Newbie SBR/Ammunition Question

[RetreatHell]

Novelty asside, I wouldn't want to be shot with a Diplomat within 75 yards

Look, I'm no expert by ANY means, but all I know is that when I was engaged in combat in Iraq during the initial 2003 invasion, I witnessed with my own eyes MANY Fedayeen Saddam fighter taking MULTIPLE hits before they'd finally go down for the count. I was a Marine, so we used the 20" barrel M16A2 (with just irons at the time, as the ACOG was being tested by 3 Marines in each of our infantry platoons) and fired the standard-issue green tip rounds. That's about as high as a muzzle velocity you can get with an assault rifle (generally speaking of course).

Now, it IS true that the little bastards we were killing we all sorts of ****ed up on khat and had also shot themselves up with epinephrine (artificial adrenaline) as well before attacking us, but when you shoot someone in the chest several times, you expect them to die! So when they keep on tickin' and shooting at you, it's rather surprising to say the least. We just didn't anticipate having to shoot someone 6-10 times (give or take) before they'd finally stop fighting and were no longer a threat.

On one occasion my good friend, who was one of the lucky few testing and evaluating the M16A4 and ACOG 4X optic, shot an enemy fighter in the face and was stunned to see the man not go down. He let loose quite a few rounds in frustration at the fighter's chest to make damn sure he would put his ass down, which of course did the trick.

The reason I think this is relevant is because if someone breaks into your house at night, obviously knowing that your home, it's very likely that he (or she) is on some kind of drug(s). Meth seems to be all the rage these days, and those addicted to it seem to go to great lengths in order to get their next fix. So if they break into your house and are high out of their minds on Meth (or something similar), they will likely require more rounds to kill or effectively stop for good. If they are running at you, you might not be able to fire but just a few rounds before they reach you, so you want every round to count and you want them to stop coming at you as fast and soon as possible.

Most likely the 7.5" Diplomat would do the job, but there IS always the possibility that, even at only 10 yards away, the drastically decreased muzzle velocity of the Diplomat might not be enough to stop/kill a methed-up full grown man before he reaches you and, because of his "superhuman" meth-strength, might even over power you and take your gun before he bleeds out.

All I'm saying is just be aware that a drastically decreased muzzle velocity CAN have a rather large impact in a gun fight, even if it's a one-sided gun fight in your favor. I personally feel that for a HD firearm, a good ol' shotgun is always your best bet, as it will stop anybody dead in their tracks, and will also be less likely to over-penetrate walls and other house materials and mistakenly kill others in your home, or your next door neighbors if you just so happen to miss your target.... unless you are using slugs I guess.

That's just my two cents, take it for what it's worth guys. With all that said however, I would personally LOVE to have the Noveske Diplomat because I just think it would be fun as hell to shoot at the range and in classes. But if I were to buy a rifle with a barrel that short for home defense or even for offensive purposes (if my job required it), I would probably go with one in 6.8mm.