Would you use an AR 5.56/.223 for home defense

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CMichael

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Obviously a 5.56 is very powerful but is it too powerful?

In other words hitting the neighbor a mile away would concern me.
 
Just user proper ammo, such as hollow points or frangible ammo.

But police departments have moved from MP-5s to ARs because the .223 round actually tends to have LESS over-penetration than a hot 9mm SMG round.
 
home invasion

you don't get to pick when your home will be battle ground. what ever you can get to at the time is the best weapon for home defense. Nothing wrong with an ar 15. The problem is its a single projectile weapon. in the heat of the moment shot placement won't be very precise. I prefer a shot gun to defend my home at typical hallway distance IT IS EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE at stopping gun fights. a 3 inch load of #4 buckshot from 30 feet will ruin a bad guys day. Being a multiple projectile weapon your hit probability goes way up with a shot gun.
 
LE and military are finding it is a much better choice than the shotgun, which is slowly being replaced by small carbine AR's. True, it is only a single projectile, but at the ranges encountered in a home a shotgun pattern is so small it is in effect a single projectile weapon as well.

The AR holds many more rounds, has much less recoil and is in a much more compact package. When loaded with softpoint ammo the 223 round will penetrate no more in building materials than buckshot and often less than handgun rounds, so it is as safe as you can get if overpenetration is a concern.

So yes, I'd use an AR without hesitation inside my home.
 
From aiptactical's website.

Fire power. I mentioned above that a 12ga shotgun has more initial fire power then an assault rifle or Sub Machine Gun. Here is a a little demonstration I witnessed that proves this point.

1991 Metro Dade Range, Miami FL. Two SWAT members put on a demonstration. One had an 870 with 20" barrel and three shot tube. He was loaded with 2 3/4" 00 buck which has 12 pellets so that was 8 rounds = 96 pellets. The other had a fully auto MP-5 type sub machine gun in 9mm with a 30 round magazine. Empty frames were used to simulate a window and they would both begin to fire when they turned. Standing targets were set behind the frames with just cardboard to show hits. The target turned and they began firing. The sub gun guy was really working the trigger perfect and putting out 3 round burst. The pump shooter was rocking, wow, he had that pump down. Everyone conceded that the Sub gun shooter finished almost a second before the shotgun shooter did. But here is the point people. The shooter with the 12ga put 96 .32 caliber pellets through that window in almost the same time the Sub Machine gun shooter put 30 9mm rounds.
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I keep handguns in different places in the house. . .but, I have have a Bushmaster AR standing in the corner of the bedroom. I have had that rifle for a while and it is DEPENDABLE.

Geetarman:D
 
With the proper load an AR15 makes a fine home defense weapon. Light ballistic tip bullets tend to fragment and are less likely to be over penetrating.
 
Home defense

Remington 870 and kel-tec PLR-16 best of both worlds to say the least with a glock 23 for backup,shotgun first. If ever in this position expect a lot of court time. Me im not much of a pistol guy although i own a few. I am a small old guy and a 12 ga is a excellent equalizer for a 6ft6in giant at 250 lbs.
 
Whatever you're most comfortable with. In a defensive situation I'd ensure my bedroom door was locked and take cover with a shotgun. You want my stuff? Fine. It's insured. I never liked that plasma anyway. But please don't break into my bedroom because...just because alright? :p
 
A shotgun would defentily get the job done, but what about a scenario where a mad man grabs your wife or kid and you need to make a precise shot in his head, a shotgun is out of the question. With that said I do agree the first weopon you can get to for me it would be my 45ACP until I could get my AR-15.
 
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where a mad man grabs your wife or kid and you need to make a precise shot in his head
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SWAT wouldn't take that shot without being at an oblique angle and very close or with a sniper who had a perfect solution.

:rolleyes:
 
From aiptactical's website.
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A shotgun that is 3 and a half-4 feet long is not exactly the ideal weapon to clear your home out with. You'll have to lower the weapon to make turns in your hallways or through doorways, which puts you at risk. Also gives an opponent a nice, extremely long handle to grab the weapon away from you.

An 18 inch barrel would be better, but a shorter weapon like a 16" A barrel with a collapsible stock would be superior.

That article doesn't even seem trustworthy. In one sentence they say the MP-5 shooter finished his mag a whole second faster than the guy with the 870. Very next sentence they say it was in the same time.
 
If you really believe someone is in your home call the police and let them clear it. Don't go looking for the threat around dark corners, in closets, under beds, etc. That's a dangerous job and can easily go south in a hurry. That's a job for a team.
 
Obviously a 5.56 is very powerful but is it too powerful?

In other words hitting the neighbor a mile away would concern me.
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Well, the first thing to ask yourself is what does your background look like? Is it a floor to ceiling glass windown in a room with 20' ceilings? Is it a 1920s construction house with wood or vinyl siding? Is it a modern box house with a brick veneer? An actual brick house?

In general .223 tends to penetrate housing materials less than 9mm because it is a small round moving very fast. When it hits something, the smaller round sheds momentum more quickly and the smaller round is also more likely to break into even smaller pieces (which being irregular in size with bad ballistic coefficient that shed momentum even more quickly.

On the flip side, .223 has a lot more energy behind it and a better ballistic shape. If you miss a bad guy and launch a round out the window, it may travel a long ways before it stops.

And of course, you need to choose your ammunition wisely. A 70gr TSX is going to have more weight/momentum and is also not going to break apart - so it is going to penetrate things better than a 55gr VMAX. Here is an example of how much gelatin different .223 rounds penetrate after passing through wallboard.
 
1991 Metro Dade Range, Miami FL. Two SWAT members put on a demonstration. One had an 870 with 20" barrel and three shot tube. He was loaded with 2 3/4" 00 buck which has 12 pellets so that was 8 rounds = 96 pellets....

The shooter with the 12ga put 96 .32 caliber pellets through that window in almost the same time the Sub Machine gun shooter put 30 9mm rounds.
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Okay, I found the link for the quote...http://www.aiptactical.com/Gun_Fight_EWWU.html

I am not sure I follow the math. An 870 with a 3 shot tube means having 3+1 if you are fully loaded which is 4 rounds, not 8.

Of course the shotgun downside (example above) is that each miss is a miss of 12 pellets.

So the shotgunner finished a second or so after the subgunner. So it isn't that he put 96 pellets through the window in almost the same time (assuming it was 8 rounds). AI&P is fudging the numbers to make the shotguns they sell look better and perform better than they actually performed. It would be that the shotgun put 72 or 84 pellets through the window in about the same amount of time as the sub gun. When you are talking about 1 full second of time of a 3-5 second event, then you are talking about a significant difference in the time (20-33% difference).

My wife prefers the shotgun. I prefer the AR15.
 
where a mad man grabs your wife or kid and you need to make a precise shot in his head
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SWAT wouldn't take that shot without being at an oblique angle and very close or with a sniper who had a perfect solution
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So what are you gonna do, just let the bad guy have your little girl?

No thinks, I'll take my chances. I'm a rifle shooter but I don't use a rifle for self defense in the house. My house isn't that big. Sure if the above situation ever occurred and I had access to a rifle (223 would be my choice) I have all the confidence in my rifle shooting to make that shot in the distance provided in the house.

Problem is, I don't always have a rifle handy but I do my revolver. I practice all the time for such a situation only I practice with my revolver (642) at ranges I' have in my house.

That situation does scare me. I use this target to practice. I have one posted on my Granddaughters bedroom door and dry fire at it daily. Got one in my shop, I dry fire at every time I'm out there (using the laser sight to see where the dot is when the hammer falls), then I actually practice on the target at 15 yards (greater distance then I have in my house).

Print this target, practice with it, dry fire with it. To add stress super impose the picture of your daughter or granddaughter on the good guy part of the target.

http://photos.imageevent.com/kraigwy/pentest/100 Yard Hostage Target_1_.pdf
 
I think revolver is the best choice.
I have a semi auto handgun, but my wife has revolver.

On a sorta home defense note, I own another house on an adjacent property it is vacant but it frequently was broken into and ransacked. My yard is large enough that I could never hear or see when the tresspassers were there. So, one day I taped an empty 45 case to the door and I haven't had any more problems.
 
Palmetto-Pride said:
A shotgun would defentily get the job done, but what about a scenario where a mad man grabs your wife or kid and you need to make a precise shot in his head, a shotgun is out of the question.
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Have you checked a buckshot pattern at bedroom distances? It wouldn't be much trouble to keep them all where they need to be.

Shooting with my wife or child downrange would be difficult no matter what weapon I held. But I wouldn't put it down.
 
Shooting with my wife or child downrange would be difficult no matter what weapon I held
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It's about confidence in your shooting, you gain that confidence by tons of practice, shooting and dryfiring.
 
"Have you checked a buckshot pattern at bedroom distances? It wouldn't be much trouble to keep them all where they need to be."

I was actaully reading a "box of truth" article about this the other day. Long story short, the buckshot was still hitting the non shoot target as well.
 
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