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Posted: 3/8/2013 9:15:26 AM EDT
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Hi,
I recently bought my first AR15 to use for home defense and it seems (by appearance) that the 5.56 round is pretty weak compared to my 30/30 Winchester. I'm a woman and have never had anything like this and I have never even fired yet. Is there a special procedure for a new weapon like this when I take it to the range for a test? I am familiar with safe handling, but what should I look for? My friends told me that having semi auto is much better than my old lever action and since I can't hit anything with a handgun, I bought my AR15 instead. I know that the military uses these but it just seems like a very whimpy round and I've heard that it won't even seriously injure a bear or wild hog. Thanks, Renee |
The 5.56 is inferior to your .30 caliber 30-30, however the upside to having an ar-15 for home defense is you have a large magazine capacity. The 5.56 round is made to tumble once it enters the body cavity in a center mass shot but I have seen a man shot close range with one in the bicep and the exit hole was no larger than the entrance. AR-15's are light and have less recoil than your 30-30 giving you a better chance at hitting your target. Medically you only have a 10-20% chance of survival being shot with any rifle larger than a .22LR
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I prefer a double action only handgun with no safeties and one in the chamber for home defense, mainly because of the way my home is set up and where my rifles are safed.
However with that being said, the AR-15 is a great choice for home defense because of the ease of shooting it and the large ammunition capacity. The bullet will impact at such a high velocity that it will usually break into pieces and cause significant damage. Please do not have any hesitations using an AR-15 for home defense. Make sure to practice with it so you become very familiar with it if you are going to use it as such. |
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I think once you shoot your AR, you will like the low recoil and smooth and fast (at least compared to a lever) semi-auto action.
As for being a wimpy round, I never saw it fail to stop someone...perhaps not always a one shot kill, but they were out of the fight. I would expect that commercially available "tactical" rounds, especially the commercially available clones of the exotics like Mk272 & 318 would be very effective. |
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Quoted:
Thanks for the reply... I'll practice with it as soon as decent weather comes and I do feel better knowing that it is a good home defense weapon. It has a 16" barrel and is pretty light in weight. I have 6 30 round magazines and I don't think I'll need more! Nah, you need more mags! 
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Quoted:
Hi, I recently bought my first AR15 to use for home defense and it seems (by appearance) that the 5.56 round is pretty weak compared to my 30/30 Winchester. I'm a woman and have never had anything like this and I have never even fired yet. Is there a special procedure for a new weapon like this when I take it to the range for a test? I am familiar with safe handling, but what should I look for? My friends told me that having semi auto is much better than my old lever action and since I can't hit anything with a handgun, I bought my AR15 instead. I know that the military uses these but it just seems like a very whimpy round and I've heard that it won't even seriously injure a bear or wild hog. Thanks, Renee Congratulations and welcome! I would not recommend a .223 against anything bear sized, though the round can be used to hunt wild hogs/deer if you use proper ammunition (hunting ammunition, not plain jane XM193). It can be quite effective against people if you place your shots correctly. Like others have said, you will probably appreciate the light recoil and ergonomics of the weapon. To answer your other questions; First, I don't know what brand of AR you purchased, but it's a good idea to check and make sure the gas key is properly staked to the bolt carrier. The top of the gas key should look like this: If the gas key is not staked enough that it touches the SHCS (socket head cap screws, aka allen screws) holding it on, the screws can come loose, which would be bad. Otherwise, everything on the rifle should be tight and you'd be generally GTG. Before you take it to the range, you should strip it, clean it, and lube it. Here's a field stripping guide from this forum http://www.ar15.com/content/guides/maintenance/ The graphics aren't the best, but if you google "Field Strip AR-15" you'll get about 15 billion results and videos. The lube points for the rifle are shown here: http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_3_7/548967_AR15_LUBE_POINTS.html You can use SLP, Froglube, some other gun lube, or just plain motor oil. Just use something with more viscosity than rem oil. ARs in general and new ARs in particular like to run well lubed to the point they are almost dripping. So make sure the Bolt Carrier Group is well lubed (this is the BCG: 
On your first [few] range trips, if the rifle short-strokes and fails to feed a round or fails to lock the bolt back on the last round of a magazine, try adding some lube to the BCG and see if solves the problem. The parts usually wear in and get less finicky after a few hundred rounds. Enjoy your new purchase. I hope you bought lots of ammo because it won't last as long as you think it will. 
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Thanks for the reply... I'll practice with it as soon as decent weather comes and I do feel better knowing that it is a good home defense weapon. It has a 16" barrel and is pretty light in weight. I have 6 30 round magazines and I don't think I'll need more! Nah, you need more mags! I have the disease bad but I have 33 mags for every AR. Thousand rounds loaded for every one. It's the min reasonable number. Oh and 5.56 > .30-30 all day long. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Thanks for the reply... I'll practice with it as soon as decent weather comes and I do feel better knowing that it is a good home defense weapon. It has a 16" barrel and is pretty light in weight. I have 6 30 round magazines and I don't think I'll need more! Nah, you need more mags! What he said^^^^^^^ |
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Do you have a red dot scope on your AR? Are you going to use the iron sights?
The first thing to do is familiarize yourself with the basic operation of the weapon. The position of the safety (AKA selector switch) is placed in that location so you can easily operate it with your thumb. If you are right handed you can use your trigger finger (if your hands are large enough) to operate the magazine release button. With your left hand you can insert a magazine and hit the bolt release tab that is located on the left side of the weapon just above the magazine well. Using an empty magazine (and verifying 1.2 million times) your chamber is clear of ammunition learn how to operate the controls of the rifle without conscious thought. Really learn it! The weapon consists of two major groups. The upper receiver contains the charging handle, bolt carrier, bolt, gas tube, forward assist mechanism, barrel and sights. The lower receiver contains the trigger mechanism (hammer, sear, safety and associated springs and pins), grip, and the tube that contains the recoil spring and buffer. I don't know if your rifle has a fixed stock or a multi-positiion rear stock. The two major groups are held together with two longitudinal pins that are approximately 1/4" in diameter. They are located at the top of the front of the magazine well and just behind the selector switch/safety. Pushing the rear pin (they are captured, so you won't lose them) from the left side of the rifle you can pry the pin out the right side. This will allow the upper receiver to hinge forward (imagine you are breaking open a double barrel shotgun). This will allow you to remove the bolt carrier assembly. You do this by pulling back on the T shaped charging handle. Then you can grip the bolt carrier assembly and withdraw that. The charging handle is keyed in place- you will find the spot where you can drop it out of the upper receiver by drawing it back. Once the bolt carrier mechanism is out of the weapon you can look down the interior of the barrel. If you have yet to fire your weapon you can take the time to run a few patches through the bore. If your weapon came with a cleaning kit that contains segmented metal rods that screw together into a cleaning rod then take the time to throw that in the garbage. Go get a proper one piece (preferably coated with a hard plastic) cleaning rod. This way the bore will not be damaged when you clean your rifle. You can get by with a bottle of Breakfree CLP , which is available in most any gun shop. It does a mediocre job of cleaning the bore but it is a great lubricant. The AR-15 runs best when it is lubed up (the bolt carrier, etc.). When you operate the rifle it will be clear to you what parts are moving the most and clearly need the most lubricant. The AR-15 family is gas operated. That means there is a small hole drilled in the barrel. The hole is located underneath the front sight "bridge". Out of that bridge there is a silver colored tube retained by a small pin that runs back into the upper receiver. When the rifle is fired expanding gas pushes the bullet out the barrel. A small amount of gas is redirected into the small hole in the barrel and then gas pressure is directed back down the silver gas tube. You will see that on the bolt carrier mechanism there a small tube like projection on the top surface. That mates with the gas tube. Gas pressure pushes directly on the bolt carrier, which sends the bolt carrier back upon firing. By pushing back on the bolt carrier the bolt is rotated into the unlocked position. That gas energy allows for the weapon to operate semi-automatically. The downside to the AR-15 is that gas carries with it a carbon like soot that coats the breech area of the action. That means it gets filthy. The gas tube is a very small diameter tube and while they do make cleaning equipment directly for the gas tube it isn't something you have to worry too much about cleaning. It is too long to post here but you will need to learn how to break down the bolt carrier into the basic components for cleaning. It isn't difficult to do. Once you are comfortable with the basic field stripping, cleaning, and operating of your weapon you can be assured of some fun surprises at the range. The first surprise is the lack of recoil. The AR will hop about a bit but it certainly will not recoil like your .30-30. The second surprise is how loud the rifle is. You need to get good quality hearing protection. As you greased up your bolt carrier and bolt you may find flecks of oil flung on your shooting glasses. This just reassures you that wearing glasses is always a smart thing! Ammunition choice is pretty simple. It is hard to go wrong with new U.S. manufacture .55gr or 62gr FMJ brass cased rounds. The ease of shooting the rifle (the intrinsic accuracy, modest recoil, and fast handling) will reveal to you why you made a solid choice in the AR-15. You will also be tempted to burn through ammo so bring a lot! I wish you the best. |
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Quoted:
Thanks for the reply... I'll practice with it as soon as decent weather comes.... Congrats on your purchase! Why wait until decent weather? Find an indoor range and go have some fun! Others have posted that you need to familiarize yourself with it, which should be mandatory, but when you get to an indoor range, I would think you would have all kinds of volunteers willing to help a lady with a new AR that has questions. And I don't mean that as sexist, or that guys are going to be pouncing on you. Someone with good intentions should be available to spend some time with you, helping you, giving you pointers, regardless of your age or gender. We should all be that way with anyone that is new to our way of thinking. I started to say, someone new to our sport, but this isn't a sport, it's our way of life, and we need to enlist all we can to our side. Best wishes! |
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Quoted:
Thanks for the reply... I'll practice with it as soon as decent weather comes and I do feel better knowing that it is a good home defense weapon. It has a 16" barrel and is pretty light in weight. I have 6 30 round magazines and I don't think I'll need more! Keep hanging around here and you'll have a lot more than 6 mags 
Gratz on the new rifle though. Shoot it and enjoy it. You'll quickly see why a lot of people love the AR rifle. |
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