M855 (SS109), armour piercing or not.

General Firearms Reloading & Ammunition
1

I’ve seen plently of discusions on whether or not the SS109 ( also known as the M855) is armour piercing. From the information I have found, the M855 (SS109) is not a armour piercing bullet, the M995 is. Interestingly enough, I’ve found a video of a European company testing their armored Toyota and they state that the SS109 is an armour piercing bullet.

Here is the link:*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyJWOs0-y-w&feature=youtube_gdata_player

(The part where they state it is armour piercing is at 4:34)

Any thoughts?

2

To the best of my knowledge it was intended to penatrate 3mm of steel ( russian helmets). I may not have that right though.

3

I can guarantee you it will go through 3 mm of steel like butter.
This being anywhere from 15-50 yds and up

4

Depends on the armor. Some trauma plates will stop a steel core .30-06.

5

PMC refers to their XTAC m855 as light armor piercing. I have never read or heard of it being a true AP or being in the same category a M995. Here in Calif., it is not classified as AP.

6

M855 is NOT an AP projectile, M995 is.

7

From what I have read, m855 is classified as a “light armor piercing” projectile. It is steel core where as the m995 is a tungsten core. I have put bulk packaged lake city m855 through 1/4 mild steel I-beam at 100yds with no problems.

8

It’s called people using the wrong wording.

http://www.razoreye.net/mirror/ammo-oracle/AR15_com_Ammo_Oracle_Mirror.htm#m855legal

[b]NOTE: THE FOLLOWING CARTRIDGES HAVE BEEN REMOVED FROM THE DEFINITION OF ARMOR PIERCING AMMUNITION:

5.56MM (.223) SS-109 and M855 Ammunition, Identified by a green coating on the projectile tip.

US .30-06 M2 AP, Identified by a black coating on the projectile tip.
[/b]

9

I agree with the other posters that the M855 is not in a true armour piercing round as m955 is. But, M855 works great for piercing things like car/truck doors and light steel. Its a fun round to train with too. You have to be mindful of your targets such as steel target plate thickness and hardness because M855 will zip through them. Even worse it will crater face slightly harder steel gongs. Allowing them to deface enough to sling bullet fragments back in the direction of the shooter. It will happen eventually as the gong pits and wears out but shooting steel core projectiles will accellerate the process. I stock the PMC M855 LAP’s as my go to SHTF round. Its fairly accurate, the brass is clean, and its affordable.

10

Almost all rifle ammo is “light armor piercing”

We shoot M855 on our Armor Gongs periodically. I can assure you it is anything but Armor piercing. Infact, M193 does more damage to the Armorgard than M855.

11

Markm

That’s just how PMC refers to it.

12

I understand. And they’re right. But every .223 or 5.56 load in my collection meets that definition. :wink:

13

I found that out the hard way when I had a piece stuck in my cheek after dumb ass next to me decided to shoot the plate poppers with his AR vs what they are rated for…was happy I had my quality shooting glasses on that day I will tell you!