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What Caused this?

BMG50

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Found a bit of 1/4 or 6mm steel plate with two holes in it, looks like its caused by a shaped charge but it seems to be holed around the centre rather than the middle. The 3rd and forth pictures are from the rear exit. The hole is around 30mm in diameter. Anyone know?
 

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It was likely a shaped charge based weapon fired at a spaced target array of plates, with those plates near the bottom (end) of the array. The jet produced by a shaped charge will start to particulate as it moves through space (air), this occurring more rapidly as it passes through an array of spaced plates. They jet eventually ends up as a series of tumbling particles, which deviate off (around) the original axis of the jet. The result is a series of impacts around a central point and a gradually-increasing diameter hole though the array. Shaped charge jets striking monolithic targets generally have a gradually reducing diameter hole, as the particles don't really get much time to deviate off the central axis an normal stand-off distances.

An explosively formed projectile (EFP) will break up in a similar manner when passing through a plate array, though the hole produced will generally be far larger in diameter. The diameter of the hole produced depends on the dimensions of the EFP before impact, its speed and what it's made of. Again when fired against monolithic targets EFPs generally produce a gradually reducing diameter hole.

A high-speed kinetic energy (KE) projectile, such as the core of an armour-piercing discarding sabot (APDS), or the penetrator rod (or rod assembly) of the armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding sabot (APFSDS) projectile, will also break-up in a similar manner when passing though a spaced target array. Again when fired against monolithic targets APDS and APFSDS generally produce a gradually reducing diameter hole.
 
Thanks so this plate would be a secondary third or forth hit plate from a shaped charge, the first plate would have a much smaller hole, most probally about 5mm.
 
No way to know exactly what the array was and hence where the plates were exactly. All that can be said is that they are likely to have been from near the end (bottom) of the array.

They may have come from an array like a NATO triple target (see image, ignore ERA), one of the witness plates behind the main array (as per the image again), or part of something else.

They could have come from an array used to test very early shaped charges, which weren't all that good. The early shaped charges suffered from problems such as imprecise manufacture and poor liner materials, which can lead to early break-up of the jet, along other issues.

FLo7wLyWYAA_cgx.jpeg
 
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