What weapons and calibers are best for home defense?

It would be interesting to see this same test with ballistic dummies in front of the drywall or behind it to see how the penetration is altered after impact on tissue.

This is why the mounted cannon at the top of the stairs makes so much sense your shooting on a downward angle into an area of limited movement simply tactical genius

When we played around with this we were using our carry ammo in our duty weapons. We learned there was a big difference between interior and exterior walls (and how many walls) due to the insulation and siding. Many rounds made it outside but were deflected and key-holing. Really what we learned was don't miss the intended target so you don't kill the neighbor's dog.

I know this is mostly internal walls, but, it would be interesting to see how they handle exterior walls with insulation and maybe an external stucco wall.

Here in Germany our walls are made of concrete and the easyest weapon to get is a flintlock, so would be interesting to see how that goes.

Paul Harrell did a great test and landed on #4 buck shot as being both exceedingly effective on soft targets and very low in wall penetration.

Recently bought a 20 gauge short form shotgun form our local gun shop. His recommended ammo to our surprise for home defense was birdshot . His reasoning was that you will be in close quarters, probably a few yards away and that you don't want projectiles going through walls and injuring unintended targets.

Great test guys. My takeaway was that no rounds (including the 22) are really home defense safe if you don't have good discipline, muzzle and trigger control. Honestly, even the idea that you might hit the intruder and still be at great risk for tagging something or someone you don't want to was re-enforced by this video. As a responsible gun owner, I will keep training and keep learning so that if god forbid I'm faced with a decision - I make the right one to cause the least casualty possible.

When I did construction, one of the jobs I did was installing bulletproof “plywood”. There are 8 or 9 levels, and we were installing level 1, which is rated to stop 9mm from what we were told. I’d like to see Garand Thumb get a hold on the different levels and test them. It won’t be cheap, unfortunately.

As someone who plans to live in an underground bunker with 12 foot thick steel outer walls and 6 foot thick inner concrete walls, this is extremely helpful. Thank you Garand Thumb!

Use fragmentation/frangable rounds, it won't be stopped but definitely lessons the odds of penetration as well as scales up your lethality

Would love to see different filler to simulate furnished rooms. Adding bookshelves etc. in strategic places could possibly come in handy in a situation when you actually have to defend yourself at home

Would love to see this with insulation, vinyl siding. And brick walls. A "neighbors safety test"

fun fact: all internal walls in Brazil are solid brick walls with a layer of concrete on both sides to smooth it out, so you can use even 7.62x51 for home defense, too bad you will go bankrupt just by firing a few rounds beucase they cost 5~6 USD per shot around here.

So glad you mentioned the M&P I have to stick up for it all the time with my friends

You should take into account sheeting and siding as far as the bullet actually exiting your home, typical wall is drywall, insulation, half inch cdx+paper+siding of choice, I’d be curious to see Hardy lap siding and how well it would stop some calibers! Killer video!

FBI did a similar test years ago; they found .223 along with #4 Buckshot being the best rounds for lethality with limited over-penetration. The worst rounds were shotgun slugs, 00 Buckshot, and quite a few handgun rounds. This is a big reason to actually make a defensive plan with regard to your home defense, to include knowing where your family is, and what avenues you can safely shoot in. As a LEO we also have done a few independent tests with different ammunition and it can be somewhat surprising just how far things can go and just what some items can stop; I still recall just how well some soda/water vending machines are at providing excellent cover.

Everyone knew 2 things going in: the drywall would fail miserably, and the conversation would be hilarious

German Brickwall: shoots back

Thanks for the info, will for sure use this info in my home in the Netherlands!