AR Ammo: Best Defensive Rounds

The AR-15 is America’s rifle. It’s easily the most popular rifle platform on the market and has an extremely capable design. The AR-15 can be used for hunting, competition, plinking, and even home defense as the platform is lightweight, light recoiling, and fairly easy to handle. It’s ergonomic and can be easy for anyone to handle. Numerous sizes are available that will work in various home defense scenarios. Plus, you can accessorize to your heart’s content and strap the gun up with a little bit of everything. One of the most critical decisions you can make in your defensive AR-15 loadout is the ammunition. AR ammo comes in a variety of calibers, but today, we’ll focus on the standard 5.56/.223 Remington variant.

Hornady Critical Defense .223 Remington FlexTip

One of the better all-around options for AR defensive use is the FlexTip round from Hornady. This Critical Defense cartridge is designed for self-defense and use inside the home. The FlexTip projectile ensures it reaches through heavy clothing without being clogged, but when it hits a soft target, it expands, fragments, and digs deep. The Critical Defense rounds use low flash powder to minimize muzzle flash for use in dark environments. This Hornady round comes in both 55-grain and 73-grain varieties.

The 55-grain is made for ARs with medium to long barrels. It works well in 16 to 20-inch barrels and can even be reliably used in 14.5-inch options. These barrels allow the round to generate speed and hit hard. It digs deep into the target and expands and fragments. The lighter bullet tends to maintain its terminal velocity over longer ranges and could double as a deer round.

The heavier 73-grain projectile is better suited for those shorter than normal barrels. If you are rocking a barrel less than 14.5 inches, then you might consider the heavier projectile. The heavier projectile with the FlexTip tends to maintain proper penetration even at the lower velocities engaged by the shorter barrels. The FlexTip also helps ensure the projectile expands at lower velocities.

Barnes .223 Remington 69 grain JHP BT

If you want a solid overall performer that could be used for defensive shooting, hunting, or training, then the Barnes .223 Remington 69-grain JHP BT is the way to go. It’s perfect for precision shooting, taking deer, and defending the home. JHP stands for jacketed hollow point, and BT stands for boat tail. The 69-grain weight also makes it a solid option for several barrel lengths. It’s not too light and not too heavy.

A hollow point design helps ensure expansion and helps ensure safe performance against steel targets when training. The boat tail design helps with the overall accuracy and precision of the gun if you want to shoot at longer-than-average ranges. The Barnes .223 Remington 69-grain JHP BT will hit soft targets and expand, which slows the bullet as it travels through the target and prevents overpenetration.

Expansion also creates more damage as the round expands into a larger diameter. A 69-grain projectile helps with good penetration through shorter barrels, but it can still reach an adequate velocity to expand, fragment, and deal damage to the target. The Barnes name is one of the best in rifle ammo, and there is a reason they occupy two slots on the list.

Barnes VOR-TX .223 55 Grain TSX FB

See another entry, another Barnes round. The Barnes VOR-TX load with the 55-grain projectile is a favorite of hunters due to its accuracy, penetration, and expansion. Penetration and expansion are top-tier, and the TSX projectile is known to expand quite a bit. Expansion is great to have in defensive ammo because it prevents overpenetration and ensures more damage is done.

The VOR-TX load utilizes an all-copper projectile, which prevents the core from separating from the jacket. This creates a round that is more likely to expand uniformly and to consistently perform after penetration. This 55-grain also replicates the in-air performance of the M193, which makes it cheap and easy to zero and practice for home defense scenarios.

The faster 55-grain rounds tend to work better with the carbine-length barrels. Barrels that are 16 inches long at most will work well with this load. Shorter barrels might have a tough time getting great penetration with the lighter-weight round. The Barnes ammo also brings you the highest level of premium-grade performance. This includes excellent reliability and dependability.

PMC X-TAC Match .223 77 Grain OTM

If you’re using a shorter barrel rifle, like a 10.3-inch AR-15 that’s either an SBR or large format pistol, then you should pay attention to your ammo options. Oddly enough, one of the best options for precision shootings is also a great choice for the close-range SBRs. The PMC X-TAC Match .223 77 Grain OTM is typically seen in special-purpose rifles. However, they tend to work quite well in SBRs.

With a shorter barrel, we don’t get the same speed as a carbine- or rifle-length system. Velocity is what makes the 5.56 so effective, even though the round is small and often lightweight. The heavy 77-grain rounds fragment at 1,900 feet per second, which is fairly slow for a 5.56 rifle. That’s great for those short barrels that don’t always generate the fastest speeds with a projectile.

Fragmentation ensures there is a lot of damage done when it hits the threat. The open tip match design technically isn’t a hollow point and doesn’t give you the same hollow point performance, but it helps the round fragment. Fragmentation helps stop the threat and also helps prevent the projectile from piercing through the threat and hurting something or someone else.

Classic M193 Ammo

The old-school M193 comes from a time when there wasn’t an obsession with penetrator rounds. The M855 and M855A1 replaced the M193, but the M193 is still a great round for soft targets. The M193 is designed to yaw and fragment at speeds of about 2,500 feet per second. The M193 projectile does a fantastic job of hitting threats and stopping them when fired through most AR-15 platforms.

This means the carbine and rifle length designs. I doubt most of us are rocking the classic 20-inch design for home defense, but the 16-inch carbine is one of the most common AR platforms in the States, if not the most common. At home defense ranges, the M193 reaches over 3,000 feet per second, so it will be fine when it comes time to yaw and fragment.

Another slight benefit to the round is even tamer recoil than most other 5.56/223 loads. Less recoil is better than more recoil, right? Oh, and did I mention this is some of the cheapest ammo out there? It’s often sold at prices that make it cheap enough for plinking so you can train with what you plan to defend your home with.

Defend What’s Yours

Ammo selection with the AR is one of the keys to making it work for a designated task. For home defense, you have to find a round that will work with your barrel length and twist rate and will also either fragment, yaw, or expand. You have to limit overpenetration and effectively stop the target as quickly as possible. That’s why there isn’t just one load to rule them all and why there seem to be so many rounds that can do the job.

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