Do you keep a rifle for home defense?

Do you keep a rifle for home defense?

  • I keep a rifle for HD

    Votes: 63 39.1%

  • I keep a shotgun for HD

    Votes: 41 25.5%

  • I keep a handgun for HD

    Votes: 51 31.7%

  • I don't keep any loaded weapons ready

    Votes: 6 3.7%
  • Total voters
    161
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Otherguy Overby said:
Wot good is an empty gun?
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I would agree if we were talking handguns, but long guns should never be stored with a round in the chamber. Long guns do not generally have passive safeties and can discharge with a good jolt, such as falling over in the corner. Unlikely as it may be, it's a chance no one should take. If you have time to get to your long gun, you have time to rack the slide/bolt.
 
I agree. To me, a loaded magazine in the weapon makes it a loaded weapon. The chamber is empty on all my long guns for safety considerations until ready for imminent use.
 
LMT M4 with 14.5" barrel. EOTech 552. Pentagon weaponlight. C Products LLC 30rd stainless steel mags loaded with Hornady TAP 75gr.
 
With all the tykes running around the house, a long gun is problematic to keep both secure and ready, therefore the handguns distributed about the house in quick access safes are the fastest to get to.

Handguns can come into play in seconds. I can get the long guns into play with a minute's warning.
 
In a condo/apt environment, a 32 H&R mag revolver with frangible loads makes sense to me. With a blinding Surefire for the other hand. I want to take out only the intruder, not my neighbors too.
 
My main gun would be my G23 loaded with 180grn HST's. If I was sure someone was there I might grab the Mossin M38, but being a bolt gun, that might not be the best option.Though Im pretty sure that a BG hit COM with a 7.62x54 isnt going to fight much.
 
I would agree if we were talking handguns, but long guns should never be stored with a round in the chamber. Long guns do not generally have passive safeties and can discharge with a good jolt, such as falling over in the corner. Unlikely as it may be, it's a chance no one should take. If you have time to get to your long gun, you have time to rack the slide/bolt.
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I adamentally disagree. A rifle's safety shouldn't be relied on anymore than a pistol's. My family keeps every rifle, shotgun, and handgun we own loaded for as long as we have ammo for it. All of our rifles have taken jars and jolts, have fallen or tipped over when stored or in use, and we've never had one go off without pulling the trigger. Just like I don't take the head off a hammer before I put it away, I think it is ridiculous to assume a firearm should be unloaded before being stored.

Additionally, I am not going to give up the element of surprise by acknowleding my position and that I am armed by chambering a round when there is already a hostile prescence in my domicile. Waiting until someone could be around the next corner to load your weapon sounds foolish to me, but maybe my family just does things differently.
 
loaded, but not with a round in the chamber. for ar15s (my HD choice) i never, ever put a round in the chamber in the house because of the possibility of a slamfire.
 
I can't decide between a big Weatherby and a big Mauser, so I have to go with a handgun and/or a shotgun instead, particularly in the city.:p
 
20 GA. for me. I wouldn't feel too bad if I had a lever carbine or a mini 14 or something else of similar dimension and weight.
 
AR15 with a light under the bed, AK in the basement in case I just got back from the gym or otherwise don't have my carry piece on me.

Handgun is usually on me at all times, except when I'm in gym clothes.

With the rifles I don't keep one in the chamber.
 
I keep my XD-9SC and extra mag on the nightstand, and have my Beretta 96 in a holster hanging next to the bed as well (extra mag for it in the nightstand). I don't have a tac light for my XD yet :( , but I keep a flashlight by the bed too. If I ever hear someone come in, I'll take my XD out with me, and wifey will hang on to the Beretta. I don't have any hollow points YET for the Beretta (money's been THAT tight lately), which is why I'd want my wife to have it...less chance of her shooting it, I hope. I don't want the rounds going through all sorts of walls (I'm in an apartment).

Oh, and here's our first line of defense- our little Chihuahua. :D Her name really is Chalupa, too!
DSC00012-1.jpg
 
For home defense, I keep a 1911 with a loaded mag between the matress and box spring, along with a mossberg 500 w/ surefie under the bed (mag loaded w/ 00 buck). I also have several 1911's and .44 mag revolvers loaded in various parts of the house. All my rifles are in my basement. All semiautos have loaded mags in them, the bolt actions are left unlaoded, since I would never pick one up as a first line of defense. The only guns that have loaded chambers consistantly are a keltec p32 and a kimber procarry that I carry on a regular basis.... no kiddies in my house.
 
A rifle's safety shouldn't be relied on anymore than a pistol's
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I agree with that as far as safe handling goes, but the lockwork on a long gun is designed in such a fashion that the release of the sear means a discharge, regardless of how it was released. Many rifles do not even have a fring pin spring, so the sear need not even be released to discharge. Nearly all handguns made in the last half-century have a passive safety that prevents them from discharging unless the trigger is pulled. Revolvers have transfer bars or hammer stops, 1911's have grip safeties and sometimes firing pin blocks, virtually all other auto's have either a firing pin block or a striker that is incapable of striking the primer without a trigger pull.

My family keeps every rifle, shotgun, and handgun we own loaded for as long as we have ammo for it. All of our rifles have taken jars and jolts, have fallen or tipped over when stored or in use, and we've never had one go off without pulling the trigger
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And I've never had my house burn down because I left the stove or coffee pot on. Does that mean it can't happen? I'd rather not tempt disaster.
 
No.

Depends. :D

I was PM-ed about this thread as it relates to a member I am assisting off forum.

My concerns have always been getting into a structure, leaving a structure and answering the door.
I have always carried a Handgun Concealed.

I have a lot of trigger time on shotguns, my travels included taking in a Shotgun in my Garmet bag to hotel/motels/ Guest houses/ condo's and Apts (Corp and Private).

In some settings I use a Lever Action 30-30, I kept these in homes, businesses, and these were often part of the places I stayed. I have been known to also have in that garmet bag a Lever Action 30-30 along with the Shotgun.

Some "Corporate Housing" was in fact Rural, and in Addition My other favorite is the Model 70 in '06.

As the man said "handgun to get to the long gun".

Right this minute with the setting I am in. I am CCW-ing 2 handguns, 1 more is handy, and the long gun is a single shot youth model 20 ga with slugs.

Why? I gotta get into this place, leave and sometimes answer the door. Furniture is arranged such for "shooting lanes" and cover for me. Lighting is to MY advantage. Home invasion situation? Going to be Close quarters here, and taking cover best can while the Calvary gets here is going to be dicy.

My plan is "southern reload" - I am changing handguns instead of reloading.

The shotgun is for holding anyone at bay while I dial the phone again if need...
Or to go thru something to get to them if I have to. Hence the slugs only .

The place I house sit some times? Again handgun first, shotgun second an d lever action 30-30.
I also know where the steel plates are as well as cement block I can use for cover, and the BGs don't. Depending on where I am and "they" are - I got backstops. Oh there I use a .44 magnum for first gun before "Southern reload".
:)

I check out each situation and decide accordingly...still I always have a handgun , and with the trigger time on a shotgun...
 
Mach IV

We're not running with scissors here. We're talking about leaving an inanimate object in a corner until you need it. I know full well that a rifle can go off without having its trigger pulled. My brother had his M249 get bumped off a bench in a guard tower and it put three rounds through the wall. Fair enough. You have a point there. It can happen, but it isn't very likely. So unlikely that in my book it is more risky having an unloaded weapon when you need a loaded one. I'd rather explain a hole in the wall than deal with the potential risks of being mid-way through chambering a round when the bad guy shows up in my doorway with a 12 gauge.
When something goes bump in the night and your heart starts beating out of your chest, you're going to have enough things to worry about. In terms of controls, I already have to remember to switch the safety off and the red dot sight on as well as remember where all the friendlies are located. I know I have to identify my target. The bad guy doesn't. Home field advantage and teh element of surprise may be all I have. I am determined to maintain and employ these advantages as best I can.
And again, just like I am opposed to the school of thought dictating that racking the slide of a shotgun may scare off an intruder, I don't buy it with a rifle either. If someone is going to run away at the sound of a round being chambered, they probably aren't going to put up much of a fight when they are looking down the barrel. I am more worried about the more scarce and dangerous type that come looking for a fight.
When a bad guy breaks into your house, he's got more questions than answers. He doesn't know if his intrusion has awaken the residents or if his presence has been detected. He might not know which rooms are occupied or which occupants are armed. When you chamber a round, it lets him know the answers, at least in part, to all of these questions. In addition, it gives him an general idea of what he is up against and where you are located. You have no such information about your opponent, so you have really just turned the information battle in their favor, in addition to giving away the element of surprise. This seems to me like an awful lot of risk to take when weighed against the chances a rifle will be bumped and impact at such a force and angle as necessary to cause it to discharge. It's not worth it for me to set a rifle aside for defense then handicap it in this role by not keeping it in the condition it will be deployed in. That is why I keep my rifles as loaded as my handguns.
 
My concerns have always been getting into a structure, leaving a structure and answering the door.
I have always carried a Handgun Concealed.
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Good points. I would consider those CCW situations. They are public situations, leaving your home to go out in the public, returning from same (although perhaps good use for a "truck gun"). Answering the doorbell even at 3am calls for concealment of your firearm so you don't freak the person out. Obviously those of us with a Concealed Carry Permit carry handguns on our persons in public, not rifles. A CCW is a very compromised weapon due to the necessity of discretion. A HD weapon does not always have that limitation.

However, home defense may include dissagreeable behaviours by individuals, such as someone sneaking around your property at night or obviously breaking in while you are home. It may even be defense from an animal attacking a loved one in your yard. Scenarious where you are "safe at home" with anything you own at your disposal and things suddenly go very, very bad.

Sure I have pistols and shotguns but You can't defend yourself with an armful of weapons. You need to make a choice and prepare with that choice, plans B and C come later in case of Murphy. If somebody was knocking on my door, I'd have a 1911 stuck in my belt, not a rifle but I'd pick up my AR15 in any situation that did not call for concealment.
 
Shotgun and handgun are always ready. I guess I could use one of my rifles but I see no need.

I imagine you would get different results posting this on different forums.
 
If somebody is knocking on the door at 3 A.M. I'm answering it with my AR slung up for sure. I don't care who it is. If they have half a brain, they will understand.
 
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