Abstract: According to different mechanical states during penetrating process, the process of high-velocity blunt-nosed projectile penetrating moderate thickness metal targets is divided into three phases. They are simple compress phase, compress & shear phase and adiabatic shear phase. Every penetrating phase presents different modes of energy absorption. Based on three phase penetrating mechanism, the analytical models of ballistic limit and residual velocity of blunt-nosed projectile penetrating moderate thickness metal targets are built. The residual velocities of 3.3g cubic and 9.7g cylindrical fragments penetrating 4mm, 6mm and 10mm ship’s steel targets are calculated by the model. The calculated values accord with the experimental results. The models consider energy absorption of glowing phenomena during penetrating process and forecast metal target’s anti-penetrating ability. The models can reduce experimental costs and have analytical and engineering values.