Can 50 BMG MK211 and MK263 Defeat 1.5" Mild Steel!

[@bananaballistics]

Give this man a thumbs up for shooting steel that close with these monstrous cartridges! MK263 now seems like a bargain compared to MK211 and that is a freaking awesome testing setup you made!

[@maxbuust8670]

Love your channel

[@BuffRANGE]

Thanks again Banana Man! This was a cool test!

[@rayluse744]

@@BuffRANGE Try 3 layers of 1/2" mild, but space them between 1/2" & 1" apart....

[@rayluse744]

You and Banana, cool

[@last_raven]

Soon as I saw the title I thought Banana Ballistics

[@The_Defiant_One]

The deep voiced banana nerd sent me.

[@BuffRANGE]

He really likes how long my barrel is :O Banana is a cool dude! I hope you stick around :D

[@ronbaer67]

Almost lost a camera with that 762 nato

[@BuffRANGE]

Got Lucky indeed!

[@Steve-mr5un]

A challenger for the MK263 Mod 2 would be the NAMMO NM185 Armor Piercing Super/AP-S, which uses an enlargened tungsten core, either with inert or incendiary point filler. It was designed to try and rival the M903 SLAP with better accuracy.

[@BuffRANGE]

That sounds not easy to get..

[@Steve-mr5un]

@@BuffRANGE Basically impossible, more of an observation on my part.

[@davidjernigan8161]

That MK 263 has some horsepower.

[@BuffRANGE]

Indeed!

[@rre9121]

Wow. Thats some nasty stuff. I like how smooth the inside of the hole is on the second shot.

[@donwyoming1936]

I remember testing the armor of a wrecked Peacekeeper armored truck we used in the Air Force. Provided good protection from ball ammo. Unless you hit the same area several times. AP went in one side and bounced around. Great 😮

[@landmine940]

F n cool Matt I was waiting for the fire and you didn’t disappoint.😂

[@bobborlog1677]

So much fire 🔥so satisfying

[@TooManyChoices1]

Unca Roger for the win 🥇

[@Bran_Nuthin]

That plate looks like it's about to say the One Place is real and die standing up.

[@BuffRANGE]

HAHA

[@Bran_Nuthin]

@@BuffRANGE Damn autocorrect ruined my joke. 😡

[@2AToday]

Love this video!!! Also, I am so happy and relieved that you correctly pronounce ‘Mk’ as ‘mark’

[@BuffRANGE]

Yay! Thank you!

[@doejohn8674]

Interesting stuff, thanks for getting hold of it and demonstrate it!

[@BuffRANGE]

Welcome you are!

[@qwe304]

not surprised that the m993 failed. in RHA pen, its about on par with .50bmg m33 *ball* ammo

[@jondavidmcnabb]

Terry was disappoint he didn't get a call out for the emotional support he gave. EXCELLENT VIDEO!!!

[@BuffRANGE]

Thank you!

[@meanman6992]

Funny I had just set this to notify me and like 10seconds later boom

[@BuffRANGE]

Like Magic!

[@areyoulying4937]

Banana sent me! Love your videos! Subscribed.

[@BuffRANGE]

Awesome! Thank you! I’m not as funny as him but am the data guy

[@resurgam_b7]

I followed the trajectory of a yellow fruit and found myself here 😂 Sheesh, that MK-263 is nasty! The hole it left wouldn't look any smoother if you had drilled it, and then to go through the AR-500 and still be intact to bite the wood, ouch! Not many rounds can say that they are meaner than Raufoss, but I think this one just about pulls it off. I find the crater that the Raufoss left on the entry side very fascinating, I know that they contain an explosive filler along with ever other filler that has ever been conceived, but I always figured that was mostly just to enhance the incendiary effect, I didn't expect the surely rather tiny pea of HE to actual do significant damage on its own 🤔

[@BuffRANGE]

Indeed it's pretty cooL!

[@meanman6992]

Also, I didn’t realize you had a .50BMG rifle…what barrel length?

[@cardboard_shaft]

he says it in the intro

[@BuffRANGE]

29" :D I would love to have a 19" upper for 50 BMG ballistic testing, but Barrett isn't so friendly about helping out.

[@timewave02012]

@@BuffRANGE See if OOW wants to help you out with an M2 SLR so you'll have a 45" barrel to test. Seems unlikely but can't hurt to try.

[@jesuslovesyoujohn314-21]

Wow, those are some amazing rounds.

[@hooterboy12345]

This is awesome to see mk211 and 263 compared in the same video, I’m genuinely shocked that the 263 went through but the 211 did not. How is that even possible when the hardened steel penetrator is smaller in diameter in the mk211? I think a tabletop educational video explaining all the different 50 BMG loadings would be super helpful, since no one has ever made a video like that for 50 cal. Ive looked everywhere to find out the true differences of M8 (API) and M20 (APIT), but can’t find anything. Are the cores/penetrating capabilities the same? Why is the APIT round lighter (619gr) than the API (643gr)? Is one substantially better than the other? Not to mention all the other offerings like M2, M17, M23, and so on. Anyways, great video. Thanks for going out and testing for us!

[@russr]

211 has a RDX burst in the core made to frag... it did what it was made to

[@hooterboy12345]

@@russr I know it did what it was supposed to, but I didn’t expect it to stop sooner than a standard AP round.

[@mattis537]

Mk211 is what is called a "Multi-purpose" munition. It has both an explosive charge and an penetrator. What it gives in explosive charge it looses in AP. The neat thing about Mk211 is that i does not actualy loose that much AP for how much frag it gives. So it the best of both worlds

[@BuffRANGE]

I'm not educated enough on all the variants for a video like that. The AP, API, and APIT cores are the same. It's even the same core as M33 dimensionally just hardened. the APIT could be lighter because of the room needed for the tracer compound.

[@mattis537]

@@BuffRANGE it is. Atleast with "Mk211" MP, MPT will fly about 30cm higher at 800m if i remember right, ofc when you are shooting a M2A2 it doesent matter much because of the spread in the burst. At best 8Moa

[@russr]

FYI.. those AP cores make the world's best center punch.. i have 4 in my tool box..

[@BuffRANGE]

Indeed they do.

[@briancunningham5011]

Another one for the record books.. Lets Goooo

[@BuffRANGE]

Indeed!

[@maxbuust8670]

More videos like this!

[@BuffRANGE]

I have a side skirt to shoot at somepoint.

[@charlesmullins3238]

Man that’s some wicked stuff…I handload alot and been lookin to find the hardest 7.62 stuff out there to test from my fn spr.

[@BuffRANGE]

The hardest stuff are going to be tungsten variants like M993, or XM1158, or various other smaller manufacturer variants..

[@ALegitimateYoutuber]

I would love to see things involving 338 lapua and 408 cheytec.

[@cheryltysver4819]

So would I...

[@BuffRANGE]

I have 338 LM, but no 408.

[@jaypee389]

Love Buffman!!!!

[@BuffRANGE]

Thanks!

[@itsamk18-ish]

Awesome!

[@BuffRANGE]

Super Awesome

[@tylercarlson1659]

Speed and hardness defeats armor as you can see from that Gaping hole. 18 inch barrel is a waste of 50 bmg

[@BuffRANGE]

The good thing the 19" BMG has value to me as it can simulate a 200 yard engagement for a 29" BMG.. But That's why I went with the 29" to begin with :D

[@tylercarlson1659]

@BuffRANGE Definitely proved a point and the results were ASTOUNDING. I didn't think there would be that much pass through.

[@grau473]

Wow I thought that 7.62 would go through. I have put SmKH through 2” mild steel and it’s 80 years old!

[@BuffRANGE]

SMKH is also 196gr vs 130gr and a completely different tungsten. :D

[@robertsantini2000]

Hi, Great video ! I was Just wondering where did you find out all the specific details and pictures of the MK263 projectiles. You posted the metal composition percentages and core weight on Flickr. I can't find any information details about the MK263 projectiles on the internet. Just wondering where you found all the details. Robert

[@BuffRANGE]

@@robertsantini2000 well I have a habit of going down a rabbit hole. I typically sacrifice a projectile when I get them in to get the core out if it’s AP. I have access to a really expense device called PMI - positive material identification. It only works on metals and it’s used at work to ensure vendor is supplying us with the actual steel they say they are :)

[@robertsantini2000]

That's a fascinating machine you have access to. Would you know exactly what type of tool steel this mk263 is. I did some research and the closest metal with that matches that composition that you gave, is T1 high speed steel. This is a tungsten steel alloy with 17% tungsten. Is this what you think it Is?

[@BuffRANGE]

@@robertsantini2000 I unfortunately don't. Sometimes the machine can find a "match" but without being able to talk directly to the manufacturer, it's likely a guess. I would say if we were betting T1's composition sounds pretty darn close.

[@jeffhuntley2921]

Very cool

[@BuffRANGE]

Thanks!

[@nikola12nis]

Would be interesting to see how it behaves against angled steel.

[@BuffRANGE]

Probably something I don't want to test.

[@corpsie666]

Do the plates get warmer or hot from being shot with such massive rounds?

[@BuffRANGE]

I think because they penetrated they did not transfer any meaningful heat to steel. It also could be since it's 18lb it wasn't enough heat to warm it up.

[@smpk9667]

Would be interesting to see how they compare at longer distance, but i dont know know doable that is.

[@resurgam_b7]

It's tough to test cartridges like these at range because their ballistics don't often match standard ball ammo (or each other), Even over just a hundred yards, you can get a point of impact shift of several inches when everything goes right (no dodgy ammo, no issues with the gun you're shooting it out of, etc.). So in order to sight in the rifle to hit the target at a significant distance, you'd have to use at least several, if not many of the super expensive and rare rounds to do so in order to score a clean hit to film. You either end up spending a pile of money on ammo, or a pile of money getting a target large enough to hit. That little hunk of mild steel he shot probably cost close to a hundred bucks all on its own, and the price would skyrocket for every inch taller and wider you add. It doesn't help that most of these rounds are fairly old and sourced from wherever they can be found, so often there's no telling how they have been handled or stored over the years and the performance may change from one round to the next, even between rounds of the same type purchased in one batch. On top of everything else, all of these are military ammunition, designed primarily for use in machine guns, where accuracy by volume is an acceptable standard; so even fresh from the factory, you'd be unlikely to get match grade performance and consistently hitting smallish things at long range still wouldn't be easy.

[@BuffRANGE]

Right! Effectively this is how I would test using shorter barrels. The 19" 107A1 is like a 200 yard engagement if you fired from a 29". The issue now is affording said 19" upper.

[@mattis537]

Crazy to hear you pay 100$ for 1 round. Standard combat load for my M2 is 400rounds of MP(mk211). I think the budget price for 100round box is something like 40$.... not suprised how well the MP did compared to AP round, i vaguely remeber somebody during my machinegunner course talking about the ex-charge "assisting" the smaller penetraror when fired at hard objects.

[@BuffRANGE]

Yeah that's how bad gray market ammo prices are :(

[@andreahighsides7756]

According to a procurement document unit cost per one mk211 was $9.41 in 2013. This means a box of 100 was $941 and 400 units would be $3,764. At 450rpm an M2 firing these would expend $70.58 in ammunition per second, or $282.30 for a four second burst. Presumably due to inflation they are significantly more expensive now in 2024.

[@mattis537]

@@andreahighsides7756 US procurment nummbers yeah? I am Norwegian, our state owned ammo company Nammo IS Raufoss. They make the stuff and the army buys at cost. Samme with a M72 LAWs, they cost like 200$

[@meanman6992]

The intro, what were those scenes from?

[@BuffRANGE]

The 11 sec intro? Those are at the top of my property near the gate.

[@meanman6992]

@@BuffRANGEno no in the count down, was all animated.

[@BuffRANGE]

@@meanman6992 Ohh that's the "SC-FI" Premiere from KZbin :D

[@toothpickvic5091]

Do you think that if one day a version of 6.8x51 with a tungsten core like xm1158/m993 is produced, can it penetrare 1.5" mild steel ?

[@BuffRANGE]

@@toothpickvic5091 hard to say. The M1158 tungsten is supposed to be superior to M993. No hard data I have access to though.

[@jasonsierchio1167]

What 9mm ammo weight do you recommend for a PCC w/ a 10" barrel

[@BuffRANGE]

124/147gr Federal HST or Gold dot all day for JHP. Or G9 80gr

[@jasonsierchio1167]

@@BuffRANGE thank you for confirming my recent purchase (124 gold dot)

[@ammosmithllc9765]

I wonder how the Swiss RUAG 50 AP would do?

[@BuffRANGE]

In our prior testing it couldn't defeat 2 stacked 3/8 AR500 targets.

[@cheryltysver4819]

The RUAG .50 BMG AP factory loading will go through 2.5" of cold rolled (mild) steel that is ~ 25 % tougher than regular mild steel...and penetrate ~ 4" into a piece of telephone pole after when fired from a 36" barrel. A handload with the same projectile out of a 38" barrel at ~ 3,275 fps will easily penetrate 3" of cold rolled steel! This load using US869 will develop slightly over 17,866 ft. lbs.! The projectile design offers perhaps the highest .50 BMG muzzle energies at allowable pressures!

[@jaypee389]

We should be buying Tungsten from Ali Baba and sending it to buffman. 😂 .17. .22. .24. .26. .30. .32. .338. .358. .375. You get the idea.

[@BuffRANGE]

HAHAH

[@ragnarok5056]

Cool vid

[@BuffRANGE]

Thank you :D

[@TooManyChoices1]

🍿 😂… depends on speed but yayayay! Like butter 🧈!

[@BuffRANGE]

indeed like BUTTER!

[@jaypee389]

211 core diameter?

[@BuffRANGE]

.275" core diameter.

[@jaypee389]

@@BuffRANGE Coolio. Thanks. Anti APC M7s for all. (^.^)