EXACTLY. No way in hell I would ever fire the AR in the house. A neighbor would definitely get hit. They travel too far.
Get yourself a nice stubby 12 guage you can manuver in a hallway like this
stagger the rounds, insert 1 00 buck(can go slightly lighter here 00 is kinda heavy), then 1 heavy bird, another 00, 1 heavy bird etc until shes full. don’t load the chamber. that way intruder will hear the rack of it loading, it probably won’t fase them but it’s worth a shot. if you do have to fire, back to back shots and one will scatter a bit, the next will make a hole. either way they won’t ever look or walk the same again if they survive.
Here’s my backup just in case.
slightly shorter than the 870 with the stock folded out, but only carries 2 rounds.