How much better does API penatrate than AP?

Armory » 50 Cal

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - How much better does API penatrate than AP?

Posted: 8/21/2010 12:02:39 PM EDT

I was just wondering which one would punch a cleaner hole threw 1/4 inch steel? This would be at 100 and 300 yards. Thanks!

Posted: 8/21/2010 4:20:10 PM EDT

[#1]

Ball will have no problem going through 1/4" steel at 100 yards.

Posted: 8/21/2010 8:58:46 PM EDT

[#2]

Still need to know about the AP and API?

Posted: 8/22/2010 5:16:29 AM EDT

[#3]

Looks like the AP projectile is slightly longer in the AP round than in the API, but I would think it would penetrate just as good as both are the same material. Check out the digrams here: Mil ammo descriptions

Posted: 8/22/2010 5:22:19 AM EDT

[#4]

Depends on the angle of incidence, composition of the target, and other variables, but on average AP over API by about one RCH.

Posted: 8/22/2010 6:32:31 PM EDT

[#5]

Ball ammo will punch a clean hole through 1/4" at 100 yards, heck a 223 will also.

Posted: 8/22/2010 6:41:04 PM EDT

[#6]

API and AP don't penetrate any differently. They just have different after effects-API makes a nice flash, AP makes a spark and then that's it.

Posted: 8/22/2010 7:35:02 PM EDT

[#7]

I shot a hardened knife blade today with AP ammo and it just broke in half. The blade was about 10 inches long and 1/4" thick.

Posted: 8/23/2010 11:00:10 AM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
API and AP don't penetrate any differently. They just have different after effects-API makes a nice flash, AP makes a spark and then that's it.

This.

Incendiary adds nothing to penetration.

Posted: 9/5/2010 3:53:42 PM EDT

[#9]

Actually the NATO specification for API allows slightly less penetration than AP. Not that this is so, but it is the minimum allowed to meet specification.

Only API that pentrates more than AP by specifcation that I know of is the Raufous which you can buy fake ones on gunbroker where they take API rounds and paint them to look like Raufous changing a $3 bullet into an $50+ bullet with 1 minute of their time and 2 cents worth of testors model paint.

Posted: 9/5/2010 7:59:23 PM EDT

[#10]

If anything I would imagine that API does a poorer job of punching clean holes since some of the projectile has to be dedicated to the incendiary material.

Posted: 9/6/2010 7:25:20 AM EDT

[#11]

Both will be like cutting thru butter on 1/4 inch steel.

Posted: 9/6/2010 10:49:15 AM EDT

[#12]

It did not work so well with a 1/4" Hardened Knife blade. It just shattered when I shot it with AP ammo.

Posted: 9/6/2010 12:52:38 PM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:
It did not work so well with a 1/4" Hardened Knife blade. It just shattered when I shot it with AP ammo.

That's not surprising in the least. There's a lot more to determining whether it will make a hole or shatter the target. If you're shooting at a 1/4" steel plate, the plate won't shatter, but against a knife blade, I would expect nothing less.

Posted: 9/7/2010 10:55:02 AM EDT

[#14]

No one has posted pics with shit they have shot yet using both ap and api?

Posted: 9/7/2010 6:38:48 PM EDT

[#15]

The blade of a knife is hardend, therefore it will not punch a hole but as others state it will shatter. Your talking two different tensil strengths once hardend. The steel plate is in a soft state which is why it cuts through like butter. Hardened is a whole diff. animal.

Posted: 9/7/2010 8:41:42 PM EDT

[#16]

Exactly. The knife blade steel is much harder than the plate, but it is also considerably more brittle. That, plus the fact that the blade is much narrower and thus there is less metal to resist the deformation created by the passage of the bullet in the first place.

Posted: 9/13/2010 7:03:10 PM EDT

[#17]

Quoted:
No one has posted pics with shit they have shot yet using both ap and api?

Shot about 6 months ago.

1/2" Commercial plate steel at 660 yards. Black spots & other missing paint are API the remaining are AP, some of the AP rounds failed to fully penetrate the plate leaving the steel core & the sharp shards stuck on the plate, I found 2 steel cores on the ground less than 5' away and 2 stuck in the plate. It could have been due to the bullet striking it with a slight wobble or some other unforeseen event.

Target was about the size of a baby asprin in the 10x scope. Target & stand weigh about 300lbs.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - How much better does API penatrate than AP?

Armory » 50 Cal

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