[TunnelRat]

Originally Posted by Doc Intrepid

Those who advocate the use of rifle cartridges for home defense should have the opportunity to go into something resembling an average house and fire several rounds in various locations.

Having done so, there are some disadvantages:

The blast effect itself is tremendous, especially in a hallway or small bedroom. It can be disorienting to the shooter, regardless of its effect on anyone else.

The fireball is blinding - particularly at night. You may be able to line up your first shot, but your subsequent shots may be viewed through a after-image as your night vision will be gone.

The noise is also disorienting - an AR-15 going off inside a hallway is extremely loud. The effect makes further communications challenging, particularly with regard to radio transmissions.

There are also secondary effects that may occur in some cases. Most homeowners don't dust their walls or light fixtures in their ceilings. This goes in spades for commercial facilities. When a rifle goes off inside a small enclosed space the blast effect dislodges that dust, and depending on whether its a home or some other enclosed space, that dust is displaced into the air where it can get in your eyes and interfere with your vision. To what extent it's problematic depends on how dusty the environment is, but between the noise, the blast, the fireball, and any after effects, the combined impact to the shooter can be substantial.

Additionally, when a 5.56mm round is fired in an apartment, it can go through the walls, through a refrigerator in the kitchen of the neighboring apartment, and through the stove next to the refrigerator as well, before it finally lodges in a countertop. Don't ask me how I know this.

If there are kids in any neighboring apartments, using a rifle as a personal defense weapon is distinctly sub-optimal.

Given the low probability of a home intruder wearing ballistic body armor, I'd suggest that if a home owner wants something other than a pistol or revolver, s/he should consider one of the pistol caliber carbines (PCC) - which offer more optimal characteristics inside small enclosed spaces. If it's allowable in your state, it would be wise to consider putting a suppressor on the weapon, which would reduce the impact to the shooter even further.

Just another opinion.

The only comment I'd made is pistol rounds can do the same. Really unless we're talking very specific walls, bullets go through them with ease, and even appliances aren't much anymore. The rest of your points are excellent.

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