How to Build a Home Defense AR-15

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Author: Billy M.

A smash of glass. A crash in the night.  It’s happened.  Your home has been invaded.

There’s little that’s scarier than the possibility of a fast and furious, close-quarters self-defense scenario, especially one where your home and family might be on the line. One of the best tools to have by your side in such a scenario is a trusty AR-15. But, as the US military knows, indoor fighting can be one of the most fast-paced, stressful, unforgiving, and high-stakes forms of combat. Your own home and/or family in the mix makes it even more complicated.  

Fortunately, the AR platform is endlessly flexible, adaptable, and customizable.  In this article, we’ll consider the tactics of close-quarters fighting and how to modify or build the perfect AR setup for this situation, before it happens to you, so you will have the edge when it matters most.

Home Defense: Why the AR-15?

In general, even a small centerfire rifle cartridge, like 5.56, will pack a lot more raw power than a pistol round.  The moderate kick and buttstock/brace of the typical AR make managing recoil, controlling your fire, and keeping up an accurate stream of fire far easier than a typical handgun or shotgun.  The AR platform is quite light and ergonomic for a long gun, and pistol or SBR variants are common. Very affordable (yet high-quality) variants of the gun are everywhere.  The platform is proven, and, in its modern iteration, quite reliable. It is also endlessly customizable and can be refitted for practically any role.

Challenges of Indoor Fighting and Home Defense

To understand how to set up or build an AR for home defense, let’s consider, what are the challenges associated with indoor fighting?  To start very simple, it means dealing with very short ranges and close surroundings.  That means the bad guy should be easy to target and hit, right?  Well, yes and no.  You may be closer to him, but he’s closer to you, too.  That means, whatever means of attack he has, you’re more vulnerable to them as well. (If these include a gun, that makes it a lot more complicated!)  At close quarters, speed—being able to reliably get your sights on target before he can react or counterattack—is everything.  Anything that speeds this up for you, or slows him down, if only by a split second, could grant the winning advantage.  Unfortunately, there’s a long list of factors that can make this a lot harder:

  1. Walls and furniture block line of sight, so it’s easy to get caught by surprise.
  2. Point 1 gets even more complicated in the common scenario of a self-defense situation after dark, when it’s harder to see (let alone aim) anyway.
  3. Objects like walls, thresholds, and drapes can hinder your mobility and snag your rifle, undermining that all-important fast response even more.
  4. Collateral damage—if you’re forced to fire, any cartridge powerful enough to stop a human can pass through several walls (overpenetration) if you miss.  This is your home, and you definitely don’t want to answer for hurting your own family member you didn’t see in the other room, or your neighbors, or their property.  This becomes an even bigger issue if you live in an apartment.  Which brings us to…
  5. Legality issues—Understand your local self-defense laws, and what they allow and don’t allow you to do, and under what circumstances.  Operate with that in mind.  The last thing you want is a reckless decision under stress that leads to long-term consequences.  Sometimes even a legal shot can lead to plenty of trouble defending yourself in court.  Even the best gear requires skillful handling and responsible presence of mind in the moment.  Needless to say, nothing in this article should be considered legal advice or legally liable!  

Shooting effectiveness, supported by good gear, actually decreases the last two problems.  Desperate, uncontrolled, panicked shooting (the kind you regret later) is often a symptom of a failure to take control of the situation and win before it gets so out of hand.  If you can get your sights on target first and maintain the initiative, the bad guy has (at best) no choice but to flee, give up, or face the consequences.  For you, a position of secure strength and control of the situation is far more conducive to good shots and responsible, reasoned decisions. If you can’t maintain good aim and awareness of your surroundings, even in the dark, then the chances of collateral damage or a tragic decision are that much higher.

All that said, let’s consider how to build, mod, or shop for the best AR for such sticky circumstances.  We’ll start with the first basic question of any AR-15 purchase or build—caliber.

Best Caliber for a Home Defense Rifle

This may be one of the most debated gun questions on the internet, but I’ll do my best to make it simple(ish).  The two of the most common AR-15 calibers out there are 5.56 NATO and .300 Blackout.  Either can work for home defense, but there are important differences.  I’m going to make some quick-and-dirty generalizations here, but the truth is both these calibers come in many variations than can shake up a lot of this calculus.

As any soldier or cop with close-quarters combat (CQC) experience can tell you, one shot, even from a powerful cartridge, may not immediately stop a bad guy from attacking you.  This is close quarters, remember, and that matters a lot.  You need a load with stopping power.  “Stopping power” is a notoriously controversial, hard-to-define (or measure) concept, but most would agree that .300 Blackout, with its much larger bullet, beats 5.56 here.  Even better, .300 Blackout is extremely quiet if firing subsonic bullets through a good suppressor.  This is a stark contrast to 5.56, which can’t suppress very quiet anyway, and really loses reliability if you try.

It’s also important to note that 5.56 also loses a lot of ballistic performance if you fire it through a barrel under 10.5 inches.  That matters because a shorter barrel will make handling in close quarters, in spite of snags and cramped spaces, much easier.  .300 Blackout doesn’t really have this problem, performing quite well out of a 7- or 8-inch AR-15 barrel (though a suppressor will increase that length).

Compact AR-15s in Pistol or SBR configuration are ideal for close quarters, regardless of caliber.

Suppressed .300 Blackout might be the perfect solution, but there are a couple of big issues.  First of all, suppressors can be very, very expensive.  Second, 5.56 is much cheaper per bullet, a big advantage if you plan to train extensively with your rifle.  Training to proficiency makes a massive difference when things get serious, so that’s definitely a factor.  Moreover, the very lack of raw power means 5.56 poses a smaller danger from overpenetration, though a regular FMJ load of either cartridge can blow through drywall with ease.  If you plan to use your rifle for tasks other than home defense, 5.56 also offers superior accuracy at range (again, unless it’s fired through a very short barrel).

The ideal solution, whichever caliber you choose, is expanding or frangible ammo.  Excellent self-defense loads for both calibers, that will reliably and dramatically expand on impact, now exist.  This has the double advantage of diminishing overpenetration risk, while ensuring maximum force transfer to the target and maximum wound width.

A lot of ink is spilled on the advantages and disadvantages of these two calibers, but either easily packs the power and ballistic performance to be potentially fatal.  The biggest deciding factor in the effectiveness of your shot will probably be shot placement.  Hit the opponent somewhere important, and your chances of a quick win are much better, whatever cartridge or load you fire.  So how can we optimize shot placement?

Weapon Lights

You can’t hit what you can’t see.  

For that matter, you really don’t want to even try, not with legal and moral responsibility for every shot to consider.

The basic purpose of a rifle light is to enable you to get a good visual on the target in the dark, rapidly and with minimal hassle.  That way, you can quickly focus on the target and achieve that all-important fast aiming, with no dangerous misses that start piercing walls, and no tragic target misidentifications.  Often left unmentioned, this item is a must-have.

You could try relying on a handheld light, or your home light switches in a nighttime emergency.  But a handheld light will take away one hand you need for aiming your gun.  So will flipping a light switch, which might be on the other side of the room anyway when you need it here and now.

Buying a good weapon light is tricky, as many cheap foreign import models have bad reputations for overheating, losing luminosity over time, or other serious problems.  On the other hand, reliable, basically bombproof military-grade lights may go over $300 in price.

Streamlight ProTac Rail Mount 1L - Dedicated Fixed Mount Dual Fuel Long Gun Light - Max 350 Lum

In this market, one of the best deals you can get is the Streamlight ProTac series.  Streamlight has an excellent reputation for reliability and resilience in the gun community, and these lights come waterproof, shockproof, and very bright.  Even the cheaper 350 lumen model packs enough brightness that it can blind an opponent with darkness-adjusted pupils for several seconds.  That’s right—get a good weapon light, and you’ll have the ability to cripple an assailant’s ability to react to you for a crucial moment, without even having to fire a shot (a great asset that might even save you legal trouble down the line).  Even better, this light comes with a complete remote pressure switch included.  Setting this up in a good spot will let you activate or deactivate the light much faster and more fluidly, optimizing your speed while making it easy to vanish into the darkness instantly.

Specs: Streamlight ProTac Rail Mount 1L – Dedicated Fixed Mount Dual Fuel Long Gun Light – Max 350 Lum 

Lumens:  350

CR123A lithium battery output:

High: 350 lumens; 12,000 candela; 219m beam; runs 1.75 hours. 

Low: 40 lumens; 1,380 candela; 19m beam; runs 14.5 hours.

AA alkaline/AA lithium battery output:

High: 150 lumens; 4,950 candela; 141m beam; runs 1.5 hours (alkaline); runs 4.5 hours (AA lithium)

Low: 40 lumens; 1,380 candela; 19m beam; runs 8 hours (alkaline); runs 14 hours (AA lithium)

Streamlight ProTac Rail Mount HL-X Laser USB - 1000 Lumens Rechargeable Long Gun Light with Laser

There’s also Streamlight’s 1000 lumen ProTac HL-X, with all the same goodies plus higher brightness.  On its maximum power setting, this little gizmo can send a beam of light out for over 300 meters, which is very impressive for the price point.  If you are also interested in outdoor night fighting and can’t afford to mortgage your house and buy night vision, then a quick-on/off rifle light with that kind of range might be the next best thing.

Specs: Streamlight ProTac HL-X Rail Mount Light with Remote Switch – 1000 Lumen

Lumens: 1000

Max Candela: 27,600

Battery Life on High: 1.25 hours

Battery Life on Low: 23.0 hours

Beam Distance: 332 meters

Battery Type: CR123A lithium or 18650 lithium ion

Length: 5.43 inches (13.79 centimeters)

Weight:  6.40 ounces (181.44 grams) – 6.90 ounces (195.61 grams)

Red Dots—Best Optic for Home Defense

RD-50 Pro Red Dot Sight with RRDM 3x Magnfier Combo

It’s well known that, for fast aiming in close quarters, nothing beats a trusty, basic red dot. Iron sights are good to have for backup, but really won’t provide the same speed.  Moreover, being colored darkly, irons might be very difficult to use sometimes in dim conditio.  When it comes to red dots for home defense, get one that’s reliable, and adjustable lower brightness levels for your dark-adapted pupils (it will also save power).  The AT3 RD-50 is a great choice in this vein.  A host of features, from nitrogen purging and waterproofing, to excellent shock-proofing and scratch-resistant lenses, make this a dependable, excellent bang-for-your buck option.

AT3 RD-50 Specs 

Reticle Type: 2 MOA red dot

Body Material: 6061 Aluminum

Recoil Resistance: Certified to 500 g’s

Weight: 3.6 oz

Battery Type: CR2032

Battery Life: up to 50,000 hrs on lowest setting

Finish: Matte Black Anodized

Mounting: Picatinny/Weaver Rail

Lasers—Lightspeed Aiming

Of course, when it comes to fast, intuitive aiming solutions, you can’t forget about lasers.  Besides, there’s nothing quite as awesome, or as intimidating, as being able to put a bright dot on the bad guy’s chest. A red laser, all else being equal, offer longer battery life, while a green laser will be more visible (even in daylight) and offer an edge in aiming speed.

UTG Instant Target Aiming BullDot Compact Green Laser

If you’re looking for a relatively affordable laser sight to experiment with, try the UTG BullDot Compact green laser.  The laser reaches out to 300 yards, and comes in a small, low-profile package good for keeping your rifle as ergonomic and handy as possible.  The clever rounded shaping and tough aircraft-grade aluminum body ensure this little sight can take a beating. The relatively wide spill of the laser can be an advantage too, getting you on-target quickly at those critically close ranges.

UTG Instant Target Aiming BullDot Compact Green Laser

UTG BullDot Compact green laser Specs

Laser Type: Class 3R, 2.0-4.5mW

Body Material: Aircraft Grade Aluminum

Weight: 4.35 oz with battery

Battery Type: CR2 LithiumX1

Battery Life: 390 min

Finish: Hardcoat

Laser Range: 300 yds

Beam Diameter: 8” at 50 yds

Mounting:  Picatinny/Weaver Rail

AT3™ LEOS™ Red Dot Sight with Integrated GREEN Laser Sight & Riser

But then, if lasers and red dots are the best close-quarters fast aiming tools, why not get both in one?  That’s just what the AT3 LEOS Red dot with integrated laser offers, with both red and green laser options.  The red laser variant offers an impressive 40 hours of continuous laser operation, while the red dot can last up to 50,000 hours.  Again, this red dot is fully waterproofed, fogproofed, and protected in a 6061 aircraft-grade aluminum housing.

AT3 LEOS Red Dot with Integrated Laser Specs

Reticle Type: 2 MOA red dot

Body Material: 6061 Aircraft-Grade Aluminum

Recoil Resistance: Certified to 500 g’s

Red Laser Type: <5mW Class IIIa

Green Laser Type: 5mW Class IIIb

Weight: 8.3 oz

Battery Type: CR123

Red Dot Battery Life: up to 50,000 hrs on lowest setting

Laser Battery Life (red): 40 hrs

Laser Battery Life (green): 8 hrs

Finish: Matte Black Anodized

Mounting: Picatinny/Weaver Rail

 

Final Thoughts

For a task as important as home defense, it’s a good idea to put time and thought into a good gear setup from the start.  Once you get that setup, however, you’ll need to practice with it to truly realize its potential.  Should worse come to absolute worst, your best insurance against freezing up under panic is discipline and muscle memory, which comes from solid practice.  Take your new home defense AR to the range and put her through her paces.  Even better, take rifle training classes. Using your weapon will help you spot flaws and areas for improvement in your gun. Switch out anything you don’t like about your setup, for something more functional.  We’re all a little different, and only experimenting with your AR will let ensure you’re ready for the worst.  Best of luck!

One Last Tip

If there’s anyone that knows the AR-15 platform, it’s the US military. As a special offer for our readers, you can get the Official US Army Manual for AR-15/M4/M16 right now – for free. Click here to snag a copy.

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m. Force Majeure

AT3 will not be responsible for any delay or failure in performance of the Website or its associated products arising out of any cause beyond AT3’s control, such as acts of God, war, riots, fire, terrorist attacks, pandemics, power outages, severe weather, or other accidents.

n. Survivability

The representations, warranties, duties, and covenants made by you under this Agreement will survive the termination of this Agreement, your Account, or the Website, including, but not limited to, your duty to indemnify and defend AT3.

o. Interpretation

This Agreement will be deemed to have been drafted by both parties, and the terms and conditions of this Agreement will not be interpreted against its drafter.

p. Assignment

You are expressly prohibited from assigning your rights and duties under this Agreement. AT3 reserves the right to assign its rights and duties under this Agreement, including in a sale of AT3 or its Website.

q. Waiver and Integration

No term or condition of this Agreement or breach of this Agreement will be deemed to have been waived or consented to unless said waiver is writing and signed by the party to be charged. This Agreement is the entire agreement between the parties and supersedes all previous agreements or representations between the parties.

One Last Tip

If there’s anyone that knows the AR-15 platform, it’s the US military. As a special offer for our readers, you can get the Official US Army Manual for AR-15/M4/M16 right now – for free. Click here to snag a copy.

AT3 Tactical, LLC Privacy Policy

AT3 Tactical Privacy Policy

Last Updated: October 11, 2024

AT3 Tactical, LLC (“AT3”) values the privacy of its users and believes that you should know what kind of data we collect from you, how we use it, and how you can have control over, and stop the collection of it. We make every attempt to be transparent in our data collection efforts and to provide you with information that you need to make decisions about our collection of data from you.

When you use the AT3 Website, even if you are just browsing, we may collect some basic data from you such as the type of device that you are using, your geographical location, and your IP address. If you choose to complete a purchase through the Website, you share additional data with us, which is outlined below. We also provide you with the ability to limit the data that we collect from you and how we use it. We also may use your interactions with the AT3 Website to show you more relevant content.
If you have any questions about our privacy policy, how we collect data from you, how we use your data, or how you can control your privacy settings, you can contact us at any time at support@at3tactical.com.

Data You Share with Us
We may collect data from you when you voluntarily share it with us. This may include the following data:
Transaction Data. When you purchase a product through the Website, you provide us information needed to complete your purchase, such as your name, phone number, address, billing address, email address, city, state, zip code, and any notes you provide to AT3. This data is used to help us contact you, complete your purchase, and ship products to you that you have purchased through the website.
Public Data. Some of the activity on the Website is public. We may use this public data to provide you with the services requested, to provide you with more relevant content, to tailor content to your preferences, to keep records of communications between us and you, and to defend against legal claims.
Private Communication Data. We may use your contact data, such as any data that you voluntarily provide to us like your phone number, address, and email address, to authenticate your purchase, to communicate with you, to respond to communications sent to you by us, to keep records of our communication, to fulfill your orders, or to pursue or defend against legal claims. We may store and process your private communications with us and data related to them to scan for malicious content, to review content for violations of our terms of use agreement, or to respond to legal process or law enforcement inquiries.

Additional Data We Receive From You
We may also collect data from you automatically when you use the Website. This may include the following data:
Location Data. We may collect data about your location by collecting and processing your IP address and device settings. We may use this data to tailor our offerings to your geographic location, respond to law enforcement requests, or to provide you with content that is relevant to your geographic location.
Technical Data. We may collect technical data about your use of the Website, such as your IP address, your device IDs, your phone number, pages visited, referring web page, your mobile phone model, mobile charrier, search terms, cookie data, your operating system, your geolocation, and your time zone. We may use this data to analyze your use of the Website, to administer and secure our services, to determine how we should allocate resources to our Website, and to understand the technical load on our servers.
Marketing Data. We may collect your IP address, your device IDs, your geographical location, your phone numbers, pages visited, referring web page, mobile phone model, search terms, cookie data, Google Advertising IDs, and Apple Advertising IDs to provide advertisements to you through third-party ad networks. We may use your data to provide advertisements to you, to provide remarketing advertisements to you after you previously visited the Website, to determine the relevance of advertisements, to measure the effectiveness of advertisements, and to help make those advertisements more relevant to your preferences.

Use of Cookies
We may also collect data from you through the use of cookies and other technologies. This helps us understand how you use the Website and to understand any patterns that may be associated with your use of our services. This aids us in developing or improving our services in response to your needs or wants.
We may use session or persistent cookies. Session cookies are only stored on your computer or mobile device during your use of the Website and are automatically deleted when you close your web browser. Persistent cookies are stored as a file on your computer or mobile device that remain on your computer or mobile device even after you close your web browser. Persistent cookies can be read by the website that created the cookie when you revisit it again. We may use persistent cookies when we utilize Google Analytics or other analytics providers, which are intended to track the origin and behavior of traffic to the Website. We may also, from time to time, receive data from third parties including analytics providers or advertising networks such as Google, Facebook, or Apple.

Marketing Communications
We may send you marketing communications if you have asked us for information concerning our services or if you have agreed to, and have not opted out from receiving marketing communications from us. You may ask us to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by following the opt-out link in any marketing message sent to you.

Disclosure of Personal Data
We only share your personal data in limited circumstances.
We may share or disclose your personal data with your consent or at your direction.
We may also share your data with certain third parties to aid us in operating the Website. For example, we may share your personal data with third parties, such as analytics providers, to utilize their software tools and measure the effectiveness of our Website or advertisements. We may also share personal data, such as device IDs, with third party advertisers to help them determine whether they should serve an ad to you. The data that we share with these third parties does not include your email address, name, phone number, or username, but it may include your geographical location.

We may also share your personal data with our accountants, auditors, insurers, or attorneys where doing so is necessary to protect the interests of AT3 or to comply with any law or regulation.

We may also share your personal data with government or law enforcement agencies when we are required to report our data processing activities, upon receipt of an exigent circumstances request, upon receipt of a duly authorized subpoena or court order, to comply with any law or legal process, to comply with government or regulatory requests, or where doing so is necessary to protect our users, our employees, our contractors, third parties, or property.

Finally, we may share your personal data to a third party if we sell, transfer, or merge any part of our business or assets. In the event that we share your personal data in the sale, transfer, or merger of any part of our business or assets, this Privacy Policy will continue to apply to your personal data when transferred to the new entity.

Management, Protection, and Retention of Your Personal Data
To stop our collection and use of your data, you need only cease using Website and clear your web browser’s cookies and cache.

We put data security measures into place to protect your personal data. We allow access to your personal data only by employees and service providers who have a need to know or access your personal data on our instructions. We will notify you and any regulatory body of any breach of your personal data or our security measures if and when we are legally required to do so.

We will only retain your personal data for so long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it is collected under this Privacy Policy or for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

Third Party Links
Our services may include links to third party websites and applications. By clicking on third party links, you may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party links and you are advised their respective privacy policies.

Responding to Do Not Track Signals
You can generally opt-out of receiving personalized ads from third party advertisers and ad networks, such as Google and Facebook, who are members of the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) or who follow the Digital Advertising Alliance’s Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising by visiting the opt-out pages on the NAI website and DAA website. Our websites are not currently set up to respond to browser do-not-track signals, but you can configure your browser settings to reject all cookies or prompt you before a cookie is set.

California Privacy Rights
California residents have a right to request that we disclose what personal information we collect from you and whether, and how, we disclose or sell that personal information. California residents may also request that we delete any personal information collected or maintained by us from you.

AT3 collects personal and personally identifiable information from you when you visit the Website. AT3 may provide this personal and personally identifiable information to third parties to deliver ads tailored to your interests.

California residents may also have the right to opt out of the sale of their personal information by clicking a link or icon associated with an advertisement. Specifically, this link or icon may state “Do Not Sell My Personal Information” or “Do Not Sell My Info.” By selecting this link or icon, you “Opt Out,” which means that you have opted out of the sale of your personal information as set forth in the California Consumer Privacy Act. However, even though you may have opted out, you may still see interest-based advertisements. To learn more about interest-based advertising across websites and additional opt-out choices, you can visit http://optout.aboutads.info. If you opt-out of the sale of your personal information but do not opt out of interest-based advertising more generally, you may still receive ads tailored to your interests based on personal information that was not sold by us, personal information that was sold to downstream participants at least 90 days before you opted out, or personal information that was sold by other sources from which you have not opted out.

To submit a request for a list of the categories of personal information collected from you or to request that AT3 delete your personal information, please email us at support@at3tactical.com, or send a letter to our US-based legal counsel at the following address:
AT3 Tactical, LLC Privacy Request
c/o Revision Legal, PLLC
444 Cass St., Suite D
Traverse City, MI 49684
United States of America

To verify your request, we may request certain information from you to confirm that you are an AT3 user, such as your phone number, username, email address, city, state, or geographic location. You may also designate an authorized agent to make a request to AT3 to disclose or delete your personal information. To do so, you must provide AT3 with proof that the individual or business has been appointed as your agent, such by providing a a signed power of attorney form, and provide accurate responses to any information requested by AT3 that may be necessary to confirm that you are an AT3 user, such as your phone number, username, email address, city, state, or geographic location. California residents have a right not to receive discriminatory treatment by AT3 for their exercise of these rights conferred under California law.

10DLC Compliance and Privacy

  1. Collection of Personal Information
  1. Use of Personal Information
  1. Privacy and 10DLC
    As a 10DLC service provider, we adhere to the following principles:
  1. Opting Out
  1. Disclosure of Personal Information

Notification of Changes
Whenever we change our Privacy Policy, we will post those changes to this Privacy Policy and other places that we deem appropriate. Your use of the Website following these changes indicates your consent to the practices described in the revised Privacy Policy.

Contact Information
If you have any questions or suggestions regarding our Privacy Policy, or if your personal information is not accurate or complete, please contact our Data Protection Officer at:
Zachary Plansky, support@at3tactical.com

One Last Tip

If there’s anyone that knows the AR-15 platform, it’s the US military. As a special offer for our readers, you can get the Official US Army Manual for AR-15/M4/M16 right now – for free. Click here to snag a copy.

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