WATCH | Can 6mm mild-steel plate stand up to an AK-47?

26 June 2023 - 11:07 By Motoring Staff
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Ever wondered how automotive components would stand up to semi-automatic rifle fire?

Local armoured car specialists SVI Engineering has. The Bashewa, Gauteng-based company is so intrigued by the subject that they've released a YouTube series called Shoot Through that aims to put all sorts of parts to the test using an AK-47 and a Photron Fastcam SA4 high-speed camera capable of shooting at an incredible 30,000 frames per second. The resultant slow-motion footage makes for fascinating viewing.

“At SVI Engineering we’re always on the lookout for fresh ways to educate and inform our customers. This video series does that, providing valuable information to civilians considering investing in vehicle armour,” said SVI chairperson Benny Jiyane.

In this episode — the 11th of 14, with a new episode expected to drop about every two weeks — the SVI team sees how a 6mm mild-steel plate stands up against a 7.62x39mm conventional steel-core round. 

“In Episode 10, we showed how easily an AK47 round is able to penetrate a 3mm mild-steel plate, illustrating why creating ‘DIY vehicle armour’ from such a material would be a terrible idea,” said SVI business development director Nicol Louw.

“What happens if we double the thickness of the mild-steel plate to 6mm? Will the result be any different?”

Push the play button to see what happens.


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