Favorite ammo for home protection?

[Tito]

I just ordered some Black Hills 60g Noslers. What do you think?

[Skintop911]

Excellent load, like all of the other BH offerings.

[RMTactical]

Originally posted by Skintop911
Excellent load, like all of the other BH offerings.

+1

I prefer XM193/Q3131A but I have some BH 68gr OTM that would work great.

[Ford302Glock21]

Could someone explain briefly what the other types of ammo are really for or good for? I'm talking about the soft point stuff that costs so much more then fmj. I've got like 15 .223rounds that came with my ar with alot of .223 fmj rounds as well. I wouldnt know what to use them for.

[Jaltered]

Originally posted by Ford302Glock21
Could someone explain briefly what the other types of ammo are really for or good for?

+1 for me too! ;g

[RMTactical]

Do you mean SP's for 223/5.56 in general?

Controlled expansion, for hunting or self defense. SP's and HP's will expand at longer ranges than most FMJ will fragment.

Many HP's will fragment as well.

[Ford302Glock21]

So then a larger wound channel at long yardage where fmj loses enough velocity to keep it from fragmenting?

[Big Bird]

2 3/4" Federal Tactical reduced recoil....#4 Buck or larger...the pellet size doesn't matter inside of 10 yards.

Ohhh I'm sorry you wanted to talk about AR ammo! ;z

[Ford302Glock21]

lol.. 3" here...tactical reduced comfort 00 Buck

[RMTactical]

Originally posted by Ford302Glock21
So then a larger wound channel at long yardage where fmj loses enough velocity to keep it from fragmenting?

Simply put, yes, but I suppose it gets more complicated though.

[AtreidesAR15]

But the bottom line answer is "Yes", you have some good bullets there.

Alot of a bullets "effectiveness" has to do with a number of factors such as barrel length and twist for starters, but on a round about average the 60gr. Nosler rounds are excellent performers.

Now for a little bit of opinion.....

ANY round out of an AR15 at close range will do the job on a bad guy. Sure, some may not do what they were designed to do: expand, fragment, whatever but the fact of the matter is if you put your shots where it matters you will take care of business. Shot placement (IMHO) matters a heck of a lot more than bullet design when indoor distances are concerned. Things are different for battle distances (up to 300 meters for an AR15) of course, but when it comes to a matter of feet, not yards, SHOT placement is key. Center mass...center mass...:)

I'm a XM193 fan. Nothing fancy, just an all around good bullet, but, I have 2 20 round magazines loaded with 75gr rounds just in case.;)

[Tito]

Originally posted by Big Bird
2 3/4" Federal Tactical reduced recoil....#4 Buck or larger...the pellet size doesn't matter inside of 10 yards.

Ohhh I'm sorry you wanted to talk about AR ammo! ;z

Yeah, I know, I have a Benelli M1 super 90 under my bed, loaded with 6 rounds of Federal 2 3/4" OO buffered 12 pellet. Somehow, I just felt the need to have a Colt 6920 next to it to keep it company.:)

[Michigun]

I’d rather have my AR over ANY shotgun loaded with ANY kind of shot for HD… ya never know, the fight may end up outside at longer distances or I may have to take a “rescue shot” to save someone in my family. (If I have to use a shotgun it’ll be loaded with nothing but slugs.)

My AR is loaded with Q3131A for an all-around round.

[Tito]

Originally posted by Michigun
I’d rather have my AR over ANY shotgun loaded with ANY kind of shot for HD… ya never know, the fight may end up outside at longer distances or I may have to take a “rescue shot” to save someone in my family. (If I have to use a shotgun it’ll be loaded with nothing but slugs.)

My AR is loaded with Q3131A for an all-around round.

Does the Q3131A fragment when it hits the BG?

[RMTactical]

Originally posted by Tito
Does the Q3131A fragment when it hits the BG?

Here's the frag charts for XM193 and Q3131A, they are almost identical.

http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~gtg483p/BallisticsA.gif

[Ford302Glock21]

Are the XM193 and other supposed to be the REAL 5.56 rounds? Or are they just the premium .223? They the ones that are supposed to achieve over 3000 fps compared to like UMC or whatever at like 2800? Is it really worth buying a couple boxes for SHTF situations over standard .223 fmj stuff? I just dont feel it would make any diff except for penetrating steel.

[RMTactical]

Originally posted by Ford302Glock21
Are the XM193 and other supposed to be the REAL 5.56 rounds? Or are they just the premium .223? They the ones that are supposed to achieve over 3000 fps compared to like UMC or whatever at like 2800? Is it really worth buying a couple boxes for SHTF situations over standard .223 fmj stuff? I just dont feel it would make any diff except for penetrating steel.

55gr XM193 is military grade ammo. It has a higher velocity because it has more powder, the round is sealed, making it virtually waterproof as well.

It is made at the Lake City plant under the supervision and direction of Federal, where the vast majority of M855(62gr w/ steel penetrator) and M193 are produced for the military.

I buy, shoot, and stock primarily XM193. It cost no more (or very little more) than standard brass cased 55gr .223. Many comercial .223 loadings will not fragment at all. It has to do with the bullet design and thickness of the jacket.

I have a little XM855, but I believe the XM193 to be a better overall round, as the fragmentation is slightly better and will occur at slightly longer ranges.

[Ford302Glock21]

Thats what I thought. Alot of my ammo is plinking and can be bought anywhere in standard .223 UMC to keep it simple. I have like 650 rounds of federal .223 that came with my bushy to use. I'd like to stock up on milspec ammo while I'm using my .223

[Tito's Glock]

I found this site which is very interesting:

http://www.ammo-oracle.com/body.htm#m193orm855

[OutintheWoods]

Use NATO spec, brass cased ammo for best reliability in AR type rifles.

It's plenty effective inside of 300 yards against anything short of bear.

It's cheaper too.

[thetoastmaster]

Per John Farnam's recommendations, I stoke my AR with XM193. It is light, but pretty much tried and true. I have a couple cases here at the house. It's cheap enough to practice with and keep for when the Schumer hits the fan.

-Bo

[DJ Niner]

Originally posted by thetoastmaster
...for when the Schumer hits the fan.

-Bo
;z

Thanks for making my night!

[thetoastmaster]

I cannot take the credit for that one, that's Jim Rawles's expression, from http://www.survivalblog.com/

-Bo

[wishywashy]

XM193 for me as well. IMHO it's the best general defense you can buy.

[FlyNavy]

XM193, the ugly Lake City stuff.

[Bushw@cker]

I have a bunch of Black Hills 60 gr Noslers, 60 gr soft points, XM193, and XM855 but I don't really use my AR for home defense. Good SHTF ammo though. The Glock 19 is my home defense weapon.

[Ford302Glock21]

So then does the soft point or whatever else thats expanding instead of fragmenting, end up having penetration issues as far as like drywall or whatever. I'm not saying that an AR is the home defense drywall king thing or whatever like some people do but I'm curious about that.

[Bushw@cker]

Originally posted by Ford302Glock21
So then does the soft point or whatever else thats expanding instead of fragmenting, end up having penetration issues as far as like drywall or whatever. I'm not saying that an AR is the home defense drywall king thing or whatever like some people do but I'm curious about that.

Soft points aren't really gonna expand when going through drywall and the such. They need something pretty dense like tissue or water to expand. I would still say though that an FMJ is going to penetrate better than a soft point though. Nosler partitons are good soft points because they are made to penetrate very well in tissue.

[Ford302Glock21]

So then are you saying that the FMJs have a better chance of intercepting a vital internal part of a bad guy tactically where the soft points may not penetrate deep enough? I realize that other wise the FMJ that does not fragment may just punch a neat little hole through some clean flesh and not inflict any useful damage.

[RMTactical]

Originally posted by Ford302Glock21
So then are you saying that the FMJs have a better chance of intercepting a vital internal part of a bad guy tactically where the soft points may not penetrate deep enough? I realize that other wise the FMJ that does not fragment may just punch a neat little hole through some clean flesh and not inflict any useful damage.

Actually, the FMJ will tumble in a dense medium (flesh) so it's not exactly a .22cal hole all the way through...

[Ford302Glock21]

Well I guess I forgot about that. What I meant was probably something to do with standard .223 which of course can still tumble but its not carrying the proper speed for consistent fragmenting. I guess I'm only mentioning this because I dont have any 5.56 GI spec ammo at the moment, only facotyr Federal and UMC .223 rounds. Oh and I have like 17 Rem PSP that was given with the gun as well which I wasnt really sure what to do with.