What type of Ammo do you load in your Home Defense AR

[C-dub]

I'm surprised to hear of a major city SWAT team using .223 as a sniper round.

I'm not terribly surprised by that revelation. Police snipers aren't generally going to be out at 800+ yards like the military. I would be surprised if many of their shots were any further than 100 yards. With a scope the 5.56/.223 round seems like a decent choice for that relatively close range.

The average Police sniper shot is reported to be 51 yards. I still think you will be hard pressed to find many departments using a .223 round. The only actually sniper kill I personally know of was made through a plate glass window. I would rather be putting through 168 grs of lead over 69 grs in that senerio.

That would definitely be a better round, but would also require them to have a separate rifle. Staying with a 5.56/.223 round the officer could carry the same rifle and pick his ammo based on the need at the time. With the average LEO sniper shot at only 51 yards the smaller round will get the job done. Through glass? Pick the right ammo and 5.56/.223 is still plenty effective.

I'm also reluctant to even call that a "sniper" shot. I would consider myself only an average shot or slightly better and I could make that shot from 51 yards with only iron sights. With a 2x, 3x, or 4x optic how could I miss? I hope being able to make that shot is not what the average PD is calling a sniper.

[WTR]

I'm surprised to hear of a major city SWAT team using .223 as a sniper round.

I'm not terribly surprised by that revelation. Police snipers aren't generally going to be out at 800+ yards like the military. I would be surprised if many of their shots were any further than 100 yards. With a scope the 5.56/.223 round seems like a decent choice for that relatively close range.

The average Police sniper shot is reported to be 51 yards. I still think you will be hard pressed to find many departments using a .223 round. The only actually sniper kill I personally know of was made through a plate glass window. I would rather be putting through 168 grs of lead over 69 grs in that senerio.

That would definitely be a better round, but would also require them to have a separate rifle. Staying with a 5.56/.223 round the officer could carry the same rifle and pick his ammo based on the need at the time. With the average LEO sniper shot at only 51 yards the smaller round will get the job done. Through glass? Pick the right ammo and 5.56/.223 is still plenty effective.

I'm also reluctant to even call that a "sniper" shot. I would consider myself only an average shot or slightly better and I could make that shot from 51 yards with only iron sights. With a 2x, 3x, or 4x optic how could I miss? I hope being able to make that shot is not what the average PD is calling a sniper.

I would hope that a SWAT sniper is capable of a much longer shot than 51 yards if required. However, 51 yds is the average shot.