![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP-round-synopsis.jpg.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\u201cSnipers in USSOCOM units have a capability gap in their ability to penetrate enemy body armor, small boat engines and concrete barriers,\u201d Crane researchers said in a slide presentation at this year\u2019s National Defense Industries Association Armaments Symposium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The current round uses a discarding sabot the shields a sharpened tungsten penetrator that\u2019ll beat most armor and hard targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But that round is expensive at more than $10 per cartridge, can damage modern small arms accessories like suppressors and muzzle brakes and doesn\u2019t hold zero when switching from a traditional jacketed round to the AP round. That makes it difficult for snipers to go from one round to another and hit their target in the heat of battle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So researchers at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Crane, Indiana, are looking at a new way to make the rounds cheaper, easier on snipers\u2019 guns and more ballistically consistent with common, jacketed bullets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dubbed \u201caeroshell\u201d projectiles, the Crane engineers want to build and test bullets with a tungsten penetrator jacketed in a polymer shell. Federal Ammunition, a civilian ammo company, makes rounds with similar characteristics dubbed \u201cSyntech.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n These rounds are typically used by competitive shooters who shoot many rounds in practice and at matches and want to preserve barrel life and diminish spawl from hitting steel targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Crane researchers want to take the same thought process and apply it to a new AP round. The actual penetrator could have a slightly different shape than the current rounds, with more of a traditional bullet profile than today\u2019s needle-like AP round penetrator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Researchers plan to create about 150 rounds of this new aeroshell AP round in .338 Norma Mag, 300 Norma Mag and 6.5 Creedmoor. They plan to test the rounds against representative body armor at 100, 400, 800 and 1,000 meters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The current round is expensive, can damage modern small arms accessories and doesn\u2019t hold zero when switching from a traditional jacketed round to the AP round.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":74280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":224,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[90,224,16],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3187],"class_list":["post-66738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gearscout","category-kit","category-off-duty"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"QR4IB7R6DVDTZAEAERXENPV7UM","arc_canonical_url":"\/off-duty\/gearscout\/kit\/2019\/06\/11\/socom-wants-a-new-armor-piercing-sniper-bullet-heres-one-option-engineers-are-developing\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ap-penetrator-designs.jpg.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP-round-sabot-discarded.jpg.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/cartridge-lineup.jpg.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Syntech-explainer.jpg.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP-round-history.jpg.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/penetrator-design.jpg.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ap-development-summary.jpg.jpg\")
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