The ballistic efficiency of alumina tiles with various sizes, shapes, and target configurations was measured by the thick backing plate technique. The ballistic efficiency of square tiles roughly 8 mm thick struck by 12.7mm diameter bullets rapidly increased with tile size up to about 100mm, then tended to saturate. Circular shape tiles had lower ballistic efficiencies than those of square shape tiles for the same width and thickness. Small tiles (50mm) that were recessed in aluminum wells had a significantly higher ballistic efficiency than tiles placed on a flat surface. However, the difference in the ballistic efficiency between the two target configurtions became small at larger tile sizes. All the results could be explained by the effect of reflected waves at edges and the propagation of resulting cracks on the penetration process.