General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Can someone explain what law-abiding citizens do with their semiautomatic rifles? [View all]PTWB
(4,131 posts)The first is that the AR platform is easily chambered in a wide variety of cartridges, including many common deer hunting calibers.
The second is that the standard .223 / 5.56 chambering is commonly used for hunting smaller game and varmints, such as coyotes, ground hogs, rock chucks, rabbits, wild hogs, and many others. The .223 is a highly effective deer cartridge when using properly constructed bullets combined with proper shot placement.
I would not recommend the .223 for deer hunting by inexperienced hunters or folks who aren't well versed in the terminal ballistics of their chosen round. But deer hunting is only one subset of hunting.
As for home defense, your choice of the 9mm is fine (although I'm not sure what 80 grain bullets you're shooting, that seems incredibly light as most common defense loads are 124 grain or 147 grain). I owe my life to a 9mm and will not disparage it's effectiveness.
That said, the question is not whether the 9mm is effective at home defense (it surely is), the question is whether the AR-15 is effective at home defense and it, too, surely is.