Best gun "catagory" for home defense?

[Brian Dale]

Shotgun.

Objective advantages of shotguns include stopping power, the intimidation factor for BGs, and the loss of velocity after pellets pass through a wall. My choice is bird shot; pellets are all in a tight cluster at inside-the-house ranges. I'm not Law Enforcement, where greater distances and the need to shoot through cars would come into play.

My primary reason is that I'm more familiar and comfortable with shotguns than with rifles or pistols. I like rifles and pistols (including revolvers), but it's a shotgun that moves naturally in my hands. I don't pretend to great skill, but we're talking about short distances and great stress. I don't have to think about the gun; my hands know what it's doing. If attacked at home, I'd be more confident with a shotgun in my hands than with any other weapon.

 

[Mikul]

Handgun.

I used to be a big fan of the shotgun for home defense. It's simple and effective. What more could you want?

A lack of collateral damage.

When the whole family is hold up in a single place, give me a shotgun. When the family is spread about the house, I'll take the pistol. If someone is taken hostage, I'm certainly not thinking "shotgun."

A carbine is a good choice depending on your location, but it's not as easy to retain or move around corners as a little handgun.

Caliber? Anything at 9mm or above will do the job if you do your part. A .357 or .44 magnum has all the power you could want, but I find them all a bit slow on the follow up. I'm warming up to the 10mm.

 

[Brass Balls]

For me it's a pistol with a weapon mounted light. This gives me what I need in one hand and leaves the other hand free for moving children or opening doors.

 

[duckfoot]

Shotgun with single 0 buckshot or a .45 ACP pistol with fragables

Reason, both have good stopping power and don't have a high over penetration nature.

Now, I have braced metal firedoors on the front, back and master bedroom doors, with reinforced frames, and the wife has standing orders to shoot anything unfriendly that beats them down with my Remington 1100 CM. (a no knock at my house would be a nightmare for all involved)

Firearms are part of my homes defense. Yard shark, heavy doors, and motion lights are usually enough to dissuade the common dirt bag.

But that's just my 2 bits

 

[4570Rick]

I don't mean to sound too vague, but the best gun for home defense is the gun you are most comfortable and proficient with. For me, that's a single action revolver, the one I shot cowboy with for a lot of years.

 

[Baron Holbach4]

16-inch 12 gauge shotgun.

 

[twoblink]

Quick, easy, painless.

Blame, which part of getting shot by a shotgun is painless??

 

[CleverNickname]

16-inch 12 gauge shotgun.

Did you mean 18"? If you really meant 16", why go just 2" under Title 1 length on a short-barrel shotgun?

 

[Baron Holbach4]

Ooops, Clevernickname, you got me. I stand corrected. Make that an 18-inch 12 gauge shotgun.

 

[71Commander]

12 gauge with 00 buck.

I have an auto but the sound of a pump slide racking has to be the number one sound that a BG does not want to hear.

 

[COK]

I feel secure with a 12 Ga . loaded with number 4’s backed up by a 357 revolver.

 

[Erik]

Shotgun

 

[twoblink]

My weapon(s) of choice for 2 years had been a Ruger SP101 loaded with 125 grainer JHP. The "other" was a Browning BPS 20 gauge shotgun. The length was a problem.. but it was usually behind the other side of the front door..



Interesting, I read more pistols than I thought I would. Shotgun and revolver I think still get the nod from me..

 

[pinetree64]

Every home should have a shotgun. You can mix shell types, but I would feel safe with a small game load. Then again those 3" steel T's would make a bloody hole. That being said, I even feel safe with my 20g O/U. Heck even one of those Marlin Level action 410's would be cool.

I however do - not follow this advice. I have a 1911 usually near by. Have a Walther 32acp in my night stand, wife adopted my Taurus M85UL 38 for hers. When I here a noise, it is easy to grab with a mag light and check it out. If nothing or a just a group of teens in a harmless latenight prank, the pistol can go in the waist band and nobody notices. The flash light is independent and can be used without the gun being drawn.

Barring an "Alas Babylon" scenario, I don't think a rifle is good for home protection. I'm not going to war or taking on a drug gang, and I don't need the range. PLEASE note, I am talking home, as in the house protection - not property protection. When I lived in-town and the riots were going-on, if I had a high-cap rifle it would have been out of the safe and ready to roll.

"Hey you kids get out of my yard" as I hold my M-4gery with mounted tactical light... No thanks. A mag light and a CCW...

tjg


















I think a high cap SA is a little overkill.

 

[Aikibiker]

pinetree64 said:

When I here a noise, it is easy to grab with a mag light and check it out. If nothing or a just a group of teens in a harmless latenight prank, the pistol can go in the waist band and nobody notices.

I sure hope that plan works out better for you then it did for me.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?threadid=61514

 

[thumbtack]

Mean hunger bears make the best home defense weapon, they also take care of all the evidence.

 

[jefmad]

The best for me right now is a semi auto handgun. The reason is because I have a 2 year old son and the pistol can easily be locked up in my closet and my son cannot get access to it but I can have it in hand in about 10 seconds. If there were no kids in the house I would have a shotgun in my bedroom to serve that purpose.

 

[BB93YJ]

M1Super90 00Buck
1911A1 Combat Commander as backup

That ought to handle it.

 

[Taptrans2039]

Home defense?

12 guauge shotgun with pistol grip, Load 00buck. It will not penetrate walls killing a neighbor or passerby, also in the dark, point at the sound and shoot.magnums and power rounds are to powerful and penetrate walls. you can quickly jack a round into a shotgun, leaving it handy, but securing the rounds if kids are present in the home. makes a good club too, you can bash thier heads in lol.

 

[rangerruck]

shotty ,mag fed 10 rounds, if possible.

 

[grimjaw]

I used to live in an apartment that had such shoddy construction that you could see the neighbor's kitchen lights come on between cracks in the paneling. Forget sheetrock. I'm quite certain that just about anything would have busted through and risked hitting the little girl that lived over there. In that situation, birdshot would have been all I felt comfortable with.

Also lived in what appeared to be a one-bedroom house/bomb shelter, with high windows and neighbors a good distance away behind similar structures. Could have taken my pick then, although the spaces were small enough inside to make rifles overkill.

Depends on the situation.

jmm

 

[vynx]

Well, now thats a question.

After reading the "best home defense weapon" threads and analyzing all the inciteful responses I have come up with the only correct answer.

A shotgun 12 ga. & .20 ga., a carbine in pistol caliber and one in a rifle caliber either .223 or .308 both is better, semi-auto pistols in .9mm, .40, .45 and .10, revolvers in .38+P., .357 and larger calibers.

There ... no wait the shotguns you will need pumps, double barrels and semi-autos. For the rifles semi only is ok but leaves you at a disadvantage it is reccomended to have at least a lever-action or a pump rifle as back-up.

It not important to keep all guns loaded at the same time but before going to sleep or taking a shower you must strategically place the boxes they came in at all possible entry locations and hallways. This will trip up intruders and the noise of crunched boxes will wake you up and alert you to their entry.

I know this may sound excessive at first but believe me once you start you will be amazed at how quickly your safe becomes too small.

Enjoy.

 

[Medusa]

Well, a semi-auto pistol has the HD duty, I could always grab the G36K (and loaded C-mag nearby ) rifle and blast away... If to dream, a Glock 18 or HK MP5SD (or both ) would be more than welcome - to dispatch the BG "quick, easy, painless"

 

[AStone]

Depends on where I am in my studio, and what I'm doing.

If I'm working downstairs, then I'm wearing my K9.

If I'm in the home office, or asleep,
then my 870 with 00 is only a few feet away.

The 642 will be CCW once I get the permit,
but for now, serves as BUG in the studio.

 

[MTMilitiaman]

My first response when things go bump in the night is a Glock 20 but if I have the time to get out of bed, I am two steps away from an AK clone with a red dot--which I vastly prefer to any pistol or shotgun.

I am a rifleman, or at least an aspiring rifleman so my vote goes to the rifle carbine as my best catagory for home defense.