Safety first

I've been playing with some Tungsten rod - available worldwide as welding electrodes - recently.

Thing is, I looked at a 6" x 3/16" rod, and wondered whether it would make a good penetrator.

I thought, fired as a subcalibre sabot round in a BMG, that it would penetrate all but the glacis plate of an M1A2 Abrams MBT. At nearly half a mile range.

Or maybe not, as people will tell me.

Reply to
Peter Fairbrother
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Don't do it!!! It will rip a hole in the space-time continuum and this universe will get sucked into the next through a 3/16" hole.

Reply to
Tom Gardner

It will shatter.

Tungsten penetraters are very hard to make.

Reply to
president

I would be very interested in your results. Like you, I have a good quantity of 3/16" lanthanated tungsten rod (for welding), and would love to try something with my 7.52x54R rifle.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus19961

Since when is RCM the terrorist idea clearinghouse?

-D

Reply to
spamTHISbrp

Yeahbut lubrication with LARDOIL removes it from use by 99% of all terrorists. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

Reply to
Gerald Miller

If you try something, you are either going to die or be severely mutilated. By the way, don't you mean 7.62x54R?

Dean

Reply to
Dean A. Markley

Yes, I meant 7.62x54R

i
Reply to
Ignoramus19961

Perhaps he has a Mosin-Nagant? Tom

Reply to
Tom

It depends on who's source you are using. The Finns and Swedes say 7.62x53R, the Russians and Americans say

7.62x54R, but it is all the same round and usually for the same rifle. A better arrangement for a sub-calibre penitrator would be to turn a nylon or teflon rod to bore diameter and drill a center hole for a bit of the hard stuff. Ideally, the whole assembly should be made to end up lighter than a normal bullet (about 150gr, the new projectile under 100gr) in order to get extra velocity out of it. The penitrating power is only fully appreciated at higher velocities, ideally over 3000 fps.
Reply to
steve gallacci

The idea of using light jacket (and higher speeds) for the penetrator makes perfect sense.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus1729

No need to re-invent the wheel. This would be much the same as the old 30.06 accelerator round. It used a sabot to hold a .22 caliber bullet. See:

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Just buy your own sabots for playing around. For instance:

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"Accelerator® Type Sabots for Reloading Handload and Shoot .224 Caliber Bullets in .30 Caliber Firearms! Now you can handload your 30 caliber handgun or rifle to shoot hyper-velocity .224 caliber bullets! Fit the .224 bullets into our Sabots with the Sabot Bullet Seater die. Then load the sabots as you would any .308 caliber bullet. The Bullet seater die is required for consistent seating of bullets into the sabots? accuracy requires consistency! Shoot to

3,500 fps in a 30-30... 4,200 fps in a 30-06. Free Load Data is Included with Every Sabot Order! Sabots flower away from the bullet after exiting the muzzle. Made from injection molded plastic, these sabots won't harm your barrel and bores are easy to clean with regular Hoppes #9 solvent."

I'm sure there are more. I only did a quick search for reference.

Reply to
Leon Fisk

Thanks Leon. Looks very nice. It would be interesting to see what a

3/16" tungsten piece could do if it was accelerated to 4,000 fps. i
Reply to
Ignoramus1729

There are commercially available sabots in .308 that hold .224 projectiles that could simplify the project, providing you can find .224 tungsten, or get the new tungsten core 5.56x45 ammo and pull the bullets. As for reload data, look at 308 or 60-06 varmint loads using 100gr or so small bullets to get a sense of loading range.

Reply to
steve gallacci

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