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DocGKR, etc.:
I have some questions/comments on this. There probably isn’t a ‘right’ answer as everything is a tradeoff, but it is something I have considered and experimented with a bit.
There are (expensive) Lehigh 300 Blackout “Maximum Expanion” 300AAC subsonic rounds with huge (1”) expansion, but these could be classified as novelty rounds and are still poking (big) holes vs. creating rifle velocity type incapacitation. I’ve seen some less expensive alternatives lately. Overpenetration may be a concern for some as expansion seems to require a “wet” medium.
Full-size AR’s (14.5”+ barrels + muzzle device) aren’t exactly wieldy inside a house. Shooting AR’s inside a house, especially shorties seems a surefire route to permanent hearing damage for self/family/pets. The current vogue of short barrel AR’s drives up muzzle blast and drives down velocity - the key incapacitatign component. My question: At what point is bullet velocity compromized to the point where the short (223/556) AR becomes pointless, and you mights as well switch caliber to something like 300AAC?
Suppressors mitigate hearing damage concern this to a degree, but you now have the issue of increased unwieldiness of the 223 length barrel + loss of velocity and increased gun battering for an ever-shorter barrel. For 300 AAC Blackout, supersonic seems a better choice here, as I can get 2300-2400+ FPS from an 8.5” barrel with a 110 gr quality bullet (e.g. Barnes TAC-TX Black Tip).
At the extreme other end of the spectrum are items like suppressed AR-9 pistols shooting something like Fed HST 147’s. A 5” barrel, 8” or less can, .355 vs. .223/.308 diameter, predictable expansion in a quality round, hearing safe, relatively wieldy - but still a .7x”-ish “hole poker” without the ability to induce rifle-velocity incapacitation.
For home defense purposes, not expecting to be overrun by a mass of armored drug cartel soldiers, what are some well-considered choices here?