Did a target test on a brand new piece of @shoot_steel AR550 (3/8” thick, never been shot before).
50yds, 16” AR-15 with two types of ammo, 10rds each.
The hits on top look like they pit the target much worse than the hits on the bottom - that’s only because I painted the top of the plate and you’re seeing displacement of the paint.
When painted, you notice that the pitting is the same between both ammo types. I will also note that the pitting is very minor compared to what I see from standard AR500 plates at this distance - if you plan on shooting 5.56 at steel, the small price difference between AR500 and AR550 (or @mgmtargets Hexalloy) is totally worth it.
The two ammo types were Hornady Frontier 55gr lead core and Winchester M855 “Green Tip” (steel core). This also demonstrates that there’s no functional difference between shooting M855 and commercial lead 5.56 on armor plate targets. In this time of ammo shortage, I think it would be wise to lift the inane ban that most shooting matches have on bimetal/steel core ammo as I’ve witnessed tens of thousands of rounds of green tip fired on AR500/AR550 with no exceptional damage.
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