[marklbucla]

Have any of you ever had to take action in a home defense situation? If so, what happened, and what was the aftermath? Did all your classes and training pay off?

[Spieler]

This incident occured over a year ago when I was still living in an apartment complex.

A young lady, who had obviously been assaulted, came knocking on my door at the proverbial zero-dark-thirty hour asking for help. To make a long story short, while I was assisting this person her attacker appeared and began verbally threatening the woman and myself while rapidly approaching us. I was armed with a Win. M1300 shotgun, racked the slide, drew a bead on the guy and issued a verbal warning. He stopped in his tracks, his eyes got real big and he started stammering "...it's all cool man" and left the area (to be picked up by police a few moments thereafter).

My wife was my backup, in the apartment armed with a Glock 17 and on the phone with the 911 dispatcher relaying the unfolding of events. I made some blunders and the adrenalin was pumping, but the situation was peacefully resolved. The LEO who took my statement actually stayed a few minutes after I was done writing it and we talked guns!

[C.R.Sam]

Skunk in kitchen....we both armed and polite, went back to bed.
Horse on porch, went back to bed.
Guy stealin gas from my truck, gave him to the cops and kept his can.

Sam....can't herd a skunk.

[Logistar]

Woke up to apparent flashlight in living room. (I could see it down the hall from my bedroom.)

While keeping my eyes down the hall for the BG who might be coming my way, I fumbled for my revolver on the night stand. - That's right.. fumbled... it keep sliding away as I kept trying to grap it.

FINALLY (after what seemed like FOREVER) I got a grip on the gun. The lights in the living room went out. NOW, WHERE did I leave my EMERGENCY flashlight!!!!???? (Another mistake)

Apparently the light MUST have come from outside - possibly a police spotlight illuminating a Church close to me. (The angles worked out OK otherwise I have no idea where the light came from because the only uncovered window is about 8 ft off the ground. I went outside immediately (another mistake) and there was NO one around (and really no place to hide).

Mp point is that although I THOUGHT I had a plan, I wasn't ready. Please "practice" your plan (whatever it is). Under stress, things don't seem to go as you might think. A GOOD plan and lots of practice are probably good ideas.

Phantom Home Invader 1
Logistar 0

[444]

One incident. It didn't go off like something on this board and I am happy about it.
Was sitting in the living room about 0430 drinking coffee and reloading. Faithful dog goes on alert. I know from previous experience that if he does this, there is something there. I grabbed a flashlight and opened the front door. I turned on the flashlight and found two sheriff's deputies about four feet away investigating a report of a woman screaming.
I was very happy that I didn't investigate with a gun in my hand.

Lesson learned: Don't investigate anything. Stay put and if the problem comes to you, deal with it.
Second lesson learned: Just because someone is outside your house, they don't nessessarily need shot.


I had another incident that involved an actual home invasion, but I wasn't home. Dog handled the situation. When I got home, back door was jimmied and open. Dog was taking a nap. Blood everywhere.
Dog ate very well after his nap. Before every bite I pointed to the blood and said, GOOD BOY.

[Quartus]

Good post, Logistar. We're all utterly baaaad, aren't we? If we don't practice, we aren't.


I have had numerous bumps, but no real intruders. I investigate suspicious noises. If if were clear that it was a home invasion or an intruder, my plan is to wait for them to come to me. But bumps have to be either ignored or investigated. I think the first course is insane, and you can't call the cops every time you hear a bump, so I go armed (.45) and check it out.

I did have some loudmouths outside the door making threats one time. Stayed inside, armed with shotgun. Called 911. Waited. Talked to cops after they picked the creeps up. Small enough town that response time is typically decent.

They sure got there fast enough when my malfunctioning phone dialied a random string of digits and 3 of them happened to be 911! :D I was in my driveway, sitting in the driver's seat and checking some paperwork when I spotted the first one out my passenger side window. Hand on sidearm. Checked my rearview. Yup. In back of me, hand on sidearm. I did what I was told, while my wife and kids looked oout the window with wide eyes! :D

We got it sorted out.

[sm]

I won't share some of the more serious due to outcomes, I have shared in the past, and skirted details. I will share ...

I was working late, and heard going ons on the roof. Well anyone whom has worked til wee hours, knows there is a lot of unusal noise. Well this was more than the wind blowing and eerie sounds. I had my CCW (1911)on but grabbed the 12 ga police trade in I kept in the business. I tried to call the police...uh oh, no phone, its 2:00 am. I better grab another gun and hide.

The ceiling tiles are now being kicked onto the floor, I racked the slide and positioned myself behind a pc of furniture which I had incidentally re-enforced with steel plates ( in the event something like this occurred) First fellow hits the floor, 2nd fellow hits the floor."Let me see your hands NOW!! I yelled. Surprise! :) I waited 20 minutes for the LEOs to arrive, though alarm and phone lines cut, I was able to summon help. I tossed handcuffs to the two and had them handcuff themselves to a pipe. I emptied the revolver of live rounds and reloaded the K frame with blanks and fired 6 rds into a large empty drum. Neighbors heard gun shots and called the cops.

Cops arrived to see lights on, through the front of business, me with a shotgun and two guys handcuffed. :D

No cellphones back then, Improvise, Adapt, Overcome.

Officers kinda rolled their eyes about being told gunshots were blanks.
When we moved to a new bldg. , I had the new lattice alarm put in with heat sensors and all the high tech stuff for the crawl space.

Seems the two fellows had been working on cutting through the roof for a bit. Waited until a holiday weekend to do the deed. I had swapped vehicles with a friend , and well since my vehicle was not around, figured the coast was clear. Figured wrong. I guess I was supposed to work and get a project done without interruptions...or for a bit anyway.

[Bostonterrier97]

I've had several false alarms which caused me to draw (usually a Sig P220).
I had one incident where I was awakened by my neighbor at 2:00 am who had noticed some black teenage boys prowling around on my property. I investigated, noticed they were prowling around another house several houses down..one was armed with a lug wrench.

Called the cops, they took off, cops didn't catch them.

Another incident where I had a housemate who decided to have a friend stay in her room while she was away at her boyfriends..(no big deal..except she didn't tell anyone about it, and here was this guy that I ran into at 12:30 am when I woke up to go take a piss...he wasn't too happy facing a 1911..)

I had one very unnerving experience where I was sleeping with my windo open with a light ocean breeze blowing...woke up to a kid screaming..."No Daddy No!" at about 3:00 am. (The sounds were faint...I tried to locate them but couldn't, I am still haunted by that..)

I had one incident straight out of "Cops" where a bunch of police officers pulled over two cars, at gun point litterally in front on my house. (Some of the suspects were handcuffed on my lawn..)
There was a particularly tense moment where the occupants of one car refused to get out of the car...lots of cops uniformed and undercover..with glocks drawn.

I literally carried my overgrown 12 year old son out of his room and into the master bed room..(he was groggy from sleep..and very cranky...). His room was adjacent to the street..and I didn't want any 40 cal bullets zipping though the dry wall into his room.

With the wife and kid safe, I just sat there with a fully locked and loaded M1A..watching the action from a dark room. M1A out of sight but ready if bullets started to head me way.

I had one funny incident that happened to me 22 years ago..I was living in an apartment, it was night, and I heard a noise comming from my kitchen cabinet..I open the cabinet door and a HUGE orange cat jumped right out into my face with claws extended on all four paws...it really gave me a big surprise..and I let out one hell of a yell...followed by lots of swear words once the cat drew blood...

[Mike Irwin]

If the dogs aren't freaking out, roll back over and go back to sleep.

If the dogs are freaking out, let them deal with it, roll back over, and go back to slee.

[MuzzleBlast]

If the dogs are freaking out, let them deal with it, roll back over, and go back to sleep. You must not be married. If I try that, the wife elbows me in the ribs and says "Go see what they're barking at."

[Mike Irwin]

If I were still married, I think I'd let the dogs deal with it (the wife) and I'd go back to sleep. :)

[TrapperReady]

I use the Mike Irwin technique. The only problem is that the sounds are typically being made by the dogs. For example, on two occasions I've been awakened by the sound of glass breaking downstairs. Both times, it's been one of the dogs pulling a dinner plate off the counter and onto the ceramic tile.

The only time that they've really freaked out and gone charging downstairs, I secured a pistol and flashlight and observed the top of the stairs. After about 10 minutes, they came back upstairs as if nothing had happened. We went down and checked things out, but nothing was wrong. Maybe someone had been trying to get in, or (more likely) they heard another dog outside.

[semf]

My embarassing story goes like this

Shortly after I was married, My wife and I were sleeping when I was awakened by a noise coming from the living room of our small one bedroom apartment. I reached over and shook her leg and told her to stay put (remember this point). Our bedroom door was usually closed and I had taught her to stay in the bedroom and shoot only if some one entered the bedroom, as nothing else we had was of any value (no kids).

I could see shadows moving in the living room. I took my newly acquired Raven .25 and chambered a round quietly so as not to give away my position. and targeted the moving shadow. There I sat, finger off trigger,blurry indistinct target in my sights. Then the shadow spoke "go back to sleep a#$h$le it's me". Apparently my wife had gone to the kitchen to get a glass of water and the "leg" I shook was a rolled up comforter.

The next morning my Raven had a round in the chamber, but it was blocked by the next round(live) that had stovepiped while doing my discreet chambering. Luckily it was a Saturday so I went to the local gun shop which specialized in cop surplus and bought the ugliest Mod10 I've ever seen for $59. I still regret selling that extremely accurate and dependable gun.

Thankfully the minimal amount of training I had taught me not to shoot at shadows. I learned too many lessons that night to go into. That situation could have gone way bad in so many ways.

[foghornl]

Several years back, Sis-In-Law was visiting for the weekend. Her then-bf had left, and all had gone to bed. I heard noises in the kitchen, and things creaking WAY too much to be a member of family.

So, I pick up the KP-90 Ruger, and 6-cell Maglite, sneaking toward kitchen. Fridge light is on, and I see a hulking outline. "Freeze, *&^%^&**"

Turns out to be Sissy's then-bf. She had called him on cell-fone, and invited him back, without telling us (me & wife). Sissy let then-bf in via the window.

Shoulda warned him about consequences and repercussions of chugging orange juice from the carton :p

[Pebcac]

18, recently married, working nights, just moved into a rent-controlled apartment (everybody's gotta start out someplace). My wife is at work, and I wake up at about 10AM to hear someone walking about the place outside my closed bedroom door. Just as I rolled off the bed and leveled my Beretta 92 at the door, I hear the dumba$$ apartment manager shouting "Hello! Management!" After a brief (and none too friendly) exchange about her "inspection," she left with the maintenance guy that was with her. They'll never know how close they came to dodging bullets that day. If the door had opened unannounced, who knows. I would've recognized her, but I'd never seen him before in my life.

[CrudeGT]

I had been living in a new house, with my roommate for about 2 weeks. My roommate told me he would not be home that night. So, i brought a girl over and we were up in my room, on the thrid floor, watching a movie. We pause the movie for a smoke break and I hear the door to my roommates room open and close. Might have been my roommate, might not. His room is attached to a balcony, someone might have climbed that balcony and came into the house through that door. (our old apartment had been broken into by someone climbing the blacony and coming in through our sliding glass door). I grabbed my Ruger P89, let my eyes adjust to the dark, and quietly crept downstairs. I followed to noise of the footsteps to the roommates room. I turned the corner and pointed my gun. A girl screams and passes out. Hilarity ensues...

Apparently my roommate had come home and realized i had a girl over, he tried to be quiet and getting his girl to his room. he had stepped out on the balcony to get something while she was in his room. When he came back in, he explained that this girl has problems with guns, nothing traumatic, she just had anxiety attacks when she sees them. i guess having one pointed at her sent her over the top. from then on, whenever the roommate comes home, he yells "I'M HOME, IT"S JUST ME"

[griz]

When I was living in a garage apartment and working third shift was when I had my only human intruder. It's middle of the morning and I had fallen asleep after getting home dead tired. I was awakened by somebody trying to get in the front door. I still question my decision to go downstairs unarmed, but I did.:uhoh: Turns out I was so tired I had forgotton to lock the front door. The neighboors kid was coming in to say Hi. It may be tactically unsound, but I'm glad that 9 year old boy didn't have to learn about knocking first by seeing the sharp end of a 357.

[OF]

Sat up in bed most of the night scared ****less. Dog wasn't barking, dog was scared and panting. My wife went all over the 250-year old house with a sage smudge the next day and it's been quiet ever since.

Go figure.

- Gabe