There is no good cartridge to miss your target with. If it won't make a hole in a wall, it won't make a hole in a man, either. Plain old 55 FMJ, or (mentioned in another post) a "varmint" loading expressly designed to bust up in a small target, is probably as good as you'll get in .223.

Have you considered a carbine in 5.7x28 FN? This round, running roughly a little more than .22 WMR velocity from a 16-inch rifle and originally made for the FN P90 and Five Seven, was designed to partially address this concern. Nobody is going to want to stand in front of a 40-grain ballistic tip or the even lighter 35- and 27-grain HPs. A good deal less noise and recoil than .223, and is flat-shooting - a 50-yard zero hits in almost the same place at 100. Fiocchi "Defense Dynamics" or FN with 40-grain ballistic tips are ~65-75 cents a shot. Fiocchi "Range Dynamics" (target/practice) FMJs are a little less. The aforementioned lighter HP bullets are over a dollar.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: egregore,

Assume your rifle is 223 not 556 and 1/7 to 1/9 twist ?

All of the above are great choices.

My home defense rifle is a suppressed 13.7 556 1/7. 1st mag is 62tsx grain solid copper and I’m praying they are not wearing serious armor

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
The Gold Dots and the Fusion are excellent choices, as is Winchester's Ranger line, but supplement these expensive rounds with lots of M193. Winchester and IMI make very good M193.

A man could get by just fine on M193 alone. It's what's loaded in my home defense AR. M193 is capable of defeating some body armor.

I have thousands of these. I just want HD rounds that (mostly) stay in the bad guy, or don't keep going through walls if I miss.

If you miss even a .22lr is gonna go through more than a few walls, let alone a 5.56/.223

There's no such thing as a magic bullet that will penetrate into bad guys sufficiently to incapacitate but that won't penetrate through residential walls (which are effectively made from paper, chalk, and glue...)

Then stay away from rounds that are designed to stay together like bonded bullets and M855 type rounds.

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:
I need to buy a few boxes of proper defensive .223 ammo. Never worried about it in the past, but my rural area is gaining houses at a rapid rate, and overpenetration is now officially a thing.

I haven't researched this yet, but the last time I did so was probably 15 years ago, and I am sure things have changed.

Please let me know your recommendations, or what your agency is using.

I am less concerned with long range accuracy or "stopping power," than I am with overpenetration through both walls and bad guys.

Thanks for sharing your expertise.

A