to assure the most predictible fragmentation pattern I can for me and my guests at the range. My habit is to use the smoothest targets at the pistol range and then move them for use at 200+ yard once they've been lightly damaged.
Some range owners choose to not allow M855 at all on steel. This is a reasonable choice as well. However, if you invest in high-quality hardened steel targets, you give yourself extra insurance even if some steel core ammo is inadvertantly used.
I wish happy shooting to all my INGO friends.
As an offshoot of a recent report on the use of hardened steel targets, I decided to do a quick investigation on whether steel core M855 military rounds would damage an AR500 grade steel target.
The full report on Fragmentation and Steel Targets can be found here:
Fragmentation_Patterns
Approach to Testing
This test wasn't planned out days ahead with careful consideration of how each step should be performed. There isn't even a spreadsheet involved! However, I still think that there were a few learning points at the end of the day.
One pleasant late-fall afternoon, I decided to try to answer one of the questions that came up in the Fragmentation test. A poster wanted to know if it was safe to use M855 rounds on steel targets.
I gathered up a rifle, ammo, steel target and camera and started shooting stuff.
After confirming the zero on this rifle and scope, I shot rounds at 50 yards (because that is a common zero distance for me), 100 yards, 211 yards, and then as it got dark, at 25 yards. Pictures were taken along the way as well as one video that I think you'll enjoy.
About M855 Ammunition
You can find mountains of information about this military round on the Internet. I don't plan to duplicate that here.
This 62 grain round is considered as steel core, but not armour piercing (AP). It was specifically exempted from that designation by the BATFE. It does not meet their definition since it is made of both lead and steel and lead is not on the list of materials included for AP construction.
An easy way to test for steel core construction in this or any bullet is to get a standard magnet. If the bullet sticks to the magnet, it has a steel core. If it doesn't it's not steel.
Testing Set-up
As I mentioned, it was a beautiful afternoon a few weeks ago; the kind of day you know will soon be extinct for the next four months or so. This was the view from the shooting bench. The little white spot at the far end is the full-sized IPSC target at 211 yards.
It was about 4:45 pm with the sun low to the west. There were light clouds overhead with a temperature of 68 degrees F. Occasionally a mild swirling breeze would pass through.
I set up a sand bag on a shooting bench on the top of the dam.
The rifle was a friend's Daniel Defense AR-15 in 5.56 with a Vortex Viper PST 1x4 scope. (See Vortex_PST for the review.) It was set at 4X magnification during the test. I used the illumination on the reticle starting at level 10 and incrementing lower as the sun was setting and the background got darker.
I was shooting military M855 steel core ammo. I purchased this ammo a few years ago from INGO member Walt_Jabsco. I have found this to be a very accurate ammo for use in the AR line of rifles.
I retreived an unused 6" round AR500 hardened steel target I had. It was made by Bobcat_Steel. This was mounted on a steel tripod and set at 50 yards.
50 Yards
I fired 10 rounds at the new steel with these results.
I sprayed the target with white paint. I find the paint helps to bring out the surface of the steel. I've had hits that looked like they left a mark, but after touching the spot or painting the target I could see that there was no damage.
In this case, I could see that this ammo did leave some shallow dimples.
Looking back, I should have shot some factory ball ammo to show that the typical .223 leaves no marks whatsoever at 50 yards. [In the Fragmentation thread, we shot some angled Bobcat steel with .223 at less than 50 yards (not generally recommend due to safety) with no marks at all.]
100 Yards
I don't have an established 100 yard shooting position due to the layout of the property. (That's a future project!) For this test, I walked back to a point I estimate to be 100 yards and laid down to use a semi-rotten stump as a prop.
My hits were a bit low, but they were adequate for this test.
Once again I added some white spray paint.
211 Yards
The steel target stand was moved to the far end of the pond for this distance. I have some IPSC steel targets hanging at this position so I shot them too. (They are all AR500 steel from Bobcat Steel.)
I went prone on the top of the dam.
The Viper PST optic did a good job of gathering light as the sun was setting.
I hit the steel a few times. The mounting bolt took a hit. That happens fairly often. I just keep lots of 1/2" bolts around (thank you Rural King!).
The marks left by the rounds were noticeably lighter. I'll provide a better comparison later.
I shot the full-sized IPSC a few times.
Here's a blurry close-up of two of the hits on the big steel. The following picture shows those hits after being spray painted.
Being a reloader, I of course picked up the brass from this round of shooting!
I noticed that the Daniel Defense rifle ejected all the cases in a circle no bigger than 2'. I think it's a sign of a good action when a firearm has consistent ejection performance. 25 Yards
There was a little light left in the sky and it occured to me that I had shot at 50, 100, and 200 yards and the steel had held up well. So what about 25 yards?!
Here's the disclaimer. I don't recommend shooting steel with rifle rounds at 25 yards. Most target makers recommend 100 yards as a minimum. I'm comfortable with good steel at 50 yards because after the test on fragmentation, I know that good hard steel will have a predictible shallow fragmentation pattern. The steel will cause the round to shatter, not ricochet.
So anyway, I wanted to test the steel outside its normal limits. I took what I thought was a minor risk and set up the target stand at 25 yards.
I also tried to use the video camera as I had seen the characteristic sparks from the steel cores hitting the targets at 211 yards as it got darker. I decided to hit the target with 20 rounds of M855 ammunition. It was dark enough now that even the Viper PST was struggling to pull in enough light.
The camera had some trouble focusing. It moves in and out but the clip is fun to watch!
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PqSWO88s_4[/ame]
Here is a screen capture from the video. (The sparks may seem to come toward the camera, but I'm pretty sure they were spraying out between 0-20 degrees from the steel surface.)
Back in the barn, I could see where the 20 rounds hit. They left some noticeable craters. However, when you consider the violence going on at that close distance, I think it's remarkable that the steel stood up so well!
I also noticed that all the rounds hit low. At that moment I realized that in my concentration to get the target, camera, and rifle set-up, I forget about the effect of barrel-to-scope offset. At that close range, the distance between the optic centerline and the barrel centerline must be accounted for. I didn't and you can see the result. I'm about 1.25" to 1.5" low.
Conclusions
In the picture below, I tried to create a graphical summary of the typical damage the steel core makes on AR500 steel.
The bottom line is that is does leave marks. It's not surprising that the closer you are, the deeper the marks are! Duh.
At 200 yards plus, the marks are very shallow dimples. I wouldn't hesitate to shoot M855 at my targets at 200 yards.
At distances of 100 yards and less, the marks are significant. However, it would take hundreds if not thousands of rounds to wear out this target. (Remember, it has two sides!
)
I don't like using a target with much surface damage for pistol targets since they are used at much closer distances and with slower projectiles. I want to assure the most predictible fragmentation pattern I can for me and my guests at the range. My habit is to use the smoothest targets at the pistol range and then move them for use at 200+ yard once they've been lightly damaged.
Some range owners choose to not allow M855 at all on steel. This is a reasonable choice as well. However, if you invest in high-quality hardened steel targets, you give yourself extra insurance even if some steel core ammo is inadvertantly used.
I wish happy shooting to all my INGO friends.
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