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  • BRD@66

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    Jan 23, 2014
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    Are people really comfortable with an AR in situations like this? I guess it just depends on time handling the firearm, whether it's rifle or handgun, I only keep a handgun available for home defense but I should probably look into changing that just for options and just in case... They're pretty much all I shoot, and I could pull my handgun with my eyes closed chamber a round, so it makes sense others are that comfortable/familiar with a rifle as well. I have Remington hollowpoints in mine.
    You'll be just fine. Whatever you choose, it should be something you're very familiar with.
    welcome 2 TGT.
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    zackmars

    Free 1911 refinishing
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    Nov 4, 2015
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    Are people really comfortable with an AR in situations like this? I guess it just depends on time handling the firearm, whether it's rifle or handgun, I only keep a handgun available for home defense but I should probably look into changing that just for options and just in case... They're pretty much all I shoot, and I could pull my handgun with my eyes closed chamber a round, so it makes sense others are that comfortable/familiar with a rifle as well. I have Remington hollowpoints in mine.

    Yes. A rifle is far easier to make precise hits with under stress, even with little to no training. That extra point of contact helps a lot. Rifles often have a capacity advantage, and every little bit helps.

    While handguns for home defense has disadvantages, it's still a perfectly adequate choice.

    But always keep a round in the chamber. If there's kids or something, get a small handgun safe. Right before a crash is not the time to put on a seatbelt
     

    RSBro

    No Limit Honky
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    Oct 9, 2019
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    Yes. A rifle is far easier to make precise hits with under stress, even with little to no training. That extra point of contact helps a lot. Rifles often have a capacity advantage, and every little bit helps.

    While handguns for home defense has disadvantages, it's still a perfectly adequate choice.

    But always keep a round in the chamber. If there's kids or something, get a small handgun safe. Right before a crash is not the time to put on a seatbelt

    I definitely agree it has more benefits, I'm just not as used to it. I think it's something I'm going to force myself to do over time, though. I'm about to move, and I will have a better position to retreat to and have a rifle safely stored that I can access if something unfortunate was to happen. I definitely keep my handgun 'hot' at the moment. Thanks all for the input!
     

    jordanmills

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    An AR pistol, preferably in 300 BLK downloaded to or near subsonic would be a nice choice, IMHO. Wall penetration, but not overdone. And a magazine with lots of ammo in it!
    Why not hot light supers? They'll tend to tumble, fragment, and reduce penetration. And they'll go right through moderate armor.
     

    Charlie

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    'Top of the hill, Kerr County!
    Why not hot light supers? They'll tend to tumble, fragment, and reduce penetration. And they'll go right through moderate armor.
    True, but how many "home invaders" wear moderate armor? It's good to throw around ideas but, in my opinion, rifles are overkill and much harder to navigate around furniture and rooms, etc. in a typical home. Give me a pistol or two of a decent caliber (.45, 10mm, etc.) and I'll feel armed enough.
     

    jordanmills

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    True, but how many "home invaders" wear moderate armor? It's good to throw around ideas but, in my opinion, rifles are overkill and much harder to navigate around furniture and rooms, etc. in a typical home. Give me a pistol or two of a decent caliber (.45, 10mm, etc.) and I'll feel armed enough.
    How about an AR-15 pistol in 300 AAC? 30 caliber with the potential to hit heavy. Load it with lighter supers for penetrating the first barrier. Or load it with heavy/frangible subs to spare some hearing and not go through a dozen walls (though that's kind of a trope). Relatively small and easy to aim, stick a light and a laser on it for assistance, and enjoy the 30+ capacity mags.
     

    zackmars

    Free 1911 refinishing
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    Going to say, maybe inflammatorily, no, no and no.

    Vast over penetration.
    Blinding flash in the dark.
    Deafening beyond tolerability inside.

    Good grief.
    Get any quality 9mm or .40 or 45ACP and get proficient with it.

    H

    A 5.56 rifle will penetrate less drywall than any duty caliber handgun or shotgun firing a decent defensive load, gives you more capacity, and is easier to use.

    Unless you have a really short barrel, you aren't going to notice flash. A 16" ar will have less muzzle flash than your average handgun. Use a flash hider.

    All guns, indoors will wreck the shit out of your hearing. Handgun, rifle, shotgun, it won't matter
     

    45tex

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    Practical experience, a few years back a kid of mine fired a semi JHP .38+P from a 6" barrel. It crossed a 24' room 2 interior walls in the second wall it glanced off an iron water pipe and broke apart. Parts were found in the sound insulation of a third interior wall. Other parts shattered a framed mirror and some embedded in the wood frame. Had it not hit the pipe, it would have missed the mirror and the next stop was a window and a neighborhood. How many folks have 4 walls to slow and break up a slow .38? Or iron down pipes in the wall today. He lucked out.
     

    pronstar

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    Jul 2, 2017
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    Dallas
    Bedside G19 (not suppressed, I need a pistol can), and suppressed 300BLK subsonics...sometimes suppressed 5.56, depending on my mood.

    I go back and forth on 300BLK subsonics vs SuperSonics...hearing vs penetration vs effectiveness

    All of our exterior walls are brick, and neighbors are all ~50 yards away.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
     

    K9117

    New Member
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    May 5, 2008
    27
    11
    Wood County, TX
    Admittedly I haven't read all of the posts but I do have a question/consideration for the OP. How good are your retention skills of a long gun vs. a pistol? For example, you turn a corner in your home and the actor grabs your gun's barrel. What would you do?
     

    CodyK

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    Sep 5, 2019
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    Houston
    Admittedly I haven't read all of the posts but I do have a question/consideration for the OP. How good are your retention skills of a long gun vs. a pistol? For example, you turn a corner in your home and the actor grabs your gun's barrel. What would you do?

    I’m not very experienced. I’ve never taken any classes or anything. I’ve watched videos where they tell you to either use your free arm to come down across their arm while pulling the gun back to you or bring your foot up and use it to shove them back while pulling your gun back to you. I do have a sling on my rifle also.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
    Last edited:

    Rhino

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    Jan 22, 2009
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    Practical experience, a few years back a kid of mine fired a semi JHP .38+P from a 6" barrel. It crossed a 24' room 2 interior walls in the second wall it glanced off an iron water pipe and broke apart. Parts were found in the sound insulation of a third interior wall. Other parts shattered a framed mirror and some embedded in the wood frame. Had it not hit the pipe, it would have missed the mirror and the next stop was a window and a neighborhood. How many folks have 4 walls to slow and break up a slow .38? Or iron down pipes in the wall today. He lucked out.
    I’ve seen 22LR penetrate three walls in a house personally... I’d be pretty concerned to use an AR or most rifles in a neighborhood, for sure unless it was my only option. I’ve also personally known an armed medical professional (a family member was a patient of his) killed by an intruder in his own home. If you aren’t prepared (I don’t know that he wasn’t) and proficient, don’t overestimate your abilities. My personal takeaway from various experiences is that even if the intruder is in my house and I know it, I’m not initiating contact as a first choice. I’m taking cover, observing, and he can have my stuff unless I’m dead sure someone else’s life is in danger.
     

    HKShooter65

    TGT Addict
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    A 5.56 rifle will penetrate less drywall than any duty caliber handgun or shotgun firing a decent defensive load, gives you more capacity, and is easier to use.

    Is that an evidence based contention?

    Seems counterintuitive, but you could be right, though doubtful.

    Here:
    https://www.theboxotruth.com/the-box-o-truth-1-the-original-box-o-truth/

    An article (evidence) that the 5.56 penetrates way more housing material.

    12 sheets of drywall was easily penetrated by both defensive pistol loads and the 5.56 so no answer there.

    The pistol loads stopped halfway through 12 pine boards.
    The 5.56 blew through all 12 boards.
    Admittedly this was ball ammo and an expanding game round might halt sooner.

    I've had this debate when out shooting and I know, first hand, that a 5.56 game load will blow right through oak firewood that easily stops 9mm and .40 hollowpoints.

    Once long ago piece of old seasoned oak firewood caused a 45ACP standard GI ball to bounce right back at me and break an old asbestos siding shingle on the farmhouse behind me!!!! Zero penetration. Just a cm-deep divot and the ball elastically bounced off the oak log. Jeepers!

    We are flirting with the long-running perennial (or is it perineal?) debate about momentum v. kinetic energy, momentum being proportional to velocity and kinetic energy being proportional the square of the velocity.
     
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