I was told by my cousin who was in the Korean war and was awarded the silver star but was right beside his lieutenant which was awarded the CMA feeding the machinegun killing lots of Chinese this about the AP round. He as well as most combat solders preferred the slightly heaver black tip AP round because it was also a bit longer bullet and tended not to tumble like the M2 Ball shorter flat base did on impact because when the Chinese came in their human waves the AP bullet tended to get more than one per shot. It would penetrate the first guy and go on to get one or more behind him.
I do know about the penetration capability of the AP round. When I was 12 years old in 1969 my neighbor who was a deer hunter told me that if I got a high power rifle he would take me deer hunting. I worked my butt off the next year mowing yards, working in the tobacco fields, helping bale and put up hay and anything else I could find to do to make money. I had saved up $45. At that time there were shopping carts or barrels stacked with WWII rifles for around $30 in a number of the sporting goods stores or places like Kmart. My Dad took me to one of these stores to get a rifle. Most of these rifles were either 7mm or 8mm Mauser but when we got to this store they had their rifles boxed and standing up in a shopping cart with a price tag of $40 on the cart. Dad, a WWII vet, opened one of the boxes and pulled out the rifle and told me "this is what you want". It turned out to be a "unissued" Remington 1903A3 Springfield. Dad got me a box of 150 gr SP ammo and the rifle for my $45. The cousin mentioned above was in the National Guard at that time and when he went to muster each month he would bring me a 200 round can of the black tip AP ammo. It shot really well. There was an old logging truck sitting on a hill where I roamed that had been wrecked. I decided to see what the AP round would do. From 100 paces I fired a round across the front end of the truck striking one front finder and the bullet went through it and then put a hole through one of the cylinders of the straight 6 engine block and then exited the other finder. That rifle would kick like a mule but I learned how to handle the recoil and learned how to judge yardage and set the rear sight to the yardage and became a pretty good long range shot. At that time deer were few and far between and I carried that rifle for 4 years and never saw a deer. I sold that rifle and bought a shorter lighter Marlin 30-30 Win. and when I was 18 years old I saw my first deer while hunting and killed it with the 30-30. It was a 5 point buck that field dress at 164 lbs which was a MONSTER weight wise in the mountains of TN.
I do know about the penetration capability of the AP round. When I was 12 years old in 1969 my neighbor who was a deer hunter told me that if I got a high power rifle he would take me deer hunting. I worked my butt off the next year mowing yards, working in the tobacco fields, helping bale and put up hay and anything else I could find to do to make money. I had saved up $45. At that time there were shopping carts or barrels stacked with WWII rifles for around $30 in a number of the sporting goods stores or places like Kmart. My Dad took me to one of these stores to get a rifle. Most of these rifles were either 7mm or 8mm Mauser but when we got to this store they had their rifles boxed and standing up in a shopping cart with a price tag of $40 on the cart. Dad, a WWII vet, opened one of the boxes and pulled out the rifle and told me "this is what you want". It turned out to be a "unissued" Remington 1903A3 Springfield. Dad got me a box of 150 gr SP ammo and the rifle for my $45. The cousin mentioned above was in the National Guard at that time and when he went to muster each month he would bring me a 200 round can of the black tip AP ammo. It shot really well. There was an old logging truck sitting on a hill where I roamed that had been wrecked. I decided to see what the AP round would do. From 100 paces I fired a round across the front end of the truck striking one front finder and the bullet went through it and then put a hole through one of the cylinders of the straight 6 engine block and then exited the other finder. That rifle would kick like a mule but I learned how to handle the recoil and learned how to judge yardage and set the rear sight to the yardage and became a pretty good long range shot. At that time deer were few and far between and I carried that rifle for 4 years and never saw a deer. I sold that rifle and bought a shorter lighter Marlin 30-30 Win. and when I was 18 years old I saw my first deer while hunting and killed it with the 30-30. It was a 5 point buck that field dress at 164 lbs which was a MONSTER weight wise in the mountains of TN.
