.223 too powerful for home defense?

[Gun-Reck]

The graphs are about M855, yet his data supports his statement "When M855/193 fragment quickly, they can be very effective. Unfortunately, they could just as easily exhibit poor performance without the end user really knowing how well his particular rifle/ammo performs."

The M193 55 gr. ball round mentioned, was not supported.

M193:

The damage caused by the 5.56 mm bullet [M193} was originally believed to be caused by "tumbling" due to the slow 1 turn in 14-inch (360 mm) rifling twist rate.[43][58] However, any pointed lead core bullet will "tumble" after penetration into flesh, because the center of gravity is towards the rear of the bullet.

The large wounds observed by soldiers in Vietnam were caused by bullet fragmentation created by a combination of the bullet's velocity and construction.[60] These wounds were so devastating that the photographs remained classified into the 1980s.[61]...​

... The original ammunition for the M16 was the 55-grain M193 cartridge. When fired from a 20 in (510 mm) barrel at ranges of up to 300 feet (100 m), the thin-jacketed lead-cored round traveled fast enough (above 2,900 ft/s (880 m/s))...

that the force of striking a human body would cause the round to yaw (or tumble) and fragment into about a dozen pieces of various sizes thus created wounds that were out of proportion to its caliber.[142][143]

These wounds were so devastating that many considered the M16 to be an inhumane weapon.[146][147][148] ​

As the 5.56 mm round's velocity decreases, so does the number of fragments that it produces.[24] The 5.56 mm round does not normally fragment at distances beyond 200 meters or at velocities below 2500 ft/s, and its lethality becomes largely dependent on shot placement.[24][143]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZPGSiDs5_k

 

[westernrover]

I will agree to disagree there. It is not expensive to make a door extremely difficult to breech. Windows I don't know about, but I'm sure there are solutions.

Indeed, "normal" doors you find in most houses and certainly apartments, are extremely easy to breech.

Not sure how often pick-axes are used in break-ins. ??? Homie-G and his gang of fools have probably never used one!

What the homies used to do is have a chain-link cage inside the front door. That way when the SWAT team broke the door down (they used a battering ram on the back of a pickup truck), they'd be in the cage. That would give the homies more time to split. If anyone came in the house, including other homies with bad intentions, they'd be met with defense-in-depth. A chain-link cage dog-kennel is not expensive. Get them at Homie-Depot. Now if you want it to look like Martha Steward lives there, you gonna have to get some things from Michael's.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Ha ha that's interesting. In the ghetto they also have those bars over the windows, and that crossed my mind, but those wouldn't be good if the house was on fire, and you couldn't get out. !!! I like the cage-thing, but I bet friends and family would raise a few eyebrows when they came over!!

 

[Ugly Sauce]

https://californiasecurityscreens.com/

Check out the embedded video on their website, guy is beating a window with a sledgehammer!

Well that would give one some warning. !!!

 

[C-grunt]

I will agree to disagree there. It is not expensive to make a door extremely difficult to breech. Windows I don't know about, but I'm sure there are solutions.

Indeed, "normal" doors you find in most houses and certainly apartments, are extremely easy to breech.

Not sure how often pick-axes are used in break-ins. ??? Homie-G and his gang of fools have probably never used one!

From my experience investigating hundreds of burglaries and home invasions over the past nearly 17 years, criminals use tools often. You get a guy who works construction as his day job and he can get in your house very quickly. Loud, but quickly.

Sledgehammers, circular saws, ax, pry bars, cutting torches, etc... Ive seen them cut through an exterior wall to get in the house. Ive seen them use pick up trucks to drive through garage doors or hook up chains and pull security doors off a house. Your average drug addict burglar just trying to get his next fix isnt going to do these types of things. They also probably wont stick around when they realize you are home. However, if you get targeted by a burglary or robbery crew, things change.

 

[someguy2800]

I only read the first page but this thread is based on a deeply flawed assumption as it looks like has been sussed out already.

 

[someguy2800]

If you want to greatly mitigate the blast from your rifle without a suppressor, get yourself a krink brake. You won’t believe the difference

 

[benEzra]

Why "High Powered" 5.56 NATO/.223 AR-15 Ammo is Safer For Home Defense (FBI overpenetration testing) - Prepared Gun Owners

If you listen to the mainstream media, then the standard 5.56 NATO/.223 Remington cartridges the AR-15 shoots are “high powered assault weapon” rounds that have no place in civilian hands. (I hope you are catching the sarcasm as I’m pouring it on) Yet, as we’ve discussed previously, the AR-15 is...

www.preparedgunowners.com

The major problem with .223 in a building is extreme noise.

I’ve fired a 16” unbraked .223 carbine in a small indoor range with SAAMI (not NATO) 55gr loads, with hearing protection of course, but I couldn’t tell a volume difference between it and a 4” .40 S&W shooting 180s in the same session. Both seemed noticeably louder than 9mm to me, but not overwhelmingly so. On a dB scale, neither one is as loud as a .357 revolver.

A 14.5” or shorter barrel would be louder than that, hotter NATO loads might be a bit louder, and a muzzle brake would be massively louder (loudest guns I’ve ever shot next to outdoors were a 14.5” 5.56x45mm with a brake, and some sort of magnum bolt-action with a brake), but I did not find a 16” .223 carbine to be so loud as to be incapacitating indoors. And a linear comp would reduce the volume as well, as someguy2800 mentioned.

 

[Boattale]

If I ever have to shoot a gun inside my house, hearing loss will be the last thing on my mind. I want something that I KNOW will work assuming I do my part. So make mine .357 or 12 gauge.