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Thinking About a 410 AR for home defense

Aside from .410 "AR pattern" lack of reliability,
birdshot sux for dropping beefy felons who are high on drugs.
Beyond 2 yards of distance, the pellets don't penetrate enough,
and don't break bones.

If you want to use some kind of birdshot, at least make it a waterfowl load made for hunting ducks or geese. Something with substantial size pellets. Shoot it outvof a reliable gun, like a Rem 1100, a Beretta or Benelli, or a Browning self-loader,
NOT some AR Frankenstein freak of a gun.


But, I say the best choice would go with an ultra lightweight rapidly expanding varmint bullet in 223 from one of your favorite AR carbines.
We're talking something like a 45 grain bullet that leaves the barrel at over 3200 ft./s and is of the hollow point, soft point, or "ballistic tip" configurations--
made for varmints, not deer, and not enemy soldiers.
Such a bullet should fragment upon impact and break apart into tiny little pieces which will perform ballistically like small bird shot they will lose their energy very quickly and give little penetration to targets that are hit several yards beyond the initial target.

https://www.theboxotruth.com/the-box-o-truth-14-rifles-shotguns-and-walls/
 
I have a 223 AR15 and there is no way I'd turn that puppy loose in the house. That's a neighbor killer for sure I'm afraid. I really like my neighbors too much to endanger them.

If all else fails I may just go to bear spray and a baseball bat.
nails and barbwire on the bat
 
I think you should consider ammunition options for what you have before a whole new gun to learn. I would think any BTHP round worth it's weight in salt would suffice just fine for home defense without running too much risk of over penetration.

On top of that maybe consider a low light class coupled with some sort of defensive rifle class. Maybe even some lectures on the minutiae of home defense. Just a thought.

I know a fella that offers all of that training……and more……
 
My go-to HD guns, depending on where in the house I’m at, are chambered in:

5.56, loaded with Hornady TAP 70grn GMX Barrier Penetrators

9mm, loaded with Speer Gold Dot 124grn +P

12ga, loaded with Federal Reduced Recoil 2 3/4” 00 buckshot

.45 Colt, loaded with Federal 225grn LSWC-HP
 
My go-to HD guns, depending on where in the house I’m at, are chambered in:

5.56, loaded with Hornady TAP 70grn GMX Barrier Penetrators

9mm, loaded with Speer Gold Dot 124grn +P

12ga, loaded with Federal Reduced Recoil 2 3/4” 00 buckshot

.45 Colt, loaded with Federal 225grn LSWC-HP
That reduced recoil makes a helluva difference and I’ve even dropped deer with it before once at 30 yards with an old A5 full choked (dropped in its tracks) and one at 20 running with a mossberg 535 Turkey thug with the stock Turkey choke (turned it a flip). They were good mature does easily 150lbs a piece, So it’s got plenty of stopping power if anyone’s wary about using it. ( I was using cheap Rio 00 both times)
 
If I lived in an apartment with paper-thin walls, and neighbors on both my left and right AND across the hall from my front door, and if the back side of my apartment faced a small courtyard with another set of 4-story apartment buildings on the other side (a pretty common layout for apartment buildings in crowded cities) THEN, and only then, would I make "lowest risk of overpenetration" a more important factor in choosing ammo than "most effective at dropping attacking bad guys."

I think I'd still go with an AR carbine shooting light varmint bullets, BUT it would probably have to be an SBR and wearing a suppressor. I don't want to shoot an unsuppressed .223 in a small apartment without hearing protection-- not even a few times. Not even in an emergency.

If I didn't want to have a two-stamp gun for home defense in my urban apartment scenario,
I think I'd go with the shotgun choice. And since I already own a 20-gauge pump, it would be that, using some kind of waterfowl load and 3" shells.
 
The 60grn Hornady VMax is an under-penetrator that is devastating on thin-skinned critters, to include the 2-legged kind.

It’s loaded by Hornady and Georgia Arms, to name a couple.
 
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