I picked up a few boxes of this Hornady ammo . Thought it may be the best stuff if I was to use my rifle in a home defense situation..Am I right in thinking this way? Listed on the back of the box is
velocity:3466, 53gr bullet they are V-Max and have a red polymer in the hollow point with the statement of explosive expansion.. Your thoughts please! Thank you! George

I hope you have hearing protection next to the rifle.
I don't even like shooting mine that much outdoors.

That said. Just about anything in hollow point is going to do the job, and then some.

My concern is if I didn't hit bone at close range the red polymer hollow point filler will not cause rapid drastic explanation. George

Not 5.56, but I keep a Saiga 5.45 for my HD carbine. My SD load is a 10rd mag of Hornady VMax which I think will expand just fine regardless of what it hits.

Close quarters in my home. The intruder would be a complete dummy to hang out on the business end of my Saiga 12ga.

My neighbors are very close on 3 sides of my home. I care about my neighbors as they are my friends. The last thing I want is a stray bullet exiting my wall (out of coincidence) and then striking my neighbor next door.

I have used the V-MAX bullet on numerous woodchucks, and expansion is on the explosive side. I doubt that bullet would meet the FBI's penetration standards, but for a self defense bullet where over penetration is a concern, I would think it would do well.

Personally, I keep my AR loaded with Nosler Partition or Barnes bullets, ensuring deep penetration and expansion; but I keep my rifle in my truck, not for use in inside home defense where over penetration could be a problem.

Larry

Smitty357, Ya I hear ya. Neighbors are a good distance away with from densely wooded land in all directions except one and that house is still 300 yards or more away.. I keep a short barreled 20" smooth bore 870 pump with rifled raised sights on hand in the ready.. I also keep a .45Acp Colt 1911 for the nightstand cocked and locked.. But really wanted to learn about the bullets for the AR.. Would only use that in the right situation of course.. Just wanted one more option on hand.. George

So far it looks like I picked up the right bullet.. Hornady Superformance varmint .223 sounds like a good choice.. Thank you all! George

I used to use Sierra 55 grn SPBTs at about 3200 fps on rockchucks and it was absolutely devastating on them, literally exploding them. I managed to get two lined up in tandem and one shot got both, but the damage to the second, while fatal, was minimal in comparison. Penetration was not a strong point.

Varmint bullets are not the best for HD as they expand too rapidly and do not drive deep enough to reach vital organs. They are good for generating massive surface wounds. There is a reason they are called varmit bullits.

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Are you saying that for home defence a .223 and close range in this type of bullet is not going to cause massive trauma to the person with in say 25 feet or less? That's a hard pill to swallow! I mean it's not a 40gr .22LR at 1200fps. My guess it would be devastating in center of mass or head. I mean the whole idea is for it to lose enegry fast enough to be effective and still be safer for everyone else.. And you would suggest what type and brand of bullet? George

Oh, but it will--almost explosively. I shot a coyote at about 50 yards square in the back of the head and there was no exit wound. The coyote had nothing to say about the matter.

One more question if I may? Ok For comparison I just picked up a box of Winchester 45gr .223 hollow points with no insert in the hollow point like the Hornady that have a red pointed palomar insert in the hollow point, I can see that the Winchester Hp's without the insert would be much more explosive on impact and may expand to soon in Home defence situation.. But still may be a good choice in the house with double taps with less worry of traveling far after it hits or passes through something.. Am I thinking about this the right way? George

Sorry I edited due to the incorrect gr weight I had for the Winchester ammo that I posted as 115gr and corrected too 45gr.

The high speed 53 grain will certainly work for self defense or home defense, but it is far from ideal in that caliber. This bullet will pretty much fail to penetrate very deeply, but will cause a large shallow wound. I would certainly not want to get hit with one.


I much prefer the Hornady 75 grain BTHP at a slower speed. It will open and expand and give much better penetration and in my opinion makes a much better self-defense or home defense round for your AR-15.

Shooting a good HP .223 inside ur home and having the nearest neighbor around 300 yards away. IMO, i thing it'll be just fine. I highly doubt a .223 is going to fly 300 yards after going through obstruction like a wall or 2 walls depending on where u fire the shot in ur home. Heck most people cant even hit a target at 300 yards with a .223 to start with, LMAO. And thats without the bullet flying through a wall or 2. =-)

Smitty357,
Thanks that make me feel better! And I'm surrounded by thick woods in all but that one direction. I just like a selection of what I may need. Variety if you will.. .223/5.56 is still somewhat of a new caliber to me but one that makes sense.. Thank you! and thank you all! George

If we were talking about 1 hit I would probably look for a better bullet but I highly doubt anyone hit with THIRTY rounds topped with a 53gr bullet traveling in excess of 3200 fps is going to walk away. In this case almost any bullet will do a job on the bad guy. Don't forget the quick Mag change for 30 more rounds in case the first 30 don't stop him...

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SWCA #3437

No not a good choice for home defense. Body armor will degrade performance, what if you need to shoot through the couch to get at someone shooting at you? Overpentration with .223 is not a big issue, years ago when SWAT teams begin to make the switch from MP5's to AR15's and tested it was found that the 9mm was more of a threat. AR rounds up close tend to be unstable, the M193 ball is a very effective round within about 175-200 meters for a 20" barrel or 100-150 meters for a 16" or shorter. As long as speed is fast enough this bullet tends to tumble and break in half at the cannelure after striking something. Bottom line is I would go with a FMJ or a hunting load such as the Winchester 64 grain PSP for shooting inside the house before I used a varmint load.

FMJ's scares the hell out of me after seeing just what it can easily to a 1/2" steel plate at 100yards! let alone The FMJ with a steel core green tipped stuff.. Yes I have the choice to use them too... I have also seen .223's FMJ go through quite large hard wood trees and come out the other side.. This tells me there just not safe for what I want..FMJ ammo have a place but not for HD in the average situation.. No I don't think I would want to be behind a wall or couch that was being hit with a few of the org.HP rounds I mentioned.. My preferred use for Home defense would be 12ga or .45 depending on the situation followed by the AR if needed.. So ya I would have other bullet choices on hand.. Bulk on my readied mags have 5.56 green tip in them with 4 or 5 loaded with some kind of HP. With the wife having her own combinations of arms and choices. Interesting though that most that posted here that has used the Hornady HP's with the polymer insert in the HP thought they would do the job well! George

There are better options as far as ammo but nobody wants to get shoot. And it surely beats a sharp stick!

Thanks this post has been a interesting post for me with good conversation with a lot of opinions on the subject! George