40 S&W Rifles

[VERT]

My daddy loved deer hunting with his 1873 Winchester 38-40. Gave him complete pass through.
The .40 oughta make a nice multi-purpose carbine, self defense as well as meeting the deer hunting regs.

I don't think the .40 S&W will meet the criteria for hunting deer. It most certainly would kill a deer.

 

[oldpink]

As others stated, varmint bullets will be either hollowpoint, softpoint, or polymer tipped (Hornady V-Max or Nosler Ballistic Tip).
Those bullets are designed to fragment.

 

[Jerry45Acp]

That's why we're here.
If you should opt for the .223/5.56mm for defense purposes, I strongly advise a varmint bullet.
Those will have the most terminal performance, least likely to overpenetrate, and the most likely to fragment if they hit drywall or any other building structure.

Hornady VMax 223 will go through 5/16 inch mild steel plate from 25 yards and leave a nice cratered hole behind. I'd be careful in assuming a 223 is going to frag and not overpenetrate.

 

[Sureshot129]

I've ran a few rifles on the list, my personal opinion are as follows

Just right carbine: fun to shoot PITA to clean requires tools for dis-assembly and cleaning. Glock fun stick compatibility for a good time.

Beretta CX4 carbine: great shooter, didn't have to clean it. Limited as to mag capacity (pro mags are crap)

Kel-tec: Better as a survival type rifle.

LAR-40: I'm building one now, feels like the best option for accessories availability as most AR stuff should fit, manual of arms similar to the AR, going to use Uzi mag instead of the proprietary Rock River mags.

15-22: tons of fun to shoot, easy to clean

I'll also throw in buying the a .22LR conversion for a standard AR, point of impact with LR is different but not enough to make a difference in a home defense situation.