Rifle for home defense. What Caliber?

So is there a situation where you’d want to consider like a 308 or even a 458 socom/450 bushmaster or 50 Beowulf over a 5.56?
10" .300 BO 110 grain vmax load.
Add a short can.
Another good option is a mossberg shock wave in .410. With 3" 00 or 000 buck, out of the longer barrel is an outstanding stopper.
 
This is on my HD bucket list:

iu
 
I have a suppressed 10.5" 300 blk with 220's in a 30rd mag. The people talking about a stack with body armor are being ridiculous. If you've ever seen what a trained stack in body armor can do, you'd know that the best thing you can do in that situation is negotiate a surrender. Wear the bracelets. You're going to die if you fight. If an entry team comes for you, they will have flash bangs for sure, and potentially a dozen other interesting ways to dominate the space. Throw down your gun and follow the instructions. Unless you are ready to go, then aim for the knees. Nobody is in the fight once their knees have been blown apart.
 
Last edited:
I am not an expert, the way I see it with how much a standard AR15 with 223/556 and standard capacity mags are talked about as the perfect killing machine, why alter it or search for anything else? It can't blow a lung out like a 9mm, but pretty sure it will work well.

Pick a good ammo
Hornady Critical Defense FTX .223 Rem or something like Speer LE Gold Dot .223 Rem or Black Hills TSX
 
  • Like
Reactions: TACC and Kamerad
The closer the neighbors the smaller the round.. Apartments, and close city neighbors, pistol caliber carbine. Or 12 gauge.

Rural areas.... the .556/223 is good for low recoil, high capacity, and easy to use. Same with a 7.62x39mm (my choice). I've watched a few podcasts interviewing people that have been in combat and shot someone with a .556 and to have them not be neutralized right away.. they take a couple rounds and were still in the fight.. So a home situation, some crackhead all amped up on whatever drug cocktail and adrenaline or a bunch of them.. .... If i lived in the country i'd have an AK or an AR 308.

Just my opinion.. most situations a .22 would probably be enough. But these times we are in are not like most situations... getting rough out there. Some dude went on a stabbing spree here week ago, then 2 days later i encountered a crazy unhinged crackhead in the grocery store... not normal in my town.
 
People obsess about recoil in a match or hunting rifle, and then recommend a 12ga for home defence. A PCC with mounted light and suppressed if you live somewhere that’s ok. Easier pointing, less likely to over penetrate into multiple rooms or the neighborhood, depending on bullet choice, handling mechanics of rifle length mean less likely to accidentally shoot your self. People seem to think they will somehow become CQB masters. More likely do something stupid and die or shoot the wrong person.
 
  • Like
Reactions: joe777
did you do that testing without hearing protection ?

That's the first thing I plan on doing in case of a break in or invasion - run and grab my hearing protection. Insert those puppies (or over the ear) grab my firearm and start blasting. I'm sure the 5-10 seconds it takes to do so won't matter. Safety glasses also.
 
People obsess about recoil in a match or hunting rifle, and then recommend a 12ga for home defence. A PCC with mounted light and suppressed if you live somewhere that’s ok. Easier pointing, less likely to over penetrate into multiple rooms or the neighborhood, depending on bullet choice, handling mechanics of rifle length mean less likely to accidentally shoot your self. People seem to think they will somehow become CQB masters. More likely do something stupid and die or shoot the wrong person.
not neccesarily true about the penetration in regards to a PCC.
A 300 blk with the varmint bullet or a 5.56 with a ballistic tip bullet will penetrate less.
Here is a video, it isn't scientific, but they used a Gold Dot 64 grain load, which is intended to penetrate barriers, it still penetrated less than a 9mm.
 
No matter what you do, most everything is going to penetrate several walls. You can look up tests done online or you can try it on your own.

Build a few mock walls with insulation and sheetrock. Spread them out to a distance that represents the spacing in your home between walls....then go shoot through them with whatever it is you want to check out. Except for stuff like a shotgun with 7 1/2 shot or so.....everything is going to go through several walls

That's including handgun rounds too. So, the whole controlling over penetration is pretty much impossible.


That means that your best course of action is to utilize a weapon/round that you are able to make the most hits on target, followed by terminal performance on target. For most people, a .223/.556 gas gun is going to be the easiest to shoot accuracy as well as having good terminal performance. If you're very competent with a handgun (most people aren't), then roll with that. But keep in mind that you might not put someone down immediately depending where you shoot them.

I personally keep a suppressed 300blk SBR with sub rounds. An Aimtpoint Micro T2 with a surefire white light and unity switch. Very basic as you're not going to have the time to toss on kit and nvg unless you have advanced warning (in which case you can go down to your safe or gun room and kit up). With suppressed subs, the noise will be low enough that whatever family you have in the house will likely still be able to communicate with you after shooting (unless bad guy gets a bunch of unsuppressed rounds off). The adrenaline and such in your body will likely keep your ears from ringing and such. But other people in the house won't be able to hear shit for a while if you take a few shots with something like a .223 inside of a house. And communication is going to be extremely important for your family or others.



I'd personally prioritize:

- early warning (better to know something is up before someone is in your house)
- accurate fire. you want the be using a weapon you are very proficient with
- terminal performance
- comms

With the disclaimer that you should have a plan/s already in place with your family or others who live or spend a lot of time in your house. Things like where to go after if separated, make yourself as small and flat as possible (you're going to penetrate walls if you miss), and a comms plan to verify you're not the bad guy. Etc Etc Etc


All of this is going to be much more important than picking some sort of speciality round for home defense.
 
Some of you need to worry less about what rifle you need for HD, and concern yourself more with why you live in a shit hole where you need a suppressed rifle with spare mags at the ready for home invasion defense.
Not arguing your point, it’s sound; It ain’t just about the risks, it’s the stakes.
 
You guys are on the wrong track. Personally I use a ninjato, a katana is too long for indoors, it's silent does not over penetrate and needs no reloads. I have watched several youtube videos on ninjitsu techniques and feel confident in my abilities. Plus my pj's are a full ninja outfit so they can't see me coming. Being in komifornia I was forced to adopt this technique as my guns are locked unloaded in one safe and my evil ammo is locked in a separate safe.
 
Are you talking inside the home or outside?


Anything more than a pcc and your hearing is gone after the first shot. Even at a pcc level it’s impaired.
Several people have (rightly) mentioned this and I couldn't help but think of some Hollyweird movie I once watched on a flight.

Typical action movie, total badass warrior main character. He's with someone else in a commercial building, pursuing and being pursued by the bad guys. Hero good guy is armed with a SCAR(7.62, I believe) and lights it off full-auto. In an enclosed, concrete stairwell. And then just starts talking to his buddy like "omg we gotta keep going this way" or something, who of course, can easily hear him.

I thought, yea I don't think it works like that. Deaf with a side of TBI, most probably.

Edit: and to stay on topic, I think you'll need a SPAS12 or SPAS15 for proper home defense. Ain't nobody got time that pump stuff.
 

As I recall that interview, he violated 2/4 of the basic firearms rules by advocating blindly shooting "warning shots" off his second floor balcony into the dark night - not being aware of the target or the backstop. "Two warning blasts outside the house". Idiot.
(The first part on cocaine didn't exactly age well either):

 
Last edited:
Several people have (rightly) mentioned this and I couldn't help but think of some Hollyweird movie I once watched on a flight.

Typical action movie, total badass warrior main character. He's with someone else in a commercial building, pursuing and being pursued by the bad guys. Hero good guy is armed with a SCAR(7.62, I believe) and lights it off full-auto. In an enclosed, concrete stairwell. And then just starts talking to his buddy like "omg we gotta keep going this way" or something, who of course, can easily hear him.

I thought, yea I don't think it works like that. Deaf with a side of TBI, most probably.

Edit: and to stay on topic, I think you'll need a SPAS12 or SPAS15 for proper home defense. Ain't nobody got time that pump stuff.
Think of the scene from Blackhawk down when the guy cuts loose with the saw right next to his buddy.
The dude had no hearing the rest of the movie.
 
Your best defense is a strong offense. Your strongest offense is knowing they are on your property before they do.

Wouldn't the bad guys know they’re on your property right away? I mean, they’re gonna know where they are, right? They’re coming to your place on purpose, right? Or are they just wandering around?




P
 
Between living in a rural area, an alarm, and about 500 lbs. of dog, hopefully I'll never need to find out how effective a 10mm pistol, AR with 60 rds., or TS-12 with 16 rds. of 00 Fuck You! would be. All suppressed, of course.

All 3 are within reach of my bed and I'd grab the TS-12 1st.