Tarkov Ammo Chart 1.1: Best Rounds for Each Armor Class

Which Escape from Tarkov rounds get through armor class 4, 5 and 6 on Patch 1.1? Below, for each caliber: the lowest-penetration round the Official Wiki rates very effective against each class, the strongest round per rifle caliber, what the FMJ price cut in Patch 1.1.0 actually buys you, and the new 5.8x42mm. The ratings are the wiki’s, read on 4 October 2026 — Battlestate Games does not publish penetration values — and they describe how many hits a round needs on average, not a guaranteed first penetration.

Per the Official Wiki, the chance a bullet goes through armor depends on three numbers: the armor’s class, its remaining durability, and the round’s penetration power. The angle of the hit does not change that chance on body armor; helmets are the exception, because a shallow hit can ricochet off one. A round that goes through still loses 0–40% of its damage; a round that does not deals only a little blunt damage.

The wiki scores every round against classes 1–6 on a 0–6 scale by how many hits the armor stops on average, from Pointless (20+) through Effective (3–5) and Very effective (1–3) to Usually ignores (penetrates more than 80% of the time from the first hit). That score includes armor wearing down over follow-up hits, so it is not the chance of the first shot going through. This guide uses “very effective” as the bar.

What the ratings do not cover. The real result also depends on the armor’s remaining durability and material, on where the bullet lands — some areas, such as the armpits, cannot be protected at all — and on distance: bullets lose damage and penetration as they slow down. A round rated very effective against class 6 is a good bet against that armor, not a promise to go through every class-6 plate on the first hit.

For each caliber, the lowest-penetration round the wiki rates very effective or better against the class, with its penetration in brackets. A dash means no round in that caliber reaches that rating. Lower penetration does not mean a lower price: we have not checked trader prices, stock or loyalty levels for these rounds after Patch 1.1.0, so treat the table as a ballistics list, not a shopping list.

Three rows need a note. 7.62×51 BCP FMJ (37) is rated very effective against class 4 on the live wiki as read on 4 October 2026; older cached copies of the page show it one step lower, at effective. 7.62×51 M80 (43) already rates very effective against class 6, earlier than its penetration alone would suggest, because the wiki weighs its high armor damage (67%). And .366 TKM AP-M (42) and 12.7×55 PS12B (46) cover class 4 and 5 but not class 6.

These are the rounds to bring for a raid where you expect armored players. The trade is damage: the highest-penetration 5.45 and 5.56 rounds deal 37–38 damage per hit, against 55–57 for FMJ, so they win on armored targets and lose on unarmored ones. 7.62×51 and 7.62x54mmR keep 70+ damage at 65–70 penetration, which is why they top the chart.

El Patch 1.1.0.0 notes cut trader prices on 5.45×39 FMJ, 5.56×45 FMJ, 7.62×39 FMJ, 9×19 Green Tracer and .45 ACP Lasermatch FMJ, and moved a number of popular rounds and magazines one trader loyalty level down. The same patch raised trader prices by about 25% on average, cut what traders pay you by about 20% and raised the Flea Market fee from 3% to 5% — so the cheaper FMJ arrived in a more expensive economy.

By the wiki’s ratings, 5.56 and 7.62×39 FMJ are effective against class 3 and the 5.45 FMJ only slightly effective there; none of the five is rated better than “magdump only” against class 4. That makes them a poor choice for hitting a protected zone of class-4-or-better armor — not useless against players: limbs and unprotected areas take full damage, and plenty of players wear class 3 or less. For Scavs and weapon levelling they are fine.

Patch 1.1.0.0 added the QBZ-191 assault rifle and the 5.8x42mm caliber with four rounds. The names below are BSG’s; the numbers are the wiki’s, which lists the armor-piercing tracer as DVX12 where the patch notes say DBX12.

In practice 5.8×42 sits between 5.56 and 7.62×39: DBP191 is a general-purpose class-4 round, and DVC12 at 52 penetration is close to 5.56 M995 (53) while dealing a little more damage (46 against 42).

The two patches after 1.1.0 did not change ballistics. Patch 1.1.5.0 removed the rounds that came loaded in the magazines of some trader weapon presets, and Patch 1.1.5.1 fixed how much traders pay for ammo packs. Neither touches penetration or damage, so the chart above stands on the current build. Whether PvE uses the same values as PvP is not stated by BSG; the wiki keeps one table for both. How the modes differ elsewhere is in our PvE vs PvP breakdown, and what else 1.1.0 changed is in our Patch 1.1.0.0 summary.

Sources and Confidence

Ballistic numbers come from the community-maintained Official Wiki, because BSG does not publish them; patch changes come from BSG’s own notes.