Posted on 02/27/2013 8:30:21 AM PST by EXCH54FE
decisions… it seems like when it comes to defending your family there is a lot of them. Caliber, type, make, model, ammunition, stopping power, capacity, training, and the omnipresent legal repercussions—self-defense is a hailstorm of life or death choices and another one of these (and one often neglected) is over-penetration.
Shooting Through Walls
Situation and terrain determine tactics and nowhere is this more evident than when firing a gun inside a closed environment like your home. Accordingly, a self-defense minded gun owner needs to first take into account where he lives (a suburban house, a farm, a studio apartment etc.) and then assess the location and materials used in its construction. These factors will determine your choice of gun and round.
Factoring in location and terrain means knowing where targets will appear, potential backstops and beyond. Since most inner walls in homes in western societies are made of sheet rock and many outer walls made of brick or siding, it’s important to realize rounds could leave your home and keep traveling. That said, thinner than usual walls, glass windows or close neighbors should all play a part in your assessment of your home as should the sometimes strange angles and backstops inherent to ranch style or multi-level homes.
Remember, firefights are dynamic with people moving about helter skelter and this may include your children, so it is important to be aware of the location of spots where over-penetration can: a) occur and b) injure a friendly target. Practice identifying these places with your family with both the lights on and off; most home invasions occur during the daytime, but they also happen in the early morning and evening too. This underlines the importance of knowing and remembering your backstops and beyond.
(Excerpt) Read more at guns.com ...
over penetration?
I didn’t read the article, but I understand that the conventional wisdom is wrong, and a 223 round is actually less likely to lethally penetrate walls than is buckshot.
Il never be over penetration
Simply put, when defending against Bad Guys, you’re not allowed to kill the neighbors.
It’s considered Bad Form.
Indoors combat preference ...
Saiga 12k with two mags taped together - one with #7 bird shot, the other with 00 buck shot.
The situation determines which one to use, or you can flip them as needed.
I’d rather be assaulted than have my travertine and en suite damaged.
Huh?
Get a .45 and worry anout that later.
So I guess that new 10mm I bought with the full power hardball ammo in it might be an overkill for a trailer park?
According to some tests I’ve seen on youtube the .223 /5.56 has less penetration then the .45 FMJ or HP.
In the testing I saw, the .223 round will fragment after the second wall and will penetrate the third but not go through.
The buckshot, birdshot, 9mm, .45, and other rounds all went into or through the fourth wall.
They were using standard sheetrock with 2x4 frame to simulate walls.
Shotgun slugs are REALLY dangerous in the sense of if you miss your target it can go through a few walls in your house, go over to the neighbor’s house, go through their wall and still kill them.
Yes 9mm has some reasonable potential for the same, just much less so. That is especially true if you don’t buy the more expensive rounds designed for defense.
I read a study a while back that showed the best overall in home defensive gun/ammo was a 12 guage with #1 buck. Maximum lethality with minimum potential for peripheral damage.
22LR in a handgun is an underated round as well.
Have you conducted tests? Please post before and after photos of your house when you fired a 12 guage with buckshot and a .223 inside and out so we can make a determination.
i use a 44 mag with 8.5 barrel.
I’ve thought of this problem too. I have a .357 loaded with .38s by my bed and there are 5 walls between my bed room and those of my children, I believe even a .38 could penetrate through all 5 of them, if it only went through the dry wall without hitting any wood. Am I wrong?
Hollwpoints?
I learned to pay attention to shadows.
To differentiate between clouds moving overhead, Trees blowing in the wind and such.
I learned to differentiate between reflections passing my window by listening to hear if at the same time a car passed by or if the reflection was my dog by listening for his nails on the sidewalk.
That is something you pick up in battle.
That is something you pick up when you want to survive another day.
Yes, it is a bit paranoid but you have to be so if you want to survive in the VERY near future.
PAY ATTENTION to ANYTHING and EVERYTHING going on around you if you plan on surviving.
KNOW WHERE your weapons are at all times.
Anticipate which doors and enemy is most likely to barge through and if you can shoot through that door or wall and not hit a stud and deflect your bullet.
Think about it. Anticipate. Be creative in your mind.
Know whether you are going to stand behind a brick wall and shoot around the corner or if you are going to lay as flat as you can on the floor and let the bullets fly over your head.
Live to fight and protect yourself and your loved ones.
Get them thinking in this method also.
Hiding in the closet does nothing. Bullets can pass through many walls and if trapped in a small room with no exit your have no alternatives - and you will die.
Actually, in a self-defense shooting, overpenetration should be considered very strongly inside a dwelling. Many who purport to be prepared for such an encounter suggests that #00 buckshot in a short barrel 12 ga. shotgun is the best weapon for such an encounter. To the home invader with evil intent, this is certainly an efficient solution but to the other occupants of any dwelling (house, apartment, etc) it may be a deadly choice to the innocent. Dry wall will not stop #00 buckshot at 100 yards!
I will start an argument here: My personal choice is a Taurus Judge loaded with 3 PDX1 shells and 2 slugs. Deadly inside a room without fear of overpenetration into adjacent rooms for the first 3 shots. Is this a best choice? Let the argument begin.
No, would they be better?
Hollowpoints won’t expand much with just sheetrock. The gypsum fills the hollow part. So unless you happen to hit a 2x4, pipe, or wiring the hollow point will act like a FMJ.
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