Full Power Rifle for Home Defense

Papabear2547

Papabear2547

Member
What bullet design would you recommend for home defense when using a full power rifle cartridge?

I’d imagine a light for caliber bullet to limit recoil and penetration will be preferable. Would a varmint round that’s designed to fragment be sufficient, regardless of penetration under 10” in gel? Or would the ideal short range full caliber cartridge still penetrate 12-16” in gel, as the FBI suggests for handguns?

I have a cousin that inherited a .308 hunting rifle and has made that his new home defense plan. It is of course currently loaded with the cheapest fmj ammo from the closest gun store. We had the conversation of other more viable options, some of which he is going to integrate, but he’s not particularly into firearms and not planning to purchase more at this time. He also has an old single shot .22lr that misfires fairly regularly. I’m sure there’s more people like this who inherited a rifle, only own a deer rifle, bought a cheap surplus rifle, or perhaps enjoy a semi automatic “battle rifle” and are looking for a viable full size cartridge suitable for home defense.
 
Check out Defiant Munitions, they are a boutique manufacturer, from S. Dakota I think, they make an all copper dense round. Very quality stuff but expensive. That and the Hornady Critical defense would be my suggestion. You are getting good quality control, flash suppressed powder and well constructed bullets.
As said before it's not the ideal choice for home defense but if it's all there is, there should be quality ammo in it if it's to be depended on. With a red dot or prism and white light it becomes more viable for sure.
Going with the high expanding, low penetration "varmint type" rounds, your cousin may have to rely on a psychological stop rather than a physical one. It may rule out over penetration but it may not stop a dedicated attacker.
 
If I remember right there is a P&S Modcast, one of the gun nerds, where they discuss 308 gas guns. I know it's a different platform than you are asking about but I'm pretty sure ammo is discussed toward the end.
Anyone interested in the battle rifle thing might be able to glean some good info there as well.
... I looked it up Modcast 107: Gun Nerds 8.
 
I'm tongue in cheek but have to soap box for just a moment and perhaps state the obvious. This sounds like a square peg, round hole problem in this situation. Maybe this is kind of skirting the main inquiry, but I encounter this sort of question fairly often from people who seemingly think of home defense or home security on a whim or due to some incident that happens to or close to them.

Good for him for being somewhat forward thinking I suppose, but cousin sounds like people I know with a "they best not come 'roun' here or I'll blast 'em" type of attitude. Those sorts usually haven't seriously contemplated legal or even moral prerequisites of deadly force, they just know they have a gun and think they are good to go.

I've been to plenty of calls where a single 22 shot "worked" or "granny's rusty revolver scared 'em off." There's the legendary "12 gauge racking in the dark" that allegedly makes all the methican-American home inaders flee in terror into the night with wet pants (insert eye roll). Then there's the indian not the arrow argument (which is bs, because a craftsman can of course be limited by his tools and resources, but I digress). There are all kinds of defensive gun myths out there but I know that people have been getting good work done with sucky tools for a long time and will continue to do so.

Having said that, outfitting oneself with suboptimal emergency, life saving tools because of an unwillingness to seek out/accept better tools/information and not due to financial or circumstantial necessity is not something I usually want to be part of, whether they are "into guns" or not.

This scenario sounds irresponsible on the part of your cousin but I do realize I'm forming an impression and perspective off of a sentence or two, piled on top of my own interactions with other well meaning but delusional individuals.

There are lots of other more important contextual questions to ask here, like is this an urban or rural environment, how close are neighbors, who else lives in the home, how will the rifle or pistol be stored and accessed, have we considered legal, moral and ethical factors, mindset, post shooting procedures, medical, target ID, etc, etc. There's so much to the equation and I loathe giving people of the sort quick easy answers because then I feel partially responsible for their lack of preparedness and maybe even feel like I'm setting them up for failure.

Having said all of that, I do understand feeling compelled to offer something if that's all the information they are willing to accept (or all they can process), and in that circumstance, seeing how they probably aren't willing to spend much anyway, but I don't want to leave them worse off than they currently are, my answer would likely be soft point something as far as the rifle goes, 22 Punch for the pistol. There might be a discussion to be had about pros and cons of having ammo marketed as "Critical Defense" or "defensive ammo" and there may be real benefits to ammo like that, such as lower flash, recoil, reliability, consistency, etc, but I'd just say get something you can shoot well and that you know you can hit with. I'd try and get them wondering about where that bullet goes if there's a miss or a pass through.

Maybe offer to help with some range testing and shoot some water jugs and 2x4s and drywall or whatever. After they shoot a few 308 rounds from a hunting rifle, let them try a few rounds from an AR or a 9mm, or maybe even something like an LCR in 22lr if you have one. Heck, I think a cheap 12ga pump would be a better pick than one of my 308 deer rifles in this context. They may start to understand things a little more clearly with first hand experience and be open to other suggestions as they imagine firing one over the other down the stairs or down the hallway at 2am.
 
In the law enforcement world the Speer Gold Dot 5.56 has largely become the gold standard. Excellent results at the target end and barrier blind. Typical varmint rounds are largely useless against any manner of barrier.

In .308 Federal makes a 168 grain bonded tip for the LE line, catalog LE308TT2, which appears to test very well.

In discussing full pop rifle cartridges it is necessary to throw out the 12 to 16 inches of penetration in gel standard... because in anything other than the lightest weight varmint loads 30 to 36 inches, or more, is going to be easily achieved. Most any .308 round at distances in and around the home is going to blow right through a human adversary and what's beyond them. Lighter constructed 5.56 bullets may as well but at least the wals might contain them to some degree after they've gone through and through. This is a big part of why I don't recommend battle rifles for home defense to folks living in cities and suburbs. In ranching or open country the battle rifle makes a lot more sense.
 
I may go against the mold on this one, but throw some Remington Core-lokt in there and call it a day
 
jBravo3 said:
Having said that, outfitting oneself with suboptimal emergency, life saving tools because of an unwillingness to seek out/accept better tools/information and not due to financial or circumstantial necessity is not something I usually want to be part of, whether they are "into guns" or not.
Click to expand...

Sadly, I want to say this is most gun owners. I will say it is common, and I’m confident that’s correct. But I feel ”most” is the correct assumption.
 
This is an interesting topic, and I’ve had similar conversations with friends who rely on inherited or multipurpose rifles for home defense. With a .308, I’d lean towards lighter, controlled-expansion bullets like polymer-tipped hunting rounds. They’re designed to expand quickly and reduce the risk of over-penetration, which is critical indoors. While varmint rounds might fragment too soon, a well-balanced hunting round could still meet that 12-16” gel penetration range the FBI suggests.

I had a great discussion about similar topics during a Burnsville MN conceal carry course I took at The Modern Sportsman. The instructors stressed understanding your ammo’s purpose and how it performs in different scenarios.
 
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