Abstract: A finite element model of 4.6 mm thick armor steel target plate shot by ordinary steel core bullet was established, and the residual stresses distributed along the plate thickness direction, which were measured by experiments, were assigned to the finite element model. The influence of the initial residual stress of the target plate on its anti-ballistic performance was studied, and the simulation results were verified by the test results. The results show that the simulation results of the back bulge height and crater depth of the target plate with initial residual stresses were consistent with the test results, and the relative errors were only 2.0% and 4.8%, respectively, indicating that the model was accurate. Comparing with those without initial residual stresses, the back bulge height and crater depth of the target plate with the initial residual compressive stress were reduced, indicating the anti-ballistic performance of the steel plate was improved. With the increase of applied residual compressive stresses, the anti-ballistic performance of the target plate showed a slight increase trend, but the increase was very small.