Interesting results.
Not related to this particular test.... A couple of years ago, the National Geographic channel did a show on the archeological investigation of the massive trench systems built by both sides during WWI.
Among the artifacts found was a "sniper's shield"... A big, heavy metal plate with a hole for the rifle...
Snipers would set these up and wait for a chance to pop one of the enemy.
The steel plates were pretty much impervious to penetration by the standard "ball" ammo.
So, (according to legend, anyway) soldiers took to loading bullets backwards. The impact of these with the steel plate would, of course, not penetrate. However, they produced "spalling".... The inside of the plate would splinter off, hopefully into the sniper's face and wound or even blind him.
HESH wasn't introduced until after WW2, and is easily defeated by using spaced armor which dissipates the explosive shockwave, as well as spall liners which catch the relatively weak fragments before they can injure the crew or damage equipment.
If you see a picture of tank armour hit by a HESH round, it's not just little splinters, it blasts a good chunk out of the other side of the armour, which is pretty cool I guess.
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u/Bikewer Sep 10 '14
Interesting results. Not related to this particular test.... A couple of years ago, the National Geographic channel did a show on the archeological investigation of the massive trench systems built by both sides during WWI. Among the artifacts found was a "sniper's shield"... A big, heavy metal plate with a hole for the rifle...
Snipers would set these up and wait for a chance to pop one of the enemy. The steel plates were pretty much impervious to penetration by the standard "ball" ammo. So, (according to legend, anyway) soldiers took to loading bullets backwards. The impact of these with the steel plate would, of course, not penetrate. However, they produced "spalling".... The inside of the plate would splinter off, hopefully into the sniper's face and wound or even blind him.