A Comparison of the Performance of Various Light Armour Piercing Ammunition

3-3-2.jpg
3-3-2.jpg

A Comparison of the Performance of Various Light Armour Piercing Ammunition

A$9.95

Author(s): Wilf Bishop; Nadeem Ehsan; Ian Horsfall
No pages: 4
Year: 2000
Article ID: 3-3-2
Keywords: 7.62 mm armour-piercing rounds, armour, ceramic armour, composite armour, firepower and protection
Format: Electronic (PDF)

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Abstract: Four types of light-armour piercing ammunition were fired against mild steel, high hardness steel and ceramic faced composite armour targets. The ammunition included three types of 7.62x51 mm AP and the 30-06 APM2 (7.62x63mm) projectile. The penetrative capability of the ammunition was assessed in terms of both the ballistic limit velocity and the ballistic limit energy. The 7.62x51 mm FFV projectile, which has a tungsten carbide core, had the lowest ballistic limit velocity against all target types. The three steel cored projectiles (Hirtenberger, P80 and 30-06) showed variation in their relative performance dependent upon target type. Examination of the ballistic limit energy showed that the sharper pointed projectiles performed better against strong targets. However, against weak targets, blunt projectiles performed better as they promoted plug formation and shear failure in the target. This was in agreement with the calculated loads to initiate penetration. For the ceramic-faced targets the Florence analysis [1] was found to produce reasonable agreement with the experimental results when the effects of both the projectile core and jacket where taken into account.