Armor-piercing Bullets?

[XD 9 Loaded Sub-Compact]

So I'm watching History Channel and they just had the infamous California Shoot Out. The guys mainly used AK-47's. The Commentator kept referring to thier "armor-piercing bullets." Now I know Military has specific armor-piercing bullets for tanks and such, but I wonder is there such a thing specifically made for AK's (and other guns) or are they just trying to hype up a high-velocity FMJ making it sound extra evil?

[Philadelphia]

Originally Posted by XD 9 Loaded Sub-Compact

So I'm watching History Channel and they just had the infamous California Shoot Out. The guys mainly used AK-47's. The Commentator kept referring to thier "armor-piercing bullets." Now I know Military has specific armor-piercing bullets for tanks and such, but I wonder is there such a thing specifically made for AK's (and other guns) or are they just trying to hype up a high-velocity FMJ making it sound extra evil?

This is off the top of my head but yes, there are bullets for handguns and rifles designed to pierce body armor.

They include a piece of steel inside the lead core that keeps going when the majority of the bullet's mass is stopped by the armor. A piece of tungsten works well too (heavy and very hard).

As far as the shoot out goes, that's the first I've heard of use of armor piercing bullets by the BGs. The way the media works, hard to tell if they just made it up or not.

[setabkcin]

Did they mention what kind of ammo they were using when the demonstrated the rounds that penetrated armor but expanded and stopped in the meat? I didn't catch what they said it was. I was watching, too.

[Modificationvt]

my buddy has a CZ52 and a lot of people say that the 7.36x25 (I think) round it shoots is armor piercing. now its nothing more than a high velocity FMJ (not a steel core bullet like the army uses for piercing armored vehicles), and because of this it happens to penetrate low level body armor. Ive heard seasoned gun owners and shooters refer to it as armor piercing because of this. I think it is nothing more than a missunderstanding of terms. AK rounds can penetrate the low level armor that the cops wore so the obvious conclution to some one who doesnt know guns is to think they are armor piercing...its sad, but news people have to sound like they know what they are talking about otherwise people woldn't listen to them, so even when they are talking about something they don't know anything about they have to sound like experts, and because of this missinformation becomes common place.

[dsr30]

There are specific armor piercing bullets out there, they've usually got a tungsten or steel core. But any bullet from an AK, AR or any center fire rifle for that matter will pierce the armor of a typical bullet proof vest. The narrator was most likely trying to make the AK sound more evil (as is usually the case) , like when they say a semi automatic rifle that can fire 600 rpm in the same sentence.

I was recently shooting at 1/4" steel with my AR from about 75' with 55gr wolf ammo and it punched right through with no problem.

[XD 9 Loaded Sub-Compact]

Originally Posted by setabkcin

Did they mention what kind of ammo they were using when the demonstrated the rounds that penetrated armor but expanded and stopped in the meat? I didn't catch what they said it was. I was watching, too.

Good question, I can see if the DVR will go back that far, I haven't changed the channel yet.

[XD 9 Loaded Sub-Compact]

Originally Posted by setabkcin

Did they mention what kind of ammo they were using when the demonstrated the rounds that penetrated armor but expanded and stopped in the meat? I didn't catch what they said it was. I was watching, too.

So it went all the way back to the start but I couldn't find the part where they were shooting meat. Maybe the super fast forward skipped it iduno.

Originally Posted by Modificationvt

my buddy has a CZ52 and a lot of people say that the 7.36x25 (I think) round it shoots is armor piercing. now its nothing more than a high velocity FMJ (not a steel core bullet like the army uses for piercing armored vehicles), and because of this it happens to penetrate low level body armor. Ive heard seasoned gun owners and shooters refer to it as armor piercing because of this. I think it is nothing more than a missunderstanding of terms. AK rounds can penetrate the low level armor that the cops wore so the obvious conclution to some one who doesnt know guns is to think they are armor piercing...its sad, but news people have to sound like they know what they are talking about otherwise people woldn't listen to them, so even when they are talking about something they don't know anything about they have to sound like experts, and because of this missinformation becomes common place.

I had simular thought like this as well.

Thanks to the others who posted, I knew there were specific types of armor piercing bullets, I just didn't know if more media was trying to scare the sheeple which it appears they were.

[JRH]

From what I've read the two robbers actually did have armor piercing rounds loaded. But because of this they actually did less injury to the police officers that they hit because the bullets did not expand when they struck.

[XD 9 Loaded Sub-Compact]

Originally Posted by JRH

From what I've read the two robbers actually did have armor piercing rounds loaded. But because of this they actually did less injury to the police officers that they hit because the bullets did not expand when they struck.

Interesting, thanks for the info.

[rogerxd45]

some ap bullets are just steel and copper others are copper tungsten.
others have a mix of lead steel/tungsten and copper. also a solid brass or copper FMJ is also AP. i have some .30 cal ap rounds that are mostly steel a a really think jacket and they have a small amount of lead at the base.

and as far as 7.62x39 goes: this is just a guess but i would think that there are TONS of AP rounds in this caliber dueto its very wide use as a "military" cartridge.
also they could just be talkingabout how the bullets were able to pierce soft armor that the cops had on. Most centerfire rifle rounds will go right through soft body armor