5.56/.223 BTHP should be quite good for home defense from a 16" AR15 type rifle.
There are a lot of viable choices for ‘AR15’ home defense ammo.
mk262 or any of the ‘clones’ with a 77gr SMK BTHP will be good.
Federal Fusion Bonded, the .223 MSR or the 5.56.
Federal LE 223 T1 or T3, the bonded stuff.
Speer Gold Dot.
Black Hills TSX.
And more.
Even standard 55gr FMJ as mentioned above, from a 16" barrel, should do nicely and be far more effective at quickly stopping an attacker than a 9mm pistol would be.
If you are facing an imminent deadly threat, IMO it only makes sense to use the tool best suited stop that threat as quickly as possible…and an AR15 is significantly more effective at this than a pistol.
I do not recommend frangible. Generally the AR defense ammo choice is a bonded ‘barrier blind’ type of load, or a non barrier blind BTHP or similar. Or, just bulk 55gr…out of a 14.5"+ barrel as typical “rifles” have in the AR15 space, at home defense distances…it’s not a bad choice at all (performs way better than a handgun with JHP at stopping attacker)
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