At the range I finally tested a batch of 3 types of ammo in my 1943 SA Garand with Danish barrel.
The ammo tested was:
Greek (HXP) 1970 M2 152 grain FMJ Ball
Twin Cities (TW) 1953 M2 152 grain FMJ Ball
Lake City (LC) 1954 AP M2 168 grain flat base. (Black Tip FMJ)
All 3 run supposedly run about 2800 fps. But my chrono was at home that day. The stuff is about 3-4 MOA.
So here are the pics (Below) when fired at 25M (from safely behind a barricade) into the nearly 3/4" steel rail road plates...some real tough steel.
Thanks to SamD for the plates.
L-R:
The LC AP M2, with the narrowest diameter hole almost penetrated and actually cracked the back side of the plate at the 5/8" thickness section of the plate.(see pic2)
The plates are of tapered thickness.
The middle pic is the TC M2, it made a nice divot.
The HXP, nearly identical to the TC.
(http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/2820/m21h.jpg) (http://"http://img85.imageshack.us/i/m21h.jpg/")
Below, the AP M2 almost made it thru and cracked the plates backside. Note the circular discoloration due to the energy transfer from the heat of reaction from the bullet impact.
On pic 1 this is evident at the impact site as well, but as expected, the 2 non AP ammo types made no heat transfer ring on the back side of the plate.
(http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/8222/m22f.jpg) (http://"http://img710.imageshack.us/i/m22f.jpg/")