AR-15 Suitable For Home Defense

[Theohazard]

The consistency of drywall will prevent most hollow point ammunition from expanding. The drywall compresses around the outside of the bullet as the bullet passes through it. Green wood does much the same thing as it splits around the bullet forcing it to stay in the shape it started.

Not with high-velocity, small caliber bullets like .223 hollow-points. The bullet is small enough and moving fast enough that it usually breaks up in drywall, and the resulting pieces are small enough that they lose energy really fast and penetrate less as a result.

One of the videos showed Hornady Critical Defense rounds not only failing to expand in drywall but actually collapsing inward making the bullet more "spitzer" shaped. It showed penetration, from a 9mm, through 7.5 walls. The walls were 2x4 frame with 1/2" drywall on each side spaced about 12 inches from one wall to the next.

Yes, that was a 9mm. It's a much bigger bullet going much slower than a .223 hollow point, so it reacts a heck of lot differently when it contacts drywall. Pistol-caliber hollow-points tend to zip right through drywall because they're heavier and they're not going fast enough to fragment, whereas .223 hollow-points tend to fragment in drywall because of their lower weight and higher velocity.