A while back I wrote an article stating that handguns are best for home defense. I stand by that conclusion. But there are some damned good reasons why having an AR-15 propped up against the nightstand can be a better bet than a bedside pistol . . .
1. Accuracy
No matter what the size of the bullet, every round fired that doesn’t hit its intended target is a big problem. “Stray rounds” fail to stop the immediate, potentially lethal threat. Equally, they’re dangerous to the health and safety of innocent people unfortunate enough to get in the rounds’ path.
Rifle have more points of contact with the shooter’s body than a handgun: both hands, shoulder and cheek. This makes a rifle a substantially more stable shooting platform than a handgun [note "handgun" singular]. This is one of the main reasons why an average shooter is far more accurate with a rifle than a handgun.
In addition to the body mechanics rifles are easier to sight (a.k.a., aim). It takes time, practice and coordination to align a handgun’s sights. A rifle “points” naturally; you can see where the barrel is aiming. If a home defender’s running a red dot on their rifle (a device that places a red dot on the target), its even easier to just “point and shoot.”
Under pressure, suffering the effects of a full adrenal dump, the rifle’s ease-of-use/accuracy can be the difference between life and death.
Illustrative Example:
It’s the middle of the night. You hear someone breaking down your front door. You grab your AR-15. You gather your family, call 911, put your family behind you and crouch next to your bed. You train your AR-15′s sights on the door to your bedroom.
If you were holding a handgun, your shaking hands would make it entirely possible— maybe even probable—that you would miss. The AR may not be steady but it’s steady enough. You’re as ready as you’ll ever be.
2. Capacity
I’ve never been in a real gun battle, but I have some simulated experience.
At an event in Arizona, trainers gave each participant a Glock 19 with 10 rounds of simunition ammo. They held a “two men enter one man leaves” kind of final exam. Although my opponent had recently finished his tour of duty in the armed forces I came out ahead. But not before emptying the magazine on my handgun.
Think about that. One opponent, and I’d run out of ammunition.
While some states restrict handgun magazines to ten rounds a handgun typically holds 15 rounds. FBI crime stats show that an increasing numbers of violent assaults involve more than one attacker. If you have three attackers and 10 rounds . . . that might not work out as well as it could. Even 15 rounds might not be enough.
The AR-15′s standard magazine capacity is 30 rounds. [Note: that's standard capacity not "high" capacity.] Again, you may not need all thirty rounds to defend yourself. You might not need any. But you might. And if you do, well, there they are.
Illustrative Example:
Imagine you’re a shopkeeper living atop a small store. A rioting mob starts smashing windows and loot surrounding stores. Some of the hoodlums outside are throwing Molotov cocktails into cars. Your entire livelihood is on the shelves of your store downstairs. Your wife and two kids are cowering in fear, afraid that they’re about to be burned alive.
You don’t know how many people are in the crowd about to light the wick on a vodka bottle or run at you with a baseball bat covered in barbed wire. Until and unless the police or National Guard arrives to restore order, you need to be prepared to accurately engage each and every person that attempts to kill you and your family.
Ten rounds doesn’t cut it. The New York Times understood this when they wheeled Gatling guns out into their lobby on August 1, 1863 to protect the newspaper from an angry mob. The New York Times successfully defended itself using the Gatling gun’s “high capacity” capabilities. There’s no reason the average American shouldn’t have the same protection.
3. Worst Case: It’s a Club
When you run out of ammo with a handgun, or it jams, or just plain stops working, you’re left with something only slightly better than a rock. And the only reason I say it’s better than a rock is that it typically has a pointy end of some sort.
When you run out of ammo with a rifle, you still have a bigass metal pipe at the end of a rather long firearm that will hurt like hell when it hits someone.
Admittedly certain “assault rifles” are better for whacking people over the head than other. The AR-15 is a wiffle bat compared to the sheer mass of the AK-47′s hardwood buttstock. But either rifle is better than nothing.
There are other reasons why an AR-15 makes a superb self-defense weapon: accuracy over long distances, reliability, recoil minimization and more. Suffice it to say, what makes an excellent rifle for offense makes the AR-15 an awesome firearm for defense.
It’s an inconvenient truth—unless you need a rifle for self-defense. At that point an AR-15 is nothing less than a godsend.
Personally, I still go with my 930SPX Blackwater since I get a ring sight and an optics mount. I don’t feel entirely comfortable with the AR-15 for Home Defense however, I certainly could make do with it as well. It having the light and laser grip probably would help but…Devil’s Advocate here.
I just shot my 930 for the first time a few days ago. The semi – auto 12 gauge is the most intimidating weapon I can think of for home defense, and I’m “an AR guy.”
However, the usefulness and versatility of an AR cannot be denied. I see no reason that the rest of the nation should suffer under CA’s crappy AR and AWB laws.
It’s actually the only time I see the utility of a stockless pistol grip shotgun, a home invasion scenario. Manuevering in tight quarters and needing real stopping power in said quarters. Somebody assualts your house there’s a very good chance they’re under the influence of something other than just greed.
Very logical But I say less for Home Defense from a robber than other situations 3. 1 Like National Disaster if you have a Hurricane for you Nick in Texas you will no t have any Police and large number of looters so a AR is best way to defend yourself from large number of bad guys. 2 A Terrorist attack if theirs large group of Islamic extremist attacking neighborhoods just to kill none believers a AR is your best friend. 3 Were invaded need I say more Look at it this way in Sept 1 2001 you think it was possible for 4 planes to kill as much as they did 10 days to come? So who know when a war could come by a major power (Russia or China) and they have ways to attack us here.
So terrorist is synonymous with muslim? This is one of the reasons people dont take you seriously. And if China attacks you are screwed, end of discussion. You know they have 28 MILLION people in active millitary service(US and Russia have about 500k each) and that is not even counting the 50-70 million reserve.
Islamism (Islamo-nazi terrorism) has been responsible for nearly ALL the countless acts of terrorism these last several decades. So, yes, terrorist is synonymous with muslim.
Dont be a contrarian moron.
^ Agreed. Political correctness gets in the way of truth and facts far too often.
Military Statistics > Military Capabilities > Active Troops (most recent) by country
Rank Countries Amount
# 1 China: 2,255,000
# 2 United States: 1,415,289
# 3 India: 1,325,000
# 4 Korea, North: 1,106,000
# 5 Russia: 1,037,000
# 6 Korea, South: 687,700
# 7 Pakistan: 619,000
# 8 Iran: 540,000
# 9 Turkey: 514,850
# 10 Vietnam: 484,000
Weighted average: 998,383.9
Twenty-eight million? Five hundred-thousand? Please do your homework before coming in and making wild claims such as the ones that you just made.
HAHAHA. You’re ignorance about military strength is freaking hilarious. So you can google “military ground troops by nation”. Congratulations, you’re now a google user like the rest of us.
Do you realize that China’s millions of ground troops would get absolutely annihilated by our airforce? China has old tech as far as air superiority is concerned and everyone who knows anything about the military or the nature of war knows that air superiority is step 1 towards winning a war.
Secondly, China would never attack mainland America because of my last point. And when you add in all of the US citizens owning firepower that would be in the streets killing Chinese as they landed our land power would quickly outnumber them.
In WWII Isoroku Yamamoto said, “You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.”
Irregardless if that statement is a hoax or not, it is true and much more applicable this day and age than in that one.
i cant have ar-15 or shotguns for thar matter. i have 3 newborns and im afraid over penetatrion can occur and it will be a disaster. im sticking with handguns, unless anyone has a better idea?
Pistol caliber carbine such as a 9mm AR.
dont get me wrong i have enough armory in my house to supply a small army but i just dont think ar for home defense aint right. even if it was a pistol ar frame some unscroupulos lawyer would think that im a terrorist for using it
The 5.56/.223 projectile out of an ar-15 tends to actually have less penetration than most handgun rounds through most interior walls, depending on their construction. The high velocity of the round makes it tumble once it passes through an obstacle, causing it to become quite unstable and shredding itself upon passing through a secondary obstacle..I.e. The second piece of drywall in your average american interior wall… Its somewhat close, but handgun rounds have superior penetration through drywall/wood interior walls. The’re are several videos up on youtubE which will confirm that for you.
i did not knew this! awesome info! my mind is starting to change.
http://ammo.ar15.com/project/Self_Defense_Ammo_FAQ/index.htm
See the 4th graphic on that page. It’s just one source, but it shows those particular 5.56mm and .223 rounds penetrating less than buckshot, 9mm, and .45 after penetrating an interior wall intermediate barrier first.
(Remember too that not all types of the same caliber will necessarily perform exactly the same; some weights and designs might penetrate more, others less, etc.)
A 45 grain varmint hollowpoint round wont overpenetrate and will explode inside a dudes chest. Yer talkin twice the energy of a 357 maggie.
Frangible Ammunition would be used for not over penetrating a wall etc. or like bird shot if you only had a shotgun
i think frangible ammo is illegal to have loaded on an ar outside of a shooting range. at least thats whats down in florida
The primary incapacitating mechanism for all AR ammo is the separation of the casing and the core, leading to a huge wound cavity.
When AR ammo does not stop, it is usually because the round did not tumble/casing and core did not separate,
I’m unaware of any AR ammunition that doesn’t rely on this mechanic. So “frangible” is irrelevant when it comes to 5.56…
I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure 5.56 ball ammo or buckshot will be a lower wall penetration liability than your average handgun ammo
Penetration is a variable thing, obviously. Assuming basic house construction of drywall supported by 2 x 4′s, ANY effective self defense round will also be dangerous through a wall. Each individual shooter must evaluate the construction of their home, and the probable location of other occupants. As always, know your target and what is beyond.
A typical 9 mm / .40 / .45 ACP full power JHP will penetrate 12-15 inches of ballistic gelatin. This also means that such rounds will penetrate multiple interior walls, and still be dangerous. However, they offer good (for a defensive handgun) barrier penetration capability.
A 12 gauge birdshot # 9 birdshot round will penetrate an interior wall, but will be much less dangerous to the occupants of an adjacent room at home defense distances. However, birdshot is borderline useless at barrier penetration. Birdshot is highly variable at gelatin penetration, and loses energy and lethality very quickly as distance increases. Birdshot in the #7 1/2 – # 9 range may not have sufficient energy to break a clay pidgeon beyond 65-75 yards.
00 buckshot from a typical 12 gauge load will penetrate gelatin to a depth of about 10-12 inches. It has moderate barrier penetration capability, and excellent stopping power.
5.56 and .223 ammo such as a MK 318 Mod 0 / M855 / 70 grain Barnes TSX tends to penetrate roughly 16-20 inches in ballistic gelatin when fired from a 16″ carbine barrel. These rounds have good – for a 5.56 – barrier penetration capability, but a miss would be extremely dangerous to an adjacent room. These rounds could completely penetrate and fly through the end of a home and into an adjacent residence. M193 rounds penetrate about 10-11 inches in gel through the same length barrel.
.223 JHP loads in the 40-50 grain range will penetrate roughly 6-10 inches of ballistic gelatin, and would be moderately dangerous to the occupant of an adjacent room, and are very roughly equivalent to the penetration of #4 buckshot. These are good choices when over penetration is a primary concern, but would not offer as much in the way of intermediate barrier penetration.
Any home defense load balances penetration, barrier penetration, and terminal effect. Personally, I’m not comfortable with a load that would produce less penetration than less than 10 – 12 inches in gel. “Police” ammunition is typically designed to perform well in the FBI test protocol. My go-to rounds are .357 JHP CorBon 140 grain short barrel tactical, .40 Smith Winchester PDX 180 grain JHP, 00 tactical buck (Remington, Winchester, or Federal), and M193 in 5.56 from a 16″ barrel AR-15.
Depending where your newborns are in relation to your bedroom a shotgun with 2 3/4 low brass buckshot or an AR15 with 45 or 50 grain rds(hollow points) can work with a little dry fire scenario practice.
Our little girls bedroom is right next to ours and besides the pistols I also have a 12ga and 2 rifles for home defense. I can literally stand in the door to our bedroom, fire my 12ga with 7 1/2′s in it and completely miss her bed and cover over 1/2 of the living room. 2 steps forward and in the door to her room and covering the whole living room.
Knowing from prior experience with shotguns I walked through my house with a mop handle aiming and imagining shot patterns to redo the layout of the furniture etc to our advantage.
Just a thought.
Congrats on the newborns and a wonderful and joyous day and life with them.
they are pretty close to my room. but ill take everything into consideration. thank you sir. we will
You probably don’t want a handgun with three little ones as over penetration can happen with handguns unless you use safety slugs which I don’t like. use whatever is the most accurate since you can’t afford to miss.
Would frangible ammo be an option?
its not. as far as i know i cant have a loaded ar with frangible ammo outside of a shooting range
40gr hollowpoints are “frangible” ammo, and are sold for hunting almost everywhere. Frangible just means it comes apart easily and dumps energy into the target rather than overpenetrating. The 55gr FMJ load that is common for white-box .223 also does this in tissue if it hits a target at 2400fps or above, it will yaw and break at the cannelure, producing a spray of fragments that makes the .223 punch some above its weight in terms of wound ballistics…if you have the velocity to see that effect. Below 2400fps 55gr FMJ acts more or less like a FMJ .22 Winchester Magnum and has a very different wound profile — that of a nice, neat hole a fifth of an inch in diameter or so through and through if you don’t hit bone.
http://bajaarizona.org/fklr/fklr.html
Just use target grade rounds like Sierra Matchkings or Berger VLDs. When they hit people they work like frangible ammo. That’s why there was a period where the Army stopped using the Matchkings.
I don’t have to justify wanting an AR-15. I want one for my own purposes, and I am not nor will I ever be a murderer or criminal. This isn’t a nuclear bomb we’re talking about, it’s an inanimate and inert collection of steel and plastic parts that shoots bullets when loaded and proper force is applied to the appropriate mechanism.
As I do not have the intention of using it to kill people, and I do not view it as having that purpose in its normal use, it cannot be said that my AR-15s intent or purpose is for killing any more than one could say that a candle stick or a piece of rope have the intent or purpose of killing people.
Regarding #3, my wife picked out her .357 based, in part, by the one that would make the best club if she ran out of ammo.
Should not use term “assault Rifle” which would mean a medium sized caliber and a select fire rifle.
I agree, if want other people to quit talking about “assault rifles”, we should quit referring to them with that term as well. We were issued M-16s prior to deployment to VN in 1965, we called them about everything but a “rifle”, “assault rifle” never occurred to us.
It’s funny that the “handguns are only for killing people and should be banned” wingnuts are now telling us that, because we have handguns, we can’t have ARs because ARs are only for killing people.
I’m not really a fan of the AR platform. Maybe it’s a prejudice that goes back to 1967, but I don’t think that they’re really great for anything.
So what does it have going for it? It’s a competent all-around platform and easily modified, and they tend to work when you need them to work. I have an AR-15 because, well, everybody should have at least one.
Are they useful for self-defense? Absolutely. A rifle of that compact size that can spit lead at 3000 fps is a good SD gun.
If you are surrounded, but have enough ammo, they can’t get away. Pistol, shotgun, rifle, in that order for home defense. That’s just me. I am only at step one, a .380 pistol, I know that is not optimum, but am honest about my phallic symbolism.
Hey man any gun will do if you can do
If a person is going to use a long gun for a home defense vs. a handgun then a semi-auto shotgun (or pump) seems to me a better option than an AR. Missing the target with an AR is (all things being equal) possibly worse than missing with a shotgun or a revolver regarding potential for the bullet/shot to travel further and hit an innocent person. If a person insists upon high capacity then they can easily find it in a handgun with 15-30 round mags. The drawback or negatives to a long gun AR are a higher potential to jam than a revolver or pump shotgun, the increased potential for a long gun to be grabbed by an attacker while taking a corner in the house, and the need for two hands on it vs. one to hold onto a handgun while manipulating doors, cell phones, children, and pets.
I use an RRA suppressed 10.5 SBR w/ a mag of frangible ammunition for home defense. I honestly believe that’s the best solution.
It probably is the best all around solution for an urban self defense gun. But in California where I live we have to settle for less than perfect.
I want my Tavor!! Nuff said…
In Oregon the government wants us to use HP and not solid nose bullets for defense. How does frangible differ from HP?
Frangible rounds are supposed to shatter on impact with a solid object. They cut down on rounds overpenetrating things like walls. Less danger to bystanders.
Interesting and thanks. I wonder if those are legal in Oregon. Are HP still generally more effective in stopping a threat than frangible ammo?
I live in a very urban environment. Broad Ripple, Indianapolis. My neighbors’ houses are literally 7 ft on the other side of that outside wall.
i disagree with using frangible ammunition simply because it is deficient in penetration (which is essential for stopping a assailant). Leave such ammunition on the range shooting metal targets.
hollowpoint and FMJ work just fine (not M855).
I like how at this website the pros & cons of rifle vs. pistol are weighed. I am sure somewhere there is a range troll sneering at the idea of a rifle for home defense. It has its advantages and take aways.
Personally, I feel the over-penetration concern is over-hyped. Guns have lots of kenetic energy, more than anything else out there and that is why they work so well. Over penetration is a concern but any weapon capable of killing at range presents the real possibility of over penetration and friendly fire.
Shooting instructor at the CCW class in MO had a story about his ex-wife’s negligent discharge.
S&W .38 snubby loaded with .38 hollow points fired through the floor in an upstairs bathroom. Penetrates the floor, penetrates the sub floor, penetrates the sheet rock on the first floor, penetrates the front of a stainless steel dishwasher. Embeds in the floor behind the dishwasher.
He had pictures.
Frankly, I was amazed that a .38 packed that kind of energy. Overpenetration is no joke.
DJ. It’s been my experience, and I have a lot with .38′s, the the humble .38 penetrates way out of proportion to what any paper specs indicate it’s capable of.
Those round nose lead bullets at a modest velocity seem to just push on through and it takes quite a bit to stop them. Go figure.
All so in low light or no light , you still can sight down the top of the rifle and get hits, and with the 30 round magazine you can place a few shoots to each side to deal with a gang attack, and you may be forced to defend front and back and a side all at same time and the AR allows fast magazine change for multi attacks and will not heat up as fast, same for the AK …..In today’s world the AK and AR is a must have…. and we may have some type EMP event in 2013 caused by our SUN , so the AR and AK are better that having gold for security……
Your illustrated example in #2 sounds just like Koreatown during the LA Riots. 1992.
“I’ve never been in a real gun battle…”
Yeah, you have never been in a real gun battle and you have never been a real hunt but you’re an expert on guns. Some things never change. Now go shoot some more of those penned animals on a Texas game farm and tell us about what a great hunting rifle an AR is.
You can still weigh the logic of what someone says (their opinion) regardless of their personal experiences.
Really? So would you take advice on how to hunt elk from someone that has never even seen an elk?
Why not? On the opposite site of the coin, would you take advice on how to hunt an elk from someone that has seen (and maybe even hunted) them but what they say is utterly insane? An intelligent man who has never hunted can quite possibly be a better hunter than a blithering idiot whose been on a few hunts. Of course, I see the odvious point that a reputable, experienced, and intelligent hunter would be the best of all worlds.
Actually, Nick’s taken a few deer and some hogs, if I recall correctly.
Would you like to share your experience and insights, perhaps adding to the discussion? Or did you just come by to whine?
In regards to using the rifle as a club, I think people here would be smart to look up how to perform a butt stroke with an AR. It’s about the best thing to use in hand to hand combat. In the Marine Corps pugel training, bayonet thrusts were not considered lethal but butt strokes were.
Can anyone tell me the name of the red dot (?) in the top photo? I see this optic everywhere but can never find the name nor anyone who knows it.
It looks like an Aimpoint T1 or H1.
Good article as usual Nick but if my SR9 and 18 Gold Dots aren’t enough it’s time to move. Besides, how do I fit my AK in the bedside gun safe?
There are definitely several scenarios where having an AR-15 for home defense is preferable to other firearm categories. I personally love my .40 S&W carbine with 16 inch barrel. It pushes out bullets at the same velocities as a typical .357 Magnum revolver (with 4 inch barrel). I can use 15, 22, or even 30 round magazines. It is just over 26 inches overall length so it is extremely maneuverable. And it weighs 4 pounds which reduces recoil significantly — yet you can actually operate it with one hand if necessary. And a final huge benefit is it produces much less report (bang) than any handgun, rifle, or shotgun. (I dare say it would probably not cause permanent hearing loss when fired indoors.)
Of course my pistol caliber carbine still generates handgun velocities/energies and even the “lowly” 5.56mm / .223 is vastly superior in that respect. Isn’t it wonderful that each person can choose what’s best for their situation — at least for the time being?
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Although I agree with many comments in the post, I think the author should clarify his other post about not using a rifle for self defense
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2012/03/foghorn/self-defense-tip-dont-use-a-rifle/
It would seem an anti-gunner would use that against the general preservation of why people should have rifles.
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I’ll be honest. i’m not a gun person so i may be wrong, and i don’t disagree with you. i do though, have a few points, but in general, unless if your target is about 15 to 20 feet away, i don’t know to many houses that would be that long, but i’m sure that a pistol would work if you were about 10 or less ft. away from you intruder. but then, that’s just me and i’m not a big gun nerd…