you guys can draw your own conclusions on this post, involving something I saw using Hornady 55 grain SP and FMJ bullets.

A bunch of 4 x 6 steel plates were left at the local range on one of the banks at 100 yds. Their thickness was 3/8 of an inch.

I shot one of them with a 223, loaded to 2650 fps MV. 10 Shots and I had 10 holes in the steel plate. I was thinking I shouldn't be seeing this, but there they were.

So I went home and loaded up 40 rounds of 223 ammo, divided into groups of 10.

2 groups each, with ten 55 grain SP Hornady bullets and ten with 55 gr FMJ Hornady Bullets. The load gave 3150 fps MV at the Muzzle, for both bullets. This is military MV specs for an M 16.

The second two groups were loaded with the same two bullets, ten each, with an MV of 2650 fps at the Muzzle. 55 gr Hornady SP, and 55 gr FMJ.

So the results I saw, when shooting at 100 yds, with several of these same Steel plates.

When leaving the Muzzle at 3150 fps, ALL of the 55 grain SP and 55 FMJ Hornady bullets, did nothing but splatter when hitting the plates.

Next, I shot ALL of the other group of bullets, leaving the Muzzle at 2650 fps at two plates. One for the 55 gr SP and one for the 55 gr FMJ. ALL of the bullets leaving the MV at 2650 fps, managed to penetrate right thru the same steel plates EACH time. I didn't expect to see this, but there it was, right in front of me. However that is not what I expected to see.

I went home and had to put some thought into why I saw those results. Finally it came to me pretty clearly:

The answer was structural integrity. The Steel plates have a certain amount of structural integrity to them. The bullets have a certain amount of structural integrity to them also.

Leaving the barrel at 3150 fps, and contacting the steel plates at 100 yds, the Structural Integrity of the Steel Plates, had the ability to overcome the Structural integrity of the Steel plates. So the results were seeing ten 55 gr FMJs and ten 55 gr SPs hitting the steel plates and splattering EACH TIME.

The next pair of groups were leaving the Muzzle at 2650 fps, and in contacting the Steel Plates at 100 yds, at the lower speed, the structural integrity of the bullets were able to overcome the structural integrity of the Steel Plates. Results were that I had ten holes in each of the two Steel Plates. One with 10 holes from the ten SP bullets and the other with ten FMJ bullets.

Conclusion to this project test: Bullets have certain parameters that they can penetrate a media they are shot at. At least on these Steel plates, when the speed of the bullet is slowed down, they have the ability to penetrate more than the faster moving bullets. So if people compare the results on game, with a 222 vs a 223, the slower speed of the 222 will do better in penetration than the 223 running at a faster MV.

AS I said, draw your own conclusions. But since this experiment to find an answer to my question, I've seen a lot of different bullets out of different caliber guns, in distance under 200 to 250 yds, work better at the slower speeds. Hence at my age now, I am down to using the 6 x 45 and the 6.5 Grendal for my deer hunting for the number of seasons that I have left in me.

seafire...
May 4, 2024.