That's what I consider the best self defense round for .223 in a home defense situation.
But my barrel length is longer than 10.5".
Unless you have a good suppressor, a short barrel going off indoors is like a stun grenade. A 16" is bad enough.
Man... it’s bad OUTSIDE... my dog got into it with a possum a couple years ago and I went out and killed it with my Bushmaster M4’gery. I think my ears are STILL ringing. Way louder than any “hunting rifle” I’ve ever fired without ear protection.
I now keep nice Peltor noise-cancelling earmuff/headphones on a hook next to the in-wall safe I built into my house. That Bushmaster lives in there.... if I have time, I’m putting those things on for sure.
As for ammo I have a mag of 60-grain Partition handloads in the rifle. 55-grn ball after that. It’s my opinion any high-velocity round is highly lethal and I’m not real hung up on bullets for use against American humans. Meaning, an American is going to know he’s been shot and is FUBAR and will react accordingly. Cannot speak to how the round performs against other folks. Some cultures might be made of sterner stuff as far as personal injury. I think the vast majority of Americans home intruders are gonna be pretty “tender”.
No Americans are hyped up or on drugs. Especially not a criminal.
True, but I think that gets overplayed....
We are talking about defensive ammo for in-home use here, basically. The only reason I have that 1st mag loaded with 60-grain Partitions is in case I need to use the rifle against a NON-human target outside on my rural property. In fact as noted above in the article, that ammo could be a liability in court if I used it against a person, particularly since they are handloads. I purposefully loaded these extra-damaging rounds, etc. Total BS but as the article said, it happens.
But back to a home invasion. It’s not a zombie apocalypse nor are people on drugs zombies. They are cowardly weasels. They are invading a home because they want something- to steal, kidnap, rape, or kill. Any American knows the moment they get shot with ANYTHING the gig is up; whatever the plan was, it’s over now. You aren’t going to be stealing, raping, or kidnapping anybody with a hole blown through you by a .223. You’re going to a hospital, best case, then to prison.
To your point, I left off “kill”, because it’s not impossible to imagine a scenario where one type of ammo would deliver a “stop” faster than another, and that time difference could be the difference between them hurting you, or not. I acknowledge this, but I still load 55 FMJ.
