As I understand, most simply don't use hearing protection because they can't hear commands or other important things.
Tinnitus is a serious problem among combat vets.
I am weighing out the idea of a suppressor vs. having hearing protection hanging next to the bed that could both protect and even enhance my hearing.
I am weighing out the idea of a suppressor vs. having hearing protection hanging next to the bed that could both protect and even enhance my hearing.
I agree 100%. Taking the time to grab hearing protection doesn't make much sense to me, especially considering you might be waking from a deep sleep. Also, if it's not electronic you won't be able to hear as well, and if is electronic you have to worry about batteries.lostintheozone said:Put a suppressor on your AR if that is what you are going to use in your house. You need to be able to hear everything if you are going to defend yourself so ear protection is not a good idea.
You can, it's just a little more difficult and the silencers are pretty big. But shotgun suppressors aren't very common in the suppressor world.lostintheozone said:As far as I know you can't suppress a shotgun so that's out.
The SIG silencers are garbage. They're just capitalizing on the recent boom in silencer popularity by throwing their name on sub-standard products.lostintheozone said:Lots of good ones available. Here's a Sig suppressor.
how do our combat veterans fare?
Not sure if I need to say this, but using a rifle in the home will only be safe if using bullets that will quickly fragment or expand and stop.
Do not use FMJ ammo.
Why? Hollow point self-defense rounds like Hornady TAP will penetrate less through walls and cause more damage in soft tissue. FMJ rounds are OK for self-defense, but they're not as good as hollow- or soft-points.Derbel McDillet said:I use M193 55gr FMJ for HD.
FMJ bullets tumble after striking the first wall and then fragment at the cannelure.
Not inherently. The military spent quite a bit of time and money trying to get their 5.56 tumbling or 'yawing' in flesh. The only reason they did this was because FMJ bullets were designed to penetrate, and did very little damage in tissue, for this reason. The military realized that sometimes the long bullets would yaw in flesh and this would do more damage than the bullet penciling straight through, without violating any of the conventions that militaries are bound to, of not using expanding bullets. For a SD situation, you are not bound to the same laws as the military, and using expanding rounds is preferable, unless you are looking for barrier/cover penetration. They generally do more damage, penetrate less, and transfer a larger percentage of energy into the target, and they do it consistently.FMJ bullets tumble after striking the first wall and then fragment at the cannelure. Other bullets do the same but fragment because the jacket is thinner
I use M193 55gr FMJ for HD.
Why? Hollow point self-defense rounds like Hornady TAP will penetrate less through walls and cause more damage in soft tissue.
This is very dependent on velocity, exact bullet construction, and target medium consistency. Don't expect 100% fragmentation, especially if the barrel is less than 16 inches. (e.g. M193 in an 11.5 inch semiauto SBR is a poor choice over 55 grain softpoints)
The military spent quite a bit of time and money trying to get their 5.56 tumbling or 'yawing' in flesh.
At HD distances M193 velocity from a 16" bbl is adequate to produce reliable and substantial bullet fragmentation in soft tissues.
In the event of an errant bullet, M193 is not barrier blind. Walls are hard barrier materials that present shear force resistance to bullet penetration which causes M193 to fragment.
Lessons learned:
1. Contrary to what we have been told, XM-193 does not seem to "fragment" when shot into drywall walls. After we were through for the day, we even shot several more rounds of XM-193 into the walls to see if we could get one to fragment. They did not.
It is clear that they were tumbling and deviating from the flight path, but they were still penetrating the walls.
Now, before anyone says it, No, I do not know how much damage they would do to someone after the 4th wall. But they would do some damage as they were still penetrating.
2. Remington 55 grain JSP and Frangible 5.56 also penetrated all 4 walls. So did the .30 Carbine.
When shooting rifles, walls are concealment, not cover.
- Old_Painless
"In those situations where intermediate barrier penetration is not a critical requirement, for example LE urban entries or long range shots in open conditions, then OTM, JHP, and standard JSP loads can offer acceptable performance. For 1/7 twist barrels, the Hornady 75 gr OTM, Nosler 77 gr OTM, and Sierra 77 gr SMK OTM are all good choices. The experimental BH loaded 100 gr OTM exhibits impressive fragmentation, even at relatively low velocities, however while capable of shooting out to 600, it is optimized for 200 and under. If stuck with 1/9 twist barrels, the heavy 70+ gr loads are not universally accurate in all rifles and the 69 gr SMK OTM, the 68 gr Hornady OTM, the Winchester 64 gr JSP (RA223R2), the Federal 64 gr TRU (T223L) JSP, Hornady 60 gr JSP, are likely to run accurately in the majority of 1/9 twist rifles. Again it is critical to keep in mind that the above loads fail to offer adequate penetration through intermediate barriers."
-- http://pistol-forum.com/showthread.php?4344-5-56-mm-Duty-Loads