A standard .223 AR-15 round will go through a quarter in steel plate like it was butter.

[mackdaddy]

A friend of mine in the woods has a private shooting range, and uses hanging steel plate targets. Originally used for 9mm pistols he had a sheet of one quarter inch thick steel plate to use as a target. Setup was safe as any hits just deflected down into the ground. Would just paint the surface with a rattle can between uses. The 9mm would leave a small mark on the surface of the steel but that was it.

Then someone brought their AR-15 to try out. The first test shot went through the steel plate like pushing a pencil through a stick of butter. It left a perfectly round hole completely through the steel plate. Well no more using the quarter inch steel for a .223 target.

They did get some special AR500 hardened steel half in thick targets specifically for rifle rounds. The .223 rounds make pock marks in them but do not go through them.

My point is that police know this. Most vests that an officer would wear would stop nearly any handgun round. But a .223 round (or most rifle rounds) would go right through their vest. The military and special ops police use a "plate carrier" vest that have special ceramic or other much heavier armor plates inserted in them that can stop a rifle round. (you can buy them on line for a few hundred bucks.)

There really is no "cover" from a rifle round in most buildings. They would shoot through most walls and doors unless they were made of brick or concrete. Most handguns police use have about 15 round magazines. Common AR magazines are twice that. Just pointing out what the police would be up against when "assaulting" an entrenched subject.

Although pistols are easier to conceal, I have no idea why you have to be 21 to purchase a pistol, but only 18 to buy an AR-15 type rifle.

[doc03]

1. Hey the military is going to a 6.8mm round now

because they found it is more effective against body armor. That will be the weapon of choice for mass shooting in the future.

[sop]

2. Pretty much every indoor range bans the use of rifles chambered for .223/5.56 rounds.

It literally destroys the steel backstops, possibly penetrating and continuing out of the building. (They also ban larger caliber, hunting rifle chamberings, stuff like .270, .308, .30-06 and the more powerful magnums.)

Edit: The effective range for .223/5.56 can be 600 yards, or more, and the only safe places to shoot these rounds are outdoor ranges using earthen berms as backstops.

[Hangingon]

3. More people are killed with pistols

[Fiendish Thingy]

4. So what makes a .223 round so much more powerful than a plain .22?

My limited understanding tells me it isn’t the calibre of the slug, but the material the slug is made of as well as the size of the cartridge and the force propelling the bullet, but that’s really just a guess.

Explain it to me like I’m 5…

[gurthang]

5. The cartridge is much larger

It holds more gunpowder (the rear of the cartridge is wider than .22 long rifle rounds). I believe that the bullet is longer as well resulting in a projectile with more mass, but also more damage due to tumbling.

Edit to add this link with side-by-side pictures. https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/22lr-vs-223-remington-a-beginners-guide/

[thatdemguy]

6. velocity

Look at it this way try having a yugo hit you at 5 mph, it might hurt, it will probably knock you down, now imagine that yugo at 55 mph.

Both bullets are normally lead with a copper coating or jacket.

As for body armor, any rifle round will go thru a police type vest and some pistol rounds will too. Apparently one of the pistol rounds used by russia in ww2 will go thru most police vests. Even some rifles/ammo will go thru armor plates designed for normal rifle rounds. From what I have read it all about speed, the faster the bullet the more stuff it can go thru armor wise.

[NutmegYankee]

7. Dramatically more gunpowder behind the bullet.

The bullet travels at 3 times the velocity of a handgun when it exits the barrel. Imagine a car hitting someone at 25MPH, and a car hitting someone at 75MPH.

[BruceWane]

8. .223/.22 is just the diameter of the projectile

Says nothing about the length of it, or the propellant behind it.

.223 has both more mass and much more propellant, and so has exponentially more impact energy.