Originally Posted by
Frye
You surely realize that depends on the caliber or gauge, type of bullet, velocity the round is loaded to, type of walls, whether the projectile hits a stud or just drywall and many other variables? A 556/223 small game round is designed to expand reliably in critters as small as crows and prairie dogs and can't be depended on to humanly kill deer because it lacks sufficient penetration to reach the vitals. The same thing with the 22/250, 220 swift, 204 Ruger and most other .22 caliber hunting rounds. You can buy special purpose loads in these calibers made for reliably penetrating and killing deer size game but you have to look for them.
The most frequently used and owned firearms here are chambered in .22LR. A HP .22LR will barely pass through a few layers of plywood or drywall and isn't going to pass through your house unless it's made of tin foil. On the other hand, 9mm, 45ACP, .556 and .308 caliber FMJ bullets will pass through multiple thicknesses of drywall and are what is mostly used in the military due to non-expanding bullets being deemed more humane.
However, few knowledgeable homeowners would use these bullets for home defense because they lack the stopping power of expanding bullets and because of the over penetration issue. When considering shotguns, slugs and buckshot can indeed penetrate multiple walls but probably not brick walls. My favored home defense shotgun load is #6 small game shot which will be devastating at close range but has little over-penetration danger. My favored self-defense handgun rounds all have large hollow-points for the same reasons.
Military experience is primarily with military weapons and ammo and doesn't always reflect the wide range of ballistic choices available in the civilian world. The difference in penetration between an M16 shooting FMJ ammo in 3 round bursts and a civilian semi-auto AR shooting rapidly expanding bullets in the same caliber is huge. An AR in a big game caliber such as the .458 socom or .450 Bushmaster is made for power and penetration and will take down a moose or your brick wall but is seldom used for home-defense, although, for those who live in the country it would be an option.
Although I have no military training I am a gunsmith and have some small knowledge of firearms and ballistics.
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