good defence load in 223 remington

[agent00]

Hi, mayby I will buy soon a semi-auto rilfe for fun shooting and small game hunting. But I the rilfe could be usefull for self defence although it is very unlikly that I will have to use my gun for that purpose.

But which load in 223 would re recommend for sd?



thanks

 

[bcochran]

load

Depends upon the twist of the barrel.

I use the old 1960s twist and Federal match - which means 52 grain hollow point boat tail loads.

 

[TexasRifleman]

If you have at least 1/9 twist, the best defensive load
going is Hornady TAP 75gr BTHP.

1/12 twist, you are stuck with smaller bullets.

 

[Commissar Gribb]

assuming you mean an AR15/clone...

the most important factor in picking SD ammo for an AR-type weapon is to make sure it will cycle correctly every time.

take a few mags of cheap ammo out and blow through it- then when your rifle's become filthier than a mudhole, go through a mag of your self defense ammo. If it doesnt choke, you'll know it's a good setup.

 

[Mannlicher]

I like 55 grain ball ammo.

 

[Commissar Gribb]

hell yeah! nato spec 5.56 is the way if your rifle will also shoot it.

relatively cheap and very functional

 

[agent00]

ok thx for answers, but what about the risk of overpenetration when using ball ammo?

 

[Coronach]

Well, it's a rifle...so, overpenetration is always a concern. .223 is not really known as a terribly overpenetrative round, though, so you should be OK. Run a test against th backdrop of your chosing and see.

Mike

 

[bcochran]

over penetration not a concern

Same question raised for many years.

Ball ammo portion of question - the military uses ball ammunition and not soft point or hollow point MAINLY because of Geneva Conventions.

Over penetration portion of the question - 1. see ball ammo comment; 2. you are not a SWAT officer who is concerned about a round going through a wall and striking a kid in the apartment behind the BG you presumably have just shot.

In the real world, there are the following observations. 1. most people cannot and do not hit the target. This is because people are unwilling to spend the money and time to develop shooting skills. They think that having a hypothetical perfect combination of firearm and ammunition sitting in the closet will save their bacon. 2. "overpenetration" is not a concern when you are shooting defensively. You are not concerned with whether the round you just shot went through the target person or the apartment wall. 3. You will not be able to coax "ball" ammo to perform as well as match ammo when SHTF. If you buy Central American surplus military ball ammo, do you really think that you will obtain the same performance of top quality, American factory (NOT RELOADS) loads? You won't.