Doubting what I saw at the LGS

[skibbyshot]

I shot a hardened steel plate at 100 yards with a 22-250 loaded with a 55 grain Sierra pointed soft point & it blew a hole through the plate.

Years back, I shot 3 rounds out of a Remington model 660, 6.5mm Rem magnum at a hardened plate hanging on chains at 50 yards. The 120 grain Remington factory soft point blew a hole through the plate on the last shot. My theory is that maybe the plate was swinging forward and it added some momentum to the hit.

 

[HockeyDad]

I have these little metal targets I bought at Cabelas, the type that are meant to be shot with a 22 lr and spin around when you hit them.
Took ******* brother in law to the range one day, and he shot them with my AR and punched a bunch of holes through them.

 

[Blackwater Red]

I shot a 25 gr. 17 Remington at a AR 500 Ram at 100 yards years ago. Thought I missed but drilled a neat 1/4-inch hole in it. Was banned from using that rifle at any following shoots.

 

[Moondoggie]

Green tip ammo on mild steel (not AR500 plate)?

This has to be the case!

I've shot varmint bullets from a 22-250 through soft steel.

Again, correct. 22-250 still maintains ^3000 feet per second at 100 yards. Off the shelf 223 averages 2600 fps at 100 yds.

there is some also some penetration difference that happens over 3000 fps

also a difference between hanging a plate and leaning a plate against something

a36 mild steel , really is not that tough ... if this guy had a 3/8 plate leaning up against a fence and shooting at a distance where still fps exceeding 3000 , even a soft point could punch it ( as varmint hunter, stated above , his 22-250 exceeding that fps )

but, the 3/8 diameter hole would be the impossibility...

Yes, he would have had to be very close, dangerous at best.
The 3/8" hole lines up with steel core. I know this because I have shot plate at 75 yds on my range. Cheap steel target from junk yard…penetration. AR500 steel target from Amazon…severe indentation and a couple small holes rearward. Had to retire that plate to the 500 yd location.

 

[Moondoggie]

By today's standards that's just being a kid......like to peeing on an electric fence......hell...might even do it a second time just to test results(scientific)...just have to figure if you did it twice and got hit twice the Peter Shirley doesn't need a third time....unless you are truly whacked in the head........because that's crazy.......

I will have to say I've never experienced that first hand. After watching my brother and his friend pee on the fence, I wanted no part in that! I remember them calling me a chicken. I was one smart chicken.

 

[kfreeze]

So, Saturday I was out and about when I stopped by the LGS.
The owner and a customer were looking over an AR and talking about the red dot on it.
The discussion turned to shooting a steel plate. I stood back and listened.
Not long the owner of the 223 went outside and got a steel plate he had been shooting at.
Now here is where my doubts took over. The plate was 3/8" thick and had over ten 3/8" holes in it.
The holes were evidently from a bullet as you could see the splatter around the holes.
I'm thinking he claims to have done this at 100 yards with off the shelf 223 ammo.
I left a bit skepical and have yet to convince myself what he claimed was possible.
Before I close, I owned many AR's and I find it difficult that his claim to be viable.
This bugs me, so can someone set me straight?

Yea. Its totally legit. I had some mild steel on my range for shooting with pistols and others decided to shoot it with 5.56 xm193 and almost punched through 2 layers of 1/4" mild steel.

 

[Turpentine21]

I don't shoot much 223 or 5.56 but when I first started with ARs I shot 1/4" mild plate at about 75yard with American Eagle tipped 50 grain 223. Went right thru to my surprise. Coyotes didn't like those either.

 

[JiggyIi]

I had a range in my back yard at my house before we moved. The son-in-law asked if he could shoot my range with his rifle, an ar. I told him he could since I had multiple targets butts on the burms, and a permanant shooting bench. What I did not know is that he was going to shoot my rotating handgun targets I had made out of 3/8" 1020 steel. He totally destroyed them, putting at least 20 holes through the plates.

One would think you would stop after the first hole, especially wrecking someone else's stuff

 

[JiggyIi]

I will have to say I've never experienced that first hand. After watching my brother and his friend pee on the fence, I wanted no part in that! I remember them calling me a chicken. I was one smart chicken.

Lmao I grew up on a large beef farm and ****ed on many fences & never got shocked I must not have been grounded fortunately

 

[esorensen]

Got tired of welding holes in mild (not AR500) 1" steel from a 230 Berger/300 RUM running at 3175. Moved the plate to 600, and after that only bought AR500. I figured 600 would be fine…nope. Massive amounts of energy.

 

[Turpentine21]

Lmao I grew up on a large beef farm and ****ed on many fences & never got shocked I must not have been grounded fortunately

What is fun is to go barefoot, grab a fence and hold it. Then stick your toes near a blade of green grass and watch the arc. An old black man that Worked with us showed me how to do that but his intention was to show that you don't need a tester to check a fence and you won't be hurt doing it that way. I haven't used a tester since. But when you grab that wire, don't play, grab it. Being loose with it will get you "Lit Up".

 

[JiggyIi]

What is fun is to go barefoot, grab a fence and hold it. Then stick your toes near a blade of green grass and watch the arc. An old black man that Worked with us showed me how to do that but his intention was to show that you don't need a tester to check a fence and you won't be hurt doing it that way. I haven't used a tester since. But when you grab that wire, don't play, grab it. Being loose with it will get you "Lit Up".

I'll use testers

 

[Turpentine21]

I'll use testers

Amazing what cheap liquor and boredom can do sometimes as people do get a kick out of seeing me do that. But I barely feel it at all and with shoes on even less. Plus I never have to remember to keep up with the tester.

 

[trubkir17]

What is fun is to go barefoot, grab a fence and hold it. Then stick your toes near a blade of green grass and watch the arc. An old black man that Worked with us showed me how to do that but his intention was to show that you don't need a tester to check a fence and you won't be hurt doing it that way. I haven't used a tester since. But when you grab that wire, don't play, grab it. Being loose with it will get you "Lit Up".

My dad was a veterinarian. One day we go to visit a farmer and one of his prize hogs is lying dead in the middle of the corral. My dad does his thing, and we send a bunch of hog parts off for testing. The next day we are back out to the same farm and another dead pig laying in the same spot. Dad does another post, and we have another bunch of bagged parts to send to the lab. This time my dad checks out feed and other environmental things and we spend a long time on investigation. We got back to the clinic and there was another message that another hog was dead, out at this farm. (Pre Cell phone days). We head back and this farmer is losing it. He isn't mad at dad he is just bewildered. We are doing our best to not disturb the corral when the farmer looks at the tracks going to the fence. He walked up and reached out and said, "it looks like that pig was scratching". He then touched the fence wire and jumped about 5 feet in the air. I will remember the sound of his body hitting the ground forever. Luckily, he didn't get killed but he was very rattled and sore. Turned out he had some sort of malfunctioning electric fence, and it was electrocuting his hogs when they scratched against it.
I will always defer to somebody else testing electric fences due to this experience.