AR pistol home defense load?

[8mmFMJ]

I was thinking some 55gr soft points slinging out of a 7" AR pistol with a red dot, strobe, and laser might be a little more intimidating then a 9mm beretta.


But then I saw this video where a 55gr penetrated over 12" into gel. That would penetrate through an intruder, wouldn't it?

http://youtu.be/xKWojqtvHnE

Say I was going to use a AR pistol for HD, what kind of load would you recommend?

[Calico1404]

Have you ever shot your 7.5 without ears? Literally would cause medical hearing loss indoors. You may just stick with the Beretta or get a good shotty. Keep the AR near your BoB for a quick backpack toss and exit.

[thegamettt]

Have you ever shot your 7.5 without ears? Literally would cause medical hearing loss indoors. You may just stick with the Beretta or get a good shotty. Keep the AR near your BoB for a quick backpack toss and exit.

I have before, ears rang for like an hour and wasnt hearing right for a couple days. Never do that again lol.

[Paperchasin]

I would personally never use my own reloads for HD unless there was absolutely no other option. Just buy a few boxes of quality commercial stuff and call it a day.

[liber]

300 AAC BO

[savagemann]

I'm thinking a 50-60gr varmint tip would reduce the chance of over penetration.
But, I personally would not use reloads for HD purposes.

[3RDGEARGRNDRR]

I think the military went to 69-77 grain. Heavier bullet to accomodate for velocity losses out of short barrel.
I went opposite and am working up a light 40 grainer load with faster powder that zips and would fragment like a varmint round. Need to test it out compared to a heavier bullet. I am running 11.5" tho

[jericho89]

if i remember correct the us marshal's had the same concerns years ago when they went to ar15's for in home warrants and did not want to risk shooting through walls. they went very light and frangible.

[Paul_R]

Anything bigger than a .22 fired indoors without hearing protection will cause hearing loss and even a .22 will make em ring.

Any .223 round will punch holes thru people and walls.

And since when does the US marshals care about collateral damage?

[Eljay]

If you're going to use an AR Pistol for anything other than messing around 300 BLK makes a lot of sense. It's going to go through walls no problem but any defensive grade ammo is going to go through walls, sorry, that's just basic physics. But .223 is light enough it tends to deflect in strange ways and the .308 will at least pretty much keep going where you point it, so you can at least work out in advance, oh, if the bad guy gets to the top of the stairs that's where I shoot him and there's nothing much important out that direction.

[jericho89]

And since when does the US marshals care about collateral damage?

I was doing work for them many years ago and their requirements was the round could not penetrate 2 sheets of sheetrock. they had the round developed but had concerns with not being able to penetrate body armor. but at the time the legal department were writing the rules.

you must remembered that most law enforcement are clueless about ballistics and think that the AR has much more power and destruction over the 870 they had with OO buck. have you ever seen what buck does to meat