.45 Kentucky Rifle Vs. Steel Plate

arcticap · Mar 8, 2019

It began back in 2008 when a nice fellow from the UK visited a quarry where there was an 8mm thick steel girder or plate of some sort planted in the ground,
and he shot a hole through it with his Kentucky rifle and a tightly patched .433 round ball that was double wadded and 100 grains of 777.
He said that the only other rifle able to shoot a hole through it was a .30-30.

Some folks didn't believe him when he posted about it so he set out to prove how powerful the load really was.
He set up a steel plate in what appears to be an alleyway with his sons taking video, well you'll see the result including the recovered ball.
He ended up dislocating his shoulder and needed to have it popped back into place at the ER, and his young son was hit in the leg
by a lead fragment caused by standing too close to the steel plate while taking video of the shot.
His son ended up being okay with only a small scar on his leg.
But he did shoot a hole through the steel plate which only goes to show how powerful a Kentucky rifle and a patched round ball can be.

Melnic · Mar 8, 2019

Sure, that looked perfectly safe.

There are different grades of steel out there obviously

cullen1780 · Mar 8, 2019

"Sponsored by Hazleback Wines" Hmm

Comfortably_Numb · Mar 8, 2019

Well, there is no longer any question why guns were outlawed in the UK. What a moron. Did you notice the kid who was shot was completely ignored when he was in obvious distress? I have shot a lot of steel plate and never shot through even 1/8" plate with a lead ball. Of course I didn't send one of my kids to stand right next to the fixed plate to film it either. ALso, a .45 ball isn't that heavy, why did the shooter dislocate his shoulder? A 12 guage shot gun would kick more than a .45. In fact my neighbor hunts with a . 50 cal with a copper plated 240gr bullet and 100 gr of powder and his shoulder never dislocates. What was really going on here?
If I had to guess I'd say a steel ball bearing or steel slug or bullet was the actual projectile. That lead ball that is shown at the end would have been disintegrated or if still intact, as big as a quarter. No way would it be nearly the same with just a flat side on it. I call BS.

Rifleman1776 · Mar 8, 2019

Melnic said:
There are different grades of steel out there obviously

Yes, and that one must have been quite mild. If not, there would be no silhouette shooting. They seemed a lot more interested in the hole than how badly that guy got wounded. I'm thinking that round ball had to be very hard lead or a ball bearing. I used to make silhouette targets and did a lot of shooting at them. Soft lead splatters when it hits steel.

Britsmoothy · Mar 8, 2019

Comfortably_Numb said:
Well, there is no longer any question why guns were outlawed in the UK. What a moron. Did you notice the kid who was shot was completely ignored when he was in obvious distress? I have shot a lot of steel plate and never shot through even 1/8" plate with a lead ball. Of course I didn't send one of my kids to stand right next to the fixed plate to film it either. ALso, a .45 ball isn't that heavy, why did the shooter dislocate his shoulder? A 12 guage shot gun would kick more than a .45. In fact my neighbor hunts with a . 50 cal with a copper plated 240gr bullet and 100 gr of powder and his shoulder never dislocates. What was really going on here?
If I had to guess I'd say a steel ball bearing or steel slug or bullet was the actual projectile. That lead ball that is shown at the end would have been disintegrated or if still intact, as big as a quarter. No way would it be nearly the same with just a flat side on it. I call BS.

Guns are not outlawed in the UK.
That aside I do whiff cows muck.
(Not even bothered to watch the video!).

Melnic · Mar 8, 2019

There are morons all over the world.

Carbon 6 · Mar 8, 2019

Extremely dangerous to to stand or place any thing within the perpendicular splatter zone of a steel target face. One day a guy wanted to park his car within the zone about 25 yards away. from the target. I made him move it. At the end of the day when he saw the 4" deep spatter trench in the ground headed right for where he wanted to park he understood why I made him move his expensive car.

Your friend is lucky he wasn't severely wounded or killed. The shooter should have been wearing eye protection too.

8 BORE · Mar 8, 2019

Melnic said:
There are morons all over the world.

Remember they lost the American
Revolution and the war of 1812

Zonie · Mar 8, 2019

I watched the video but I don't believe a lead ball actually blew a hole thru that plate.

First off, at the end they showed a greatly deformed lead roundball acting as though that was the one that made the hole. The hole appeared to be about .400" in size. The lead ball was deformed to at least 3/4" in diameter. How would a 3/4" deformed ball get thru that .400 diameter hole?

I say, bunk to the whole video.

Juice Jaws · Mar 8, 2019

My question is where were the empty beer cans??

54ball · Mar 8, 2019

Well....
As much as I want to call BS on this, I think we saw exactly what they say it was. In other words I think he did shoot through it.

A smaller caliber longrifle is capable of near high power velocity at the muzzle. At that close that round ball is still zipping.

The flattened ball may be from the water in the bucket, if indeed that's the same ball.

Round balls loose their energy quick but their power can be awesome at close range. I've heard folks say with game shot with round ball...you can eat right up to the hole. Not so with a Carolina 20 bore at 25 yards. He was hit behind the shoulder. Both shoulders on that deer were a bloody goey bloodshot mess. It takes a lot of energy to do that.

tenngun · Mar 8, 2019

I’ve shot a deer or two and elk with round ball. So I know it’s got power enough. However I was judging a woods walk once and had a target on an oak. The shooter had a .50 short barreled Pennsylvania style trade rifle. The old boy cut center. The ball cared nought for oak and decided to return to the shoother. It hit him a solid blow in his left thigh. It did not cut his trousers skins but left him a goodly size bruise.
I’m thinking a mild steel plate is harder then oak. What say you?

Melnic · Mar 8, 2019

the ball did not expand until it hit the bucket.
I believe the video. It simply was mild steel, there is nothing that extraordinary there.
I"ve seen plenty of bullets go through different kinds of steel.

Here is one where its though iron which is mild (remember back to the future III?, yes, iron plate from stove is brittle and would not work the same)

kansas_volunteer · Mar 8, 2019

Comfortably_Numb said:
Well, there is no longer any question why guns were outlawed in the UK. What a moron. Did you notice the kid who was shot was completely ignored when he was in obvious distress? I have shot a lot of steel plate and never shot through even 1/8" plate with a lead ball. Of course I didn't send one of my kids to stand right next to the fixed plate to film it either. ALso, a .45 ball isn't that heavy, why did the shooter dislocate his shoulder? A 12 guage shot gun would kick more than a .45. In fact my neighbor hunts with a . 50 cal with a copper plated 240gr bullet and 100 gr of powder and his shoulder never dislocates. What was really going on here?
If I had to guess I'd say a steel ball bearing or steel slug or bullet was the actual projectile. That lead ball that is shown at the end would have been disintegrated or if still intact, as big as a quarter. No way would it be nearly the same with just a flat side on it. I call BS.

kansas_volunteer · Mar 8, 2019

I bet what is not seen on the video is the guy saying, "Dude, hold my warm British beer and watch this."

Two things can happen when any projectile hits a steel plate. There can be a cocoidal fracture, like a BB gun makes when glass is shot and if the second thing doesn't happen there would be a hole for the projectile to pass through. The second and definitely to happen is that when the projectile hits it's genetic energy is converted to heat. That's why you experience splatter when a lead ball strikes, or see melted lead soldered to a plate target. You can prove this to yourself. Put a ball on a hard surface and smack it as hard as you can with a hammer. Then, immediately pick up the smashed ball. You will burn your fingers.

Between the fracture and heat some sort of projectile can shoot a hole through a plate. However, I doubt the Darwin Award candidate in the video actually did what is claimed without rigging the test.

Carbon 6 · Mar 8, 2019

I've shot a lot of steel targets and put holes in targets I thought were impenetrable.
The video simple doesn't give enough information to make a determination.

arcticap · Mar 8, 2019

Melnic said:
the ball did not expand until it hit the bucket.
I believe the video. It simply was mild steel, there is nothing that extraordinary there.
I"ve seen plenty of bullets go through different kinds of steel.

Here is one where its though iron which is mild (remember back to the future III?, yes, iron plate from stove is brittle and would not work the same)

Thank you.
I probably made a mistake by calling it a steel plate instead of iron.
That seems much more plausible.

The shooter had said that he wanted to have a piece of the plate analyzed after speaking with an
engineer who when asked about the penetrating shot said that "it's improbable but not impossible."

Melnic · Mar 9, 2019

its not that hard to buy steel and know the grade of steel it is from where you buy it.
I'm not talking Home Depot or anything, but a sheet metal vendor. At least it is not that hard in the US.

smo · Mar 10, 2019

From my red neck shooting gallery...

The holes in the disc were made by a .54 cal GPR,
Shooting a .530 Hornady Roundball using 100 grns ffg at 25 yards.

.45 Kentucky Rifle Vs. Steel Plate

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