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Old March 18, 2011, 08:52 AM   #7
Bartholomew Roberts
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Join Date: June 12, 2000
Location: Texas and Oklahoma area
Posts: 8,462
Quote:
I worry about firing a shot at an intruder and having it go through one of these common walls (either because I missed or because it went through the intruder). I have a Glock 21 (.45) and a Glock 17 (9mm), both with jacketed hollow points.
Well, the good news is that if you don't miss and you get a good upper torso hit, there is a minimal chance that a modern hollowpoint from either caliber will still pose a serious threat to someone on the other side of the wall.

The bad news is that if you do miss, a modern hollowpoint round in either caliber is going to penetrate more than once typical interior wall (i.e. a 1/2" piece of sheetrock with no insulation followed by another 1/2" of sheet rock).

So the number one thing you can do to alleviate your problem is not miss. Unfortunately, even among those who train, this doesn't always happen once it is a real shootout; but there is no question that training is a major, major part of solving this problem.

The next point to understand is that a firearm is lethal force. A lot depends on your state law; but typically, you can only use it if there is a reasonable, immediate fear of death or serious injury.

Your best chance to immediately end such a threat is to physiologically force their body to shut down by putting a bullet in a large, blood-bearing organ or hitting their central nervous system. Unfortunately, any round that is capable of doing this, is also capable of penetrating multiple typical interior walls.

You can use loads that penetrate less. The problem with this is these loads may not penetrate deeply enough to physiologically force an attacker to stop what he is doing; but at the same time, they can still kill. So you are still bound to treat them as lethal force legally; but they are less likely to be effective.

Finally, if you do choose to use loads that have limited penetration in a typical interior wall, you have to accept that if your intruder also has a firearm, he will be able to shoot through a great deal of your home; but you will not. He will have cover. You will have concealment. You are going to have to weigh whether that possibility is a greater threat to bystanders than having a more effective load in your firearm.

At the end of the day, you have to give careful consideration to what solution works best for you. There just aren't any real easy answers here.

If you do decide to go with a firearm and use a load that meets FBI criteria, you need to give some thought to how you can arrange your home to better deal with this. Can you place furniture to channel movement into an area with a safe backstop? Can you "reinforce" common walls with bookcases, TVs, appliances, etc?
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