Could someone please recommend some frangible ammo in 5.56 for home defense use? I would like to limit penetration through walls etc.
Manufacturer, grains etc. would be most appreciated. My carbine has a 1:8 barrel twist.
thanks, Dr. Mike
Frangible ammo is for use in shoot-houses to limit damage to walls and target boxes and to reduce frag on steel targets. If you want to protect your family, use high quality, tested ammo that provides at least 12" of penetration and early upset, as that type of ammo will make the biggest holes in badguys, without excessive penetration.
As above, frangible isn’t meant for shooting people.
Frangible loads are poor self defense loads and contrary to your statement, they do not have limited penetration through walls.
“This round went through 8 boards . . .”
Courtesy of The Box of Truth
Any American made 55 to 60gr SP, lead core BTHP, or one of the various tipped rounds will accomplish the mission that you are looking at.
I can say from experience that the Federal 55gr TRU SP and Hornady 60gr TAP do not penetrate much in the way of sheetrock.
Many of the local LE SWAT teams here use Hornady 75 gr OTM for entries–it works very well for its intended purpose…
Do you mean with the T2 bullet?
Both styles of 75 gr OTM are in use; both work well.
As stated above frangible ammo will still penetrate your walls. You might want ammo that doesnt have a high penetration factor, but will still expand properly and retain most of its weight.
Although frangible ammuntion does have less penetration, it also does have penetration. You could switch to a 55 grain winchester soft point and add a meager inch and 6/10ths of penetration, but retain more bullet weight and the expansion (hole it puts in a medium) is twice as large.
Questions I would address before choosing a round for your house:
What type of walls do I have?
What type of exterior walls do I have?
What kind of training ammo will I get? The best round is usually the round you train with the most, not necessarily the fanciest round.
Hope this helps!
As stated above frangible ammo will still penetrate your walls. You might want ammo that doesnt have a high penetration factor, but will still expand properly and retain most of its weight.
Although frangible ammuntion does have less penetration, it also does have penetration. You could switch to a 55 grain winchester soft point and add a meager inch and 6/10ths of penetration, but retain more bullet weight and the expansion (hole it puts in a medium) is twice as large.
Questions I would address before choosing a round for your house:
What type of walls do I have?
What type of exterior walls do I have?
What kind of training ammo will I get? The best round is usually the round you train with the most, not necessarily the fanciest round.
Hope this helps!
That seems like very poor terminal performance no? under 7" of penetration? 
Yes its horrible terminal performance, but it is also frangible. Thats why it is so horrible. That is also an average of the performance of all the mediums it is tested through.
Frangible is not very good for protection and the numbers don’t lie 
Unless you are using LaMas, which will go through 9 car windshields, 1" hardened steal, 3 level IIIA vests, retaining all it’s weight, then explode the body of the victim as it magically deforms into blended metal death. :D:rolleyes:
Mk255 is a frangible load with acceptable soft tissue penetration–useful in situations with hazardous materials in steel containers or around steel bulkheads; otherwise, just go with a good conventional load.
I fired some of that R2LP frangible into two vinyl jugs filled with water and a phone book in the back for the bullet trap.
I only did a sample of one since I don’t like hauling water out to the range.
Anyway, the round did better than I thought. I was only able to recover the jacket base and half of the compressed core. According to the vinyl damage between jug 1 and 2, the bullet was sideways and broke apart between inches 3 and 7. The chunk of the core that was retrieved was 1/2" into the phone book.
For comparison (using the same hill billy methods)… frangible penetration was definitely less than Gold Dot bonded 223 and Federal’s 55 grain bonded… both tested in the exact same format on prior range trips. (all with 14.5" barrel at 7 yards)
I wouldn’t use frangible for HD, but I sure as hell wouldn’t want to get shot by it either.
There is nothing that I want to get shot with:D