Whilst tossing around the idea of buying a fast 338 the subject came up amongst my friends of penetration on various media. For flesh all the african guys like their big projectiles to be roundnosed and around 2400fps. But what about for metal?
My vote over any other 'civilian combo' was a speer tungsten solid in a 338-378.Am I on the money?
(No I don't intend to rob any armoured bank vans )
Karl.
Karl.
Posts: 3533 | Location: various | Registered: 03 June 2000
Yeah. That will work. A partition is also pretty darn good. I can tell you from experience though, that you can put just about any bullet in that 338 and go through almost 1/2 in of stainless at 100yds or better(that's the extent of my experimentation). I have a piece(I think Hardex or something) that was originally intended as a mid-range gong for my high-powers. It looked sturdy enough. It looks like a sieve now. I don't know what armour is armoured with, so I can't answer that part of your question, but I'm convinced(although I would never do this nor do I advocate it) that with the 338 and a partition or solid, that you could shoot through a good 12 in of live tree and still pass it through the body of an animal. I wouldn't feel too safe in an armoured vehicle.
Posts: 6545 | Location: Pennsylvania | Registered: 28 August 2001
quote:Originally posted by Aquavit: you could shoot through a good 12 in of live tree and still pass it through the body of an animal.
Don't try that with an Oak! My 9.3x62 with 286gr partition can barely make 3" in a living (or dead) Oak. I theorise it's a combination of the density of the fibres and some give that it cannot be shattered but must be pushed apart. Of course a 338 has less frontal area etc but 12" I would doubt in oak.
Posts: 2258 | Location: Bristol, England | Registered: 24 April 2001
I have shot my 416 Rigby though an 8" piece of oak (firewood standing upright) and it then dug a trench through about 2 feet of top soil and then it went through another 12" - 14" thick oak tree about 20 yards behind the original piece of firewood. I was about 20' from the firewood when I shot it.
I actually was somewhat surprised by the performance myself. I had travelled over to a friends to show off the rifle and he insisted that I shoot it at apiece of firewood that he believed it would not shot through. I took aim and fired and the piece of firewood didn't even twitch. Everybody, and I mean everybody, started laughing because they had thought I had missed. Sure enough though there was a hole right smack in the middle of the piece of wood. We then followed it's path of destruction.
The bullet was a Speer tungsten solid onto of 104 grains of IMR4350. I do not know what if anything other than gravity eventually stopped the round.
By the way my 45 ACP will shot through an oak 4X4 (3.5" X 3.5") well almost. When using ball ammo the bullets are sticking out the opposite side. Range about 35' - 40'.
Todd E
[This message has been edited by Todd E (edited 09-28-2001).]
Velocity is the requirment for metal penitration and a pointed bullet helps..A 220 Swift will penitrate a lot of mental with a solid pointed bullet. According to an old article I read on test run by the U.S. Govt. and test run by a number of L.E. Agencys seem to back this up.
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