Cesiumsponge
Member
The ammo discussion in General Discussions got me thinking on discussing which are among the best self-defense ammunition selections for the .223/5.56mm. I want to obtain some more expensive, home-defense oriented ammunitions for the purposes of home defense, but collect cheaper ammo for range practice. Right now, I don't have much of either.
I currently have "white box" Winchester .223 45 grain JHP. It was relatively cheap so I am not sure how good it would be. Of course any ammo would be better than none to begin with, but when you are dealing with a life/death situation such as home defense, any edge, no matter how slight, should be taken advantage of in my opinion.
With that said, would I be best off using a hollowpoint design? I've read some papers and discussions on M193 and M855 ammunition but prefer something that will penetrate walls less (albiet both will penetrate SOME walls no matter what).
I have heard several recommendations that Federal Premium Varmint P223V "Blitz" 40 grain HP for .223 is excellent stuff since it's fragile and fragments very easily given it's high velocity. However, I can't find any places selling 40 grain ammunition from Federal that matches this description. I'm not sure if anyone knows of a source or it's been nixed from the market. The closest stuff is 40 grain Nosler ballistic tip, which I don't think is remotely similar. Winchester makes what I assume is a similar load as the Nosler, but they call it a 40gr Ballistic Silvertip.
I want to say the lighter bullets result in a higher velocity which results in greater fragmentation. I try to justify this guess by looking at fragmentation results based on velocity on the M193 and M855 rounds which show higher fragmentation rates at greater velocities.
Any recommended loads in a proven high velocity lightweight hollowpoint, or am I completely off the track here?
I currently have "white box" Winchester .223 45 grain JHP. It was relatively cheap so I am not sure how good it would be. Of course any ammo would be better than none to begin with, but when you are dealing with a life/death situation such as home defense, any edge, no matter how slight, should be taken advantage of in my opinion.
With that said, would I be best off using a hollowpoint design? I've read some papers and discussions on M193 and M855 ammunition but prefer something that will penetrate walls less (albiet both will penetrate SOME walls no matter what).
I have heard several recommendations that Federal Premium Varmint P223V "Blitz" 40 grain HP for .223 is excellent stuff since it's fragile and fragments very easily given it's high velocity. However, I can't find any places selling 40 grain ammunition from Federal that matches this description. I'm not sure if anyone knows of a source or it's been nixed from the market. The closest stuff is 40 grain Nosler ballistic tip, which I don't think is remotely similar. Winchester makes what I assume is a similar load as the Nosler, but they call it a 40gr Ballistic Silvertip.
I want to say the lighter bullets result in a higher velocity which results in greater fragmentation. I try to justify this guess by looking at fragmentation results based on velocity on the M193 and M855 rounds which show higher fragmentation rates at greater velocities.
Any recommended loads in a proven high velocity lightweight hollowpoint, or am I completely off the track here?