Will 45 gr varmint ammo penetrate a Level III steel plate?

[Raggedyman]

It is somewhat widely known that M193 will penetrate most Level III steel armor when fired from a long enough barrel due to its higher velocity. Winchester 45 gr varmint JHP can generate even more velocity, about 3,500 fps from a 20" barrel, but it obviously has much lighter construction. So here's the question: Will that tiny little bullet still have enough mass to get through? If so, which barrel length will do it? Multiple poll choices are allowed so cast your vote for the barrel length or lengths that you think have enough oomph to get through. Unfortunately, only five poll choices are possible so if you don't think that any of them will get through, say so in the thread.

[The_Shadow]

That was interesting...I was surprised by the shortest BBL 223 not making through the plate.
It would be of interest if the plate was strapped to say a block of clay or gelatin to see if that would provide a more human like material rather than the secure rigid panel against the clamped block...Just thoughts here...

Thanks again! 

[Raggedyman]

Yeah, I thought about using clay as in the soft armor tests, but it's more of a pain to work with and there is never any back face deformation with steel. Either complete pass or complete fail. It's not likely to make any substantive difference, but this is actually probably easier on the armor than having it backed by a solid object. While it seems that it can't move, it is able to flex, whereas, with a block of clay or human torso behind it, it can move even less. In either case, the inertia of the plate is so great that even if suspended by string, it couldn't move enough to make any real difference.