Home Defense Question for My Wife

[Deltaboy1984]

Get to teaching the kids to shoot as soon as possible and all the classic gun rules. I keep a Hi point 45 in the side pocket of my easy chair and my daughter even shoots it. But she doesn't play with it and I pocket carry and keep every thing else secured while we have guest.

 

[Shawn Dodson]

PS - I was torn on if .45 made sense for my wife but my understanding is that .45 HPs are less prone to over penetration than a comparable 9mm.

Unfortunately you are misinformed regarding "overpenetration" of .45 vs 9mm.

On a different note, I suggest your wife learn how to quickly clear stoppages in the event she experiences one while shooting in defense and needs to get the gun running again. She should be able to perform it as a routine without thought. For an example, see - http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=7893209&postcount=3

 

[ZeSpectre]

Plan ahead
Run some scenarios
Have some code words

"After the whistle blows is no time to come up with a game plan"

 

[45_auto]

I had a Gunvault that worked great on the first set of batteries for about a year.

2nd set lasted about 6 months - good batteries, fresh alkaline Energizers.

3rd set lasted about 2 months.

After that, it would kill a set of batteries in about a month.

It's been collecting dust in the shed for several years now, you can have it if you want to pay postage.

 

[Hugo]

Here's that video from the security convention of the guy (nickname Deviant Ollam, he enjoys his firearms) testing lockboxes. Some are very defective or just negligent/bad design. Scary how many locks are just crap. See his other videos on locks too.

Also, beware of biometric fingerprint locks, they can be laughably/frighteningly easy to defeat depending on the make/model.

Video slightly NSFW due to some swear words (these conventions are very casual), so use headphones.
http://vimeo.com/31177302

I've mentioned this guy on other topics, but it's just so surprising how locks are often defective junk, the word needs to be spread out.

 

[Manco]

I had a Gunvault that worked great on the first set of batteries for about a year.

2nd set lasted about 6 months - good batteries, fresh alkaline Energizers.

3rd set lasted about 2 months.

After that, it would kill a set of batteries in about a month.

This could happen, but even when it doesn't, batteries themselves are prone to failure over time (especially disposable alkaline and zinc-carbon batteries). It should be obvious by now that in addition to generally poor design, practically all electronic lockboxes (certainly the more affordable ones) have many failure modes.

Here's that video from the security convention of the guy (nickname Deviant Ollam, he enjoys his firearms) testing lockboxes. Some are very defective or just negligent/bad design. Scary how many locks are just crap. See his other videos on locks too.

Also, beware of biometric fingerprint locks, they can be laughably/frighteningly easy to defeat depending on the make/model.

Video slightly NSFW due to some swear words (these conventions are very casual), so use headphones.
http://vimeo.com/31177302

Thanks for the link. Take a look at the following videos as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVr8d2Q7Chk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovjvy0FTxBY

In my opinion, people would be better off with a decent mechanical combination lockbox from one of the following manufacturers:

http://fas1safe.com
http://www.ftknox.com/store/index.php?route=product/category&path=59
http://www.vlineind.com

These are just examples I'm familiar with--add any others you know of. These products are not cheap, but they're still fairly economical in addition to being more reliable, less of a hassle, more practical, and stronger and better designed than their electronic counterparts (e.g. GunVault).