The AR for Home Defense: One Expert's Opinion

It's always a good idea to put at least a few boxes of your choice defensive ammo through your weapon of choice to make sure it's going to work well in the particular firearm you are going to use it in.

Sometimes ammo that looks great when it comes to the specs will choke a gun that is completely reliable with other types of ammo.

 

If one is hunkered down in their house and 50 bad guys are coming down the driveway, the AR is the way to go. But one or two bad guys in your house, there are many firearms that will do the job just as good. Just depends on how paranoid the gun owner is.

 

AR pistol best of both worlds and the Governor helps some;-)

 

The Governor helps if you consider being hit over the head with a golf club and then being thrown into a pit full of zombies to be help.

 

Just picked up 1k rounds of Wolf Gold for range fodder. Remington brass so should be good for 4-5 reloadings too! Was $319 to my front door(which is where UPS dumped it, didn't even knock). Been looking for a good buy on once fired LC brass too so I can grab 1-2k of them. Grabbed a bulk bag of 2,000 Hornady 55 grain for range fodder, have 500 50 grain Z-max for hunting(and for self defense, would mess you up bad) to get reloaded too. Short on brass so that is on the list next.

 

While steel ammo isn't necessarily the ideal choice for self-defense, if you want to train sufficiently, you must burn some powder. Steel ammo let's you do that economically.

As others have said in this thread already, run a few boxes of your chosen defensive ammo through your weapon to verify its functioning and POI vs POA. With a carbine, the recoil is generally the same from one round to the next, so there is no need to regularly train with your defensive loads to the point that it becomes expensive.

Only with a handgun is there typically a very perceptible change in recoil and split between shots when switching from a practice load to a quality defensive load. Such is not typically the case with the carbine.

 

I still don't get the fascination with the Governor or Judge. I have shot the judge and was not impressed with it at all. I'll take my CZ75 or M&P any day or the week. Hell I would take a S&W model 19 over them. (4" bbl blue steel no newer than -2 and I am still looking for one)

 

I'm sure I am the odd ball out, but if I had an AR and a TS995 sitting side by side in the closet I would probably grab the 995.. Yes limited on capacity, but 10rnd mag, and (2) 10rnd mags mounted on the butt stock I think is plenty for the most common "bump in the nights"...



The reason I would grab the HP is that there are less gadgets on it, and the gun is about 2" shorter then a fully compressed 16" barreled AR... extend the AR stock fit me, and it's considerably shorter then the AR...



I'm am not saying the 995 is a "go to war gun", but it's just easy, simple, and I have never had on single misfire with this gun running any junk through it I can find laying around...


I am not saying this because this is a HP forum, I could care less about brand names... It's just my opinion from my own personal experiences...

 

There may be one advantage the pistol caliber carbine has over an AR-15. It is actually a possible future advantage and is predicated on if, at some future time, the government successfully does ban 5.56 or .223 ammo, the pistol caliber carbine will be most advantageous. For this reason, I think it is a good idea for anyone to have at least two pistol caliber carbines in different calibers.

Even if that never happens, and never say never, owning a pistol caliber carbine gives one solace that home and family defense can still be done legally with a carbine, even if one has hidden away an AR-15 with a stash of thousands of rounds for the big one.

 

Very interesting.

 

Get shoot with one of the 45 lg or the 410 special rounds up close then you'll see what the deal is. Or not you choice works great on moles. You really need one the way those dang boxes keep showing up ;-)

 

First I don't want to get hit with a 22, let alone a 9mm or 45. Again for some it is a good firearm, it just ain't my cup of tea. Then again a 12 ga slug or buck and ball will ruin your day.

 

I have both a 995 and an AR. While the AR is great for dealing with problems outdoors, it's the 995 that does bedside duty. It comes down to something I don't think anyone has considered. 5.56 is a noisy little round with a strong concussion. Firing it inside where that all is going to bounce back on you is going to be extremely disorienting and painful.

A pistol caliber carbine by comparison turns most of the round's energy that would be wasted on noise and flash into useful velocity, producing a very quiet report. I've even fired the 995 without ear protection on a few occasions without any discomfort. That's going to be a huge advantage when you're defending your home. My gun safe though is in the bedroom, so if I should have need, I have other options just a few feet away.

 

I already do

Remember, some moles can shoot back

 

I've almost always had a carbine of some type as my primary home defense gun in both rifle and pistol calibers. For no particular reason, I've never used an AR or AK as one.

I've done it because a long gun has always more 'normal' to shoot for me. Maybe because I've just plain used them for target shooting and hunting more.

 

No they can't

 

Bet your whole army would fit in one if those boxes you keep posting ;-)