So What Do You Use as a Home Defense Weapon?

[Lightcs1776]

The female of the species is ...

True. Very true.

 

[Hohn]

...

Why revolvers? I've yet to have one jam, stovepipe, or have the mag fall out.

There's something to be said for the inherent reliability of something simple. Grab, point, shoot. No mags, no slide racking, no problems.

 

[FarmerTan]

There's something to be said for the inherent reliability of something simple. Grab, point, shoot. No mags, no slide racking, no problems.

That's why I only own revolvers!

It's NOTHING against semi autos. It's ALL about me knowing I have limited 1) brane power, 2) limited hand strength and 3) I know my limitations.

People as dumb as me prove that God must love dummies because He made so many of us!!!

 

[Hohn]

One other thing I haven't seen mentioned when it comes to home defense is sintered, frangible ammunition. While not generally available (especially these days) in all calibers it was available in 38 Spl, 380, 45acp and 9mm (also in 357 Mag) so fortunately I had several boxes on hand when supplies dried up.

For home defense I try to use a sintered frangible round where possible. I've never found any available in 32 (any format) or 25acp but neither of those are particularly known for over penetration.

The advantage to sintered frangible ammo is twofold, generally a lighter weight bullet for any given size and the fact that if something hard like a steel plate is hit the bullet fractures into many smaller pieces. Most of what I had in-stock are from ARX and branded 'Interceptor'. They were available in both a practice format that is basically just a solid round nose and a defense format that is supposed to increase spin and produce a disruptive wound channel.

At the in-house distances the sintered frangible ammo is accurate and with less recoil easier to return on target for follow-up shots.

I will *strongly* encourage you to reconsider your decision to trust your life to that ammo. For the following reasons:

1) Any round that has adequate penetration for defensive use will "overpenetrate" typical interior walls. Here's TNoutdoors9's testing of the ARX showing three complete passthroughs in a gel block. Because it doesn't expand, it doesn't dump energy.

2) Frangible ammunition is often the worst of both worlds. This is ammo that is likely to punch through walls while NOT having enough power to penetrate deeply enough on an assailant. You want ammo that can turn cover into concealment, not turn concealment into cover.

When the FBI looked at adopting the 10mm, it had this to say about overpenetration. LINK

"Although penetration and wound size govern handgun wounding effectiveness, penetration is the more critical element. Therefore, a minimum standard of 12" of penetration in the gelatin was established."

It should be noted that no maximum penetration standard was established. This reflects the judgment that underpenetration of a handgun bullet presents a far greater risk to the law enforcement officer than overpenetration does to an innocent bystander. Considering that approximately 80% of the rounds fired by law enforcement officers engaged in violent encounters do not strike the intended targets, it was deemed somewhat unrealistic to attach too much significance to the potential risks of overpenetration on the part of those that do.
Nevertheless, in assessing the potential volume of wounds created by the test bullets, greater attention was given to the potential tissue displaced up to a depth of 18". For practical purposes, penetration beyond that range would most likely carry the bullet outside the body.​

I submit to you that the risk to you as a home defender is the same as to a law enforcement officer in terms of saving your life at potentially the cost of a perp's. While this testing dates back to the 80s, it is still considered the current state of the art in terminal ballistics assessment.

3) Frangible ammunition because of the light bullet weights is often unreliable in some handguns. See the example here of the Inceptor ammo failing to cycle one gun and keyholing out of the other:

If you want proven defensive capability in a lower recoil round, stick with milder calibers or buy a "low recoil" specifically for that purpose. Federal has a "short barrel" HST that is perfect for this application.

Please, please avoid all the "gimmick" rounds other there-- the liberty Halo defense, the Inceptor ARX, etc etc. Stick with proven loads carried by law enforcement types. That means Gold Dots, HSTs, Winchester Rangers, Rem Golden Saber, etc.

There are far too many proven loads out there to risk the questionable performance of the ARX ammo for self-defense.

 

[OkieStubble]

Great post. I can remember posting a few videos here a few years back when sintered ammo was new and came out.

Seemed like the “ new, next best thing at the time.” But there is nothing that can change someone’s mind quicker then the evolution of time and the experience’s of real world performance by those who actually use the ammo and report back.

Gold Dot HP has been faithfully serving a whole bunch of different types, groups and units in the good ole US of A for quite a few decades now.

I have and keep Speer Gold Dot in 9mm, .40, .45 and .556. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

 

[simon1]

Great post. I can remember posting a few videos here a few years back when sintered ammo was new and came out.

Seemed like the “ new, next best thing at the time.” But there is nothing that can change someone’s mind quicker then the evolution of time and the experience’s of real world performance by those who actually use the ammo and report back.

Gold Dot HP has been faithfully serving a whole bunch of different types, groups and units in the good ole US of A for quite a few decades now.

I have and keep Speer Gold Dot in 9mm, .40, .45 and .556. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

You gots dat right. Gold Dots is what my Colt Officers Model .45 likes.

 

[nortac]

I'm partial to Gold Dots as well.

 

[Whisky]

Gold Dots for factory ammo and Hornady XTPs in my hand loads.

 

[Hohn]

I carry HSTs for factory ammo and load Gold Dots if I want handloads. If you can get them to feed in your 9mm, the special Gold Dots intended for 357 sig are some seriously deep penetrators because they are assuming the additional 200fps from the larger case. I have a suspicion that if you prefer penetration as I do, they might be the ultimate defensive 9mm bullet. Very shallow cone, almost no chance of plugging. Haven't tried them yet but have been wanting to.

 

[BigFoot]

I will *strongly* encourage you to reconsider your decision to trust your life to that ammo. For the following reasons:

1) Any round that has adequate penetration for defensive use will "overpenetrate" typical interior walls. Here's TNoutdoors9's testing of the ARX showing three complete passthroughs in a gel block. Because it doesn't expand, it doesn't dump energy.

2) Frangible ammunition is often the worst of both worlds. This is ammo that is likely to punch through walls while NOT having enough power to penetrate deeply enough on an assailant. You want ammo that can turn cover into concealment, not turn concealment into cover.

When the FBI looked at adopting the 10mm, it had this to say about overpenetration. LINK

"Although penetration and wound size govern handgun wounding effectiveness, penetration is the more critical element. Therefore, a minimum standard of 12" of penetration in the gelatin was established."



I submit to you that the risk to you as a home defender is the same as to a law enforcement officer in terms of saving your life at potentially the cost of a perp's. While this testing dates back to the 80s, it is still considered the current state of the art in terminal ballistics assessment.

3) Frangible ammunition because of the light bullet weights is often unreliable in some handguns. See the example here of the Inceptor ammo failing to cycle one gun and keyholing out of the other:

If you want proven defensive capability in a lower recoil round, stick with milder calibers or buy a "low recoil" specifically for that purpose. Federal has a "short barrel" HST that is perfect for this application.

Please, please avoid all the "gimmick" rounds other there-- the liberty Halo defense, the Inceptor ARX, etc etc. Stick with proven loads carried by law enforcement types. That means Gold Dots, HSTs, Winchester Rangers, Rem Golden Saber, etc.

There are far too many proven loads out there to risk the questionable performance of the ARX ammo for self-defense.

That was a good post! I have always used Federal Hydra-Shocks for personal defense ammo. It gets good reviews and I like the way it shoots. It never seems to get mentioned by any LEO on here. I know departments use it, do some of y'all have a bad experience with it or just never used it as duty ammo.

 

[Hohn]

That was a good post! I have always used Federal Hydra-Shocks for personal defense ammo. It gets good reviews and I like the way it shoots. It never seems to get mentioned by any LEO on here. I know departments use it, do some of y'all have a bad experience with it or just never used it as duty ammo.

The primary criticism of original hyda-shoks is that the often fail to expand (especially in thick clothing/jacket where the cavity plugs), and as such aren't as "reliable" as some other newer loads are. I'd consider them to be rather far behind the current state of the art. Indeed, federal created the HST (hydra shok Two) to close the gap between themselves and competing loads from winchester and speer. (pre-Vista/ATK).

The only "old school" load I recommend is the 9BPLE which has an incredible reputation and as a result is STILL carried by several departments. ((BPLE being Border Patrol Law Enforcement)

 

[kjbarth]

Walk softly and carry a big stick - to sort of quote Buford T. Pusser or maybe it was Theodore Roosevelt. I'm a lot larger than the average person, former baseball and football player and power lifter. I'm old now but I still have a bunch of big ash sticks shaped like baseball bats at my disposal. And some of my grown son's aluminum bats too.