What is AR-500 and AR-5xx steel?

kungfumo

kungfumo

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Aug 21, 2006
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What is AR-500 and AR-5xx steel? I want to make some armor plates out of some good steel at 1/2" or thinner, but want good protection. can any one tell me where to get this steel or somthing better, that is still light weight.
Also what kind of heat treat would need ot be done?

I ask this because I trust somthing I make more than what I can buy, I can also cut the plates to fit way better than some off the shelf plate.
Thanks
Jake
 
AR-500 is abrasion resistant steel.
People make shooting gongs out of it. It will stand up to lots of shots compared to other steels. 1/2 inch will stop a .308 fairly well, but it won't stop my .338 Lapua Mag!
 
:) awsome, now I hear there is a AR-5xx new alloy. Know anything about it? I hear its lighter weight? Where can I get some plates of it? Thanks for the help.
 
You could try the guys who maintain city trucks (snow removal etc).
I hear that some plow blades or bed liners are made from it.
It could be expensive to buy new.

ACS steel is selling it on ebay...

For a shooting gong you just cut a hole with a torch, hang it from a chain, and paint it orange etc. Gives a nice clang when you hit it from 500-1000 yards.

Remember if you are trying to make a Clint Eastwood style vest plate, you will most likely get hit with a pistol bullet and just bounce it right into your face...
 
And if you're trying to stop a rifle round.... well you're not going to stop a rifle round with 1/2" anything This is a standard .270 winchester 130 grain soft point deer round at 100 yards and a 3/8" piece of steel (yes i know it's not 1/2" but it's with a weak round too). Many hunters will say that a .270 is too weak of a round for hunting too.

winchester.jpg
 
AR-500 is not different, there is very very little difference in the steels used for modern target practice. And no, AR-500 targets do not stand up to most rifles. A steel rifle target needs to be set up at an extreme angle and usualy a minimum of 75 yards away, and you're "supposed" to only use certain rounds when shooting it.

Under the right conditions yes, steel of that thickness stops rifle bullets... But it's very very easy to abuse a rifle target, precisely because in the thicknesses that they typically make targets (3/8" and 1/2") it's not strong enough to stop most high powered rifle rounds.

To quote from your own link "and you can upgrade to high-power models for use with certain rifles at appropriate distances."

AR-500 i'vemostly seen used in applications such as paper-mill cutters, where they're doing a repetative cut of a fiberous material which would dull many normal tool steels rapidly.
 
Justin,
I shoot at 500-1000 yards.
I have found fairly big differences in penetration with A: rifle cartridges (eg .308 vs 7STW vs .338LM vs 50BMG)

and B: steel type


I admit that cartridge makes a much bigger difference. I had a piece of steel that a .308 wouldn't even dent at 560 yards, but the 7STW blow right through...

But if you compare mild steel to AR-500 there will be a difference.
 
Ok I am confused here on this one. AR 500 is Alloy & Abrasion Resistant Steel. The 500 is the rating it got on the Brinell scale. Tool steel ( What we would use for knife making I guess ) has a Brinell scale rating between 650 - 700 HB. Would that not mean that AR is not as hard as tool steel? Are they using it due to the abrasion resistants? Maybe someone here could explain what I am missing here.

Info on the Brinell scale for hardness.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brinell_hardness_test
 
The best source I know of for AR plate is stone quarrys,in the northeast that would be Tilcon.Quarrys eat that stuff up and throw it out by the ton. I havnt tested any AR plate ballisticly but it does act differently than mild steel in welding,and it wont make a good knife either.:p
redneckballistics1.jpg
Here is what happened to my plinking target after a volley of 7.62x39 hollow points and some lake city .223 tungsten core (green tips) at 100 yards.The plate was only 3/8" mild steel,next one I make is going to be AR plate.
 
Thanks every one for the replys.

Justin:

I am going to make armor plates that go over a class III vest. Most plates that you will see Law/military wear are made from the same stuff, with a balistic nylon added to them for catching spall (bullet fragments) most steel armor plates will stand up to multi impacts from most 7.62 rounds including 7.62X54/51/39. They do not cover 338 or anything bigger. Most rounds coming down range directed at you would be of the 7.62X39 variety.

I my self have put many 308 rounds(7.62X51) through a 3/4in mild steel plate, this is nothing like shooting at AR500 or somthing like it.


So can any one find a source online to pick some of this stuff up, I need enough to make 2 plates and have some left over for testing.

Thanks again guys.
 
Justin.Mercier said:
And if you're trying to stop a rifle round.... well you're not going to stop a rifle round with 1/2" anything This is a standard .270 winchester 130 grain soft point deer round at 100 yards and a 3/8" piece of steel (yes i know it's not 1/2" but it's with a weak round too). Many hunters will say that a .270 is too weak of a round for hunting too.

winchester.jpg
Click to expand...
They would be wrong. The .270 Winchester has taken every species of North American game and most of the African ones.

A 130 grain big game bullet will shoot through a bull elk.
 
I am a metallic silhouette shooter, and have made many targets out of AR. AR500 tends to a tad brittle for targets, I'm told, and most targets are cut from AR400 or T1 with a Brinnell Hardness of 400. Our 1/2" AR400 will stop any (standard hunting rifle) at 200 meters. At 100 meters it will mushroom on the back side or worse. AR 250 is not very good for targets.

Chickens and pigs are made from 1/2" and shot at 200 and 300 meters. Turkeys and Rams are made from 3/8" and shot at 385 and 500 meters. There is no damage at any of these ranges. However, it is not wise to shoot at targets from anything less than 1/2" at less than 200 meters- there will be damage.

Having said this, it should be noted that magnums are not allowed in silhouette shooting. You would not want to shoot 80 rounds from a magnum in an afternoon. I think it would be safe to say that some magnums will damage targets at 200 meters or less. At 300 meters- unlikely. I did see a shooter with a 6.5/270 punch through 3/8" target at 200 meters.



Milt
 
I've got a set of action targets at my range, nothing I have will damage them, including steel core 7.62x54R. I used to make then out of mild steel, they worked fine for pistols, but rifle rounds tore them up. A budy of mine shot one from 300 yards with a 270 molly coated bullet and it looked like I hit it with a drill press, nice neat hole, no spalling.
 
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