Abstract: Die forging tests were conducted on a 300 t press to form semi-solid ZL116-alloy parts. The results showed that the die forging process is suitable for semi-solid metal because the parts thus formed show compact structure and clear shape with die space fully filled up. The microstructure of such parts is mainly the fine and uniformly distributed near spheroid and non-dendritic rosette. In addition, plastic deformation was found locally under the action of static pressure for part forming, which makes the mechanical properties of semi-solid die forgings superior to that of die castings formed from liquid, e.g., their hardness comes to 65.7 HB or 20.5% higher than die castings. The testing results lay down a foundation for applying such parts to military vehicles.