Changing Home Defense Tactics, need to maintain a safe environment

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DustyVermonter

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What is your go-to HD gun and why? What is the criteria in which it is employed? As of lately I have been keeping my Glock 17 loaded with 15 rounds at my bedside while my other guns sit in the safe 6 feet away. I'm sure there has been some debate as to whether it is safe/unsafe to keep loaded weapons in your house but I do and always will. I have felt comfortable keeping my G17 loaded with 15 rounds in the mag up until now but as my 1 and 1/2 year old will be switching from her crib to a bed in a month or two I am going to have to switch tactics. I have a variety of weapons such as assault rifles, shotguns, full size and compact pistols but I am very confident with my glock and its abilities combined with mine. I do have a lockbox about the size of a shoebox but I am not comfortable with the idea of fiddling around with keys under stress in a tense situation. I would like to find a strategy that's not based on my daughter's capabilities as I would have to change tactics pretty much everyday. Any safety tips and suggestions would be of great help. Thanks
 
I believe in using overwhelming force. I don't believe in bring a knife to a gunfight. I certainly don't ever want myself to be evenly matched in ANY fight. I want to use overwhelming force to stop the guy who is trying to kill me. If the bad guy has a pistol, I want a Rifle. If he has a rifle, I want a machine gun. If he has a machine gun, I want a tank. If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.

Your plan will always be centered around your kids. I have a child with a disability who is so crafty I can't keep up with him. The level of security vs accessibility I have used until now will no longer work. What kept my other kids out of my guns won't keep him out, so I need to make a change. Before I used a shotgun, no round in the chamber, slide locked. My backup is an M-1 carbine with magazines in a pouch on the butt. I will likely hang the shotgun over the inside of the closet door and leave it secret and keep everything else locked up.

You have to give a hard look and see what is truly safe in your house with your kids.
 
We have loaded guns secured around the house. They are in lock boxes with key touch combination locks that can be opened very quickly without looking. The lock boxes are bolted in easily accessible but hidden places. Each one contains a loaded gun, extra ammunition and a Surefire flashlight.

In this way, we have ready guns quickly available to my wife and I, but still secure from unauthorized access. While we have no children, I don't see any reason to make our guns available to visitors.
 
What is your go-to HD gun and why? What is the criteria in which it is employed?
Click to expand...

The closest weapon to the bed is the 686+P with Corbon DPX. If I roll over once I'm on the floor next to it and it's trained on the doorway within 3 to 5 seconds. A second .357 with the same ammo will be in position for crossfire on the same target. That's if awoken and sounds of intrusion.

For sounds of attempted entry, something suspicious outdoors, something going on in the street, etc., the shotgun is the preferred weapon for firepower and the tac-lite. The brightest point of the beam is the POA. So I'm following the "use handgun to fight your way to the long gun" school of HD. There is no anticipated problem the 5 rounds of #1 buck can't handle, but there are 6 more 00 buck onboard for reloading.

Nobody else in the house and neighbors are fairly far away so I have a clear field of fire with safe backstop in most directions. The presence of a child in your case makes things more complicated. The guns must be kept safe and you have to keep her out of lines of fire. A bedside gunsafe with a simple opening mechanism makes a lot of sense. The risk of a toddler finding the gun is higher than the risk of an intruder.

A light or laser on the handgun might be smart to ensure target ID and aimpoint.
 
Primary is my daily carry pistol, which I usually wear when I'm in the house as well as outside and then lock in a GunVault safe at night.

Secondary is a CZ-82 in a Gunvault safe on the lower floor.

Tertiary is a Mossberg 500 in the master bedroom closet with a Masterlock combination trigger lock on it, loaded with #4's and a half-dozen slugs on a side-saddle shell holder. The master bedroom is our safe room, and if the shotgun and my carry gun can't handle things, the next step is use a cell phone to call in an airstrike. :)

I have two small boys and they know not to touch my guns, but I cannot take the chance that their curiosity may one day conquer their instruction. I have the GunVault Deluxe Mini, and I like it quite a lot. Yes, there is the fact that in a stress situation, a safe may be harder to open than a nightstand drawer, but I practice drawing and firing in semi-stress environments when I shoot USPSA so I practice opening the safe under a timer as well.
 
My kids are both teenagers that shoot. a lot. they aren't an issue for us. However, they have friends, SOOOOO, never a weapon left unattended. Everything stays in the safe until attended. My night gun sleeps in a neat little under the pillow affair, the name of which escapes me right now, so that it's not on the nightstand. My big nightmare is someone coming in the house, walking up to my bed while I'm still sleeping and clueless, and picking up my weapon to use on me and mine. It stays UNDER the pillow in it's holster gizmo so it's free to my hand, but no other.
We have several of the electronic single pistol safes throughout the house for issues that may occur when we aren't in the bed and don't happen to be carrying.
 
No kids to worry about at home, so my at-hand firearm these days it an M39 Mosin-Nagant. Load is usually 4 rounds of mid range soft points, none in the chamber, closed bolt. Even stuck a little tactical light on it with a temporary mount.

Alternate is the Win 94 BB in .450 Marlin, loaded with relatively light hollow points.

For the office I mounted an under-desk safe to stow my carry piece. It's working fantastic.
 
I have two Rossi snub 38's (one is actually a .357) in each bedside drawer and a Smith 6903 9mm that is a "roving gun" meaning it is in the room that I am in. I keep it in a holster, in a pistol rug. I keep the 9mm loaded in condition 3, meaning I have to rack the slide to go to town. I also have a 12gauge shotgun under the bed. The 38's are loaded with 110 grain winchester silver tips and the 9mm is loaded with 115 grain Hydrashocks. The 12gauge isn't loaded, but I have 00 and #4 at hand to feed it.

Keeping auto loaded in condition 1, in an off body carry system is not responsible. There are too many hands manipulating the gun. If you want to keep a condition 1 gun around, and carry it off body, make it a revolver. That is of course my opinion.
 
I'd say the best solution is to carry the GLOCK on your hip although it might be a little too big for CCW. My HD strategy consists of mindset, tactics, locks on the doors, and a j frame in my pocket plus a 5 shot speedloader which follows me around all day including when sleeping. If I wake up at night to a break-in, all I have to do is reach in my pocket.
 
I just recieved my GunVault 1000 Deluxe yesterday. We have a 9 year old and 2 year - the 2 year old is pretty curious, so the GunVault is for him (and me).

Everything else is locked up pretty well, so the handgun stored in the little safe will have to cover my family (well along with some help from the Akita).

Josh
 
I have considered a revolver for HD as it can be easily manipulated under stress, the only quams I have about it are capacity, its a 5 shot taurus snub nose .38. If for some reason I had to venture outside I wouldn't have much range or capacity, for that I don't consider it for home defense. That is why I currently employ the glock for the HD role. It has supperior capacity and although not as simple as a revolver, it has minimal bells and whistles so all I have to do is rack the slide. I currently have 15 Hornady TAP 124gr hollowpoints and am confident that they would get the job done. I also have Hornady critical defense 115gr with FTX bullets and is a toss up for me as to which to keep in it, I guess its just personal prefference. Would anybody advise against keeping the mag loaded to full capacity (17rds)? Also, just an added note tell me if this is a good deal or what, I paid $13.00 per 25 Round box of the Hornady TAP and $17.00 per 25 Round box of the Hornady Critical Defense FTX. Also, for .45acp I paid $15.00 per box of Hornady TAP 230gr hollowpoints. Just thought I'd add that as I thought it was the deal of the century, picked up a few boxes of each.
 
Anyone with kids has to be careful that`s for sure. Not sure what the answer is but continued "teaching" is part of the solution and as they get older, they better understand your bottom line.......this is not a toy. Don`t touch!
If you can`t control your kids, I hope your a pacifist. Then you don`t need a weapon. Problem solved.........:)
 
I lucked out as for the acquisition of my safe, my mother in law is a little hoplaphobic and thinks guns are evil so for my 21st birthday she bought me a $600 gun vault. It worked out great for me but I seriously think it was more or less for her peace of mind. Trust me she would never contibute to my addiction, in support of it anyway. He he
 
She came over for dinner with me and my wife one time and the place looked like an army barracks. Next time I saw her around my B-day she had a big box with a bow on it, whaddya know, it was a gun safe
 
My main philosophy is that kids who are familiar-ized with guns and know exactly how they work and how to take them apart and clean them, the better off they are. I will be doing this with my daughter as soon as she can pick both ends of the rifle off the floor. I believe that ignorance and curiosity is the leading factor of 'accidents'. I plan to make my child understand these things ASAP, The kids who are just told NO!!! You NEVER EVER EVER touch guns!!! get curious and have accidents. I just need to make them inaccessible until she is able to understand guns inside and out, of course they will never just be layin around.
 
I agree with the above, except at the age you're talking about (1 1/2 years) up to about 4, I think the rule needs to be don't touch. And don't keep one in the pipe, just in case. Later, familiarize the kid as he/she is ready and becomes interested, and becomes a little more responsible and able to follow directions.
 
Sounds like you've answered your own question. You are confident with the G17, no reason to goof with a good thing. The cool thing about the larger size gunvault brand box is that you can also stash a spare mag, a flashlight and a kydex holster with a belt clip, so you can suit up if time permits.
 
J-frame in your pocket with a speed loader in the other? I just imagine that would not be the most comfortable, safest method but if it works for you, very well. As I said I do have the snub-nose .38 and it actually has a lock just below the hammer but then again I'd have to be screwin around with a key.
 
I live alone way out in the sticks, if I blow a few holes in the walls I will fix them later. I use a .357 Magnum, Winchester Model 1897 Trench gun ( the real thing not some Chinese copy) and my M14 if need be, What I grab depends on the threat, it's not getting in without noise, I have made sure of that. My revolver lives very close so I grab that first, then the trench gun. I am fast with that trench gun, anybody who owns one knows what I mean, whatever it is will be dead. If I have to go to the M14 while still in the house something serious bad has happened in the world. That's about as far as I will go talking about my personal security on any forum, computer or public. Like the man said about overwhelming force, if it comes for me I am going to open up with everything I have and not stop until the last twitch is gone from it's body.
 
I totally forgot that my 1911 .45 has an ILS on it, I guess I'd have to compromise ease of manipulation for safety, at least for the next 6 yrs or so as far as a bedside gun goes. I wouldn't mind keeping a couple ILS keys in my pocket as opposed to the J-frame. I guess I'm gonna have to make some compromises, and the .45 aint too bad of a compromise. I got tremendous respect for the .45, I just like 9mm better for lots of reasons.
 
Believe me if I lived alone I too would have guns loaded for bear but ever since I started a family a whole new responsible side of me just kind of clawed its way through. I do envy you in a way because I could have quite a set-up up here because I too live off in the middle of nowhere with lots of cover. But I am very happy with my current set up and am happy with the compromise.
 
My concerns have always been: leaving a structure, entering a structure and answering the door.
This includes, not limited to, getting into/exiting a vehicle, or other conveyance.

So how would I take me down, if I were a criminal?


Firearm(s)? This is the easy part.
 
No trigger disconnector on the '97, it will fire each time you work the slide and hold the trigger down. Five rounds in the tube, and one up the pipe, I can slamfire that gun empty in seconds, all six rounds, it's the fastest shotgun I own, light years faster than my other pumps and even my Beretta A 300 semi auto.
 
DustyVermonter said:
I have considered a revolver for HD as it can be easily manipulated under stress, the only quams I have about it are capacity, its a 5 shot taurus snub nose .38. If for some reason I had to venture outside I wouldn't have much range or capacity, for that I don't consider it for home defense.
Click to expand...

I didn't say that you keep 0 auto's. I said that keeping auto's in condition one, off body carry, is irresponsible. There should be plenty of other accessible weapons in case the needs of the moment change. That doesn't mean that each one needs to be fully loaded with one in the chamber. Have a few reliable revolvers ready for response and then other weapons is the way to go IMO.

There are VERY few ND of a revolver. With auto's it happens all the time.

sm said:
My concerns have always been: leaving a structure, entering a structure and answering the door.
This includes, not limited to, getting into/exiting a vehicle, or other conveyance.

So how would I take me down, if I were a criminal?


Firearm(s)? This is the easy part.
Click to expand...

+1

The oracle has spoken... :)
 
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