Home defense questions (Long post)

[desertplinker]

Our new addition to the family has me thinking about defense strategies as well as safety. My son is now 4 months and I wanted to start making all the necessary preparations for when he becomes mobile.

The image shows a rough layout of the upstairs level of my home. It's 6 or so years old and has the typical construction characteristics (i.e. drywall and 2x4's). The floors are structuaral OSB joists with plywood flooring and fairly creaky. It's hard to sneak around without someone on the ground floor hearing it.

(Picture DELETED)

The home is located in one of the best (statistically speaking) neighborhoods in the city. It is equipped with a full security system. Locks and closures are all stock and have not been upgraded. The front door is an obvious weak point as it is a double door. I think it would be fairly easy to break open. We use dowels in all windows and rear sliding doors to prevent prying.

As far as the bed's positioning I am located on the door side slightly off center from the doorway looking down the hall. I have mounted a S&W Versavault inverted immediately under my sleeping position on the bed frame. I like the gun box and can very quickly access my defensive weapon.

My home is obviously not ideal in layout as the secondary bedrooms all fall in the line of fire should a would be criminal make it to the top of the stairs. My primary concern is this fact. The two remaining bedrooms are seldom occupied. My son's room being the area of concern.

I already have changed my ammo selection in my 226R 9mm to MagSafe. I have not yet function tested it, so thats an obvious need to do. I have mounted a Streamlight M3X light and also have a Mag 4D light under the bed. I'm a fairly practiced shooter and have been doing so since approx. 6 years old. I elected to keep the 9mm in the box due to the accuracy, light rail and high capacity. I also took into consideration lack of manual safeties and high round count. I guess a tactical shotgun would be my first choice, but 00 buck flying around the house sounds scary as far as where shots are going. I do have several other choices of guns in various calibers that might give better performance.

So the main question is what do do to ensure that friendly fire could never fall into my son's bedroom. I initially thought of removing the drywall and lining the interior with telephone books between his bedroom and the adjacent bedroom but I'm concerned about the fire risks. Obviously kevlar would probably be the best choice. Pretty expensive at a guess of ~$500 to line the wall. I'd guess steel would be a good bullet stopper but riccochets back toward myself and wife don't sound appealing.

I find it unlikely that I would ever find myself in the predicament where I would engage in a shootout in my hallway. I just can't imagine a burglar making it that far with the security system protesting. I would think the main position would be to cover the stairs from the landing while having my wife retrieve the baby would be the more normal tactical position while calling 911 from my cell phone.

So any help in my thinking?

 

[belton-deer-hunter]

well i would move the babys crib to the next room up and put it in the corner. if anyone does come up the stairs and you fire shots he will be far enough away to be safe unless they come through the master bathroom but other than that you should be pretty safe


let me know how it goes
(the bedroom i am talking about is right nest to the mbr closet)

 

[palerider1]

i have little ones and i can understand your concerns. if you really want to line the walls alot of the civilian armored cars use aluminum. aluminum is used because it is lighter and by being softer it slows the bullet down. before doing this i would test fire at different thicknesses starting with 1/4 inch aluminum plate. you also can double up by putting it on both sides of the wall and probably replace your drywall with it and just paint over it. the other thing to consider for safety is fire. i am a volunteer firefighter so i have to mention this. make sure you test and change the batteries in all fire alarms. also make sure they are properly placed throughout the house, and have an escape plan which you practice with your family. if you call the local fire dept they would be more than happy to send someone over to review all of these items with you and your wife. most people who die in fires die from smoke and not flames, that is why it is so important to have smoke detectors (and carbon monoxide detectors) in your home. once the smoke build up it is very difficult to see and may prevent you from rescuing and escaping the fire. considering the home invasions that go on nowadays i would replace the door (and the door frame) with a much heavier duty construction. the door can be great, but if the frame is weak its coming down anyway.

good luck

 

[desertplinker]

Thanks for your responses.

In regards to shifting the crib to the closer bedroom, I worry that would only provide a temporary solution. As he grows and graduates to a larger bed as well as becoming mobile, I don't feel confident in that solution. I worry about the fluid dynamics of the invasion encounter and whether my situational awareness needs that extra variable to contend. Not that I'm trying to be dismissive of your thought, I actually thought the same thing for a bit. Thanks for the idea though.

In regards to fire protection the security system is equipped with smoke detectors in each bedroom as well as one centered above the landing. I'm not sure about carbon monoxide detectors. My home is all electric, no gas service in my neighborhood. Do I still need one? The security/smoke detection system is monitored by ADT.

The front door is the agreed first to fix problem area. I am considering a steel exterior security door with deadbolt and opaque solar screens.

 

[crofrog]

Honestly, I'd stop using the mag safe it does not pentrate in a reliable enough fashion to cause incapication. It just makes a nasty surface wound.

I'd say just learn the lines of fire, so you can figure out what is where and no where the no shoot zone's are for the back stop in your house.

Also, just a little caveot, about what you posted. If I was planning an attack on your residence you just gave me the majority of the intel I need to insure a successful attack.

 

[desertplinker]

Yes good point on the intel but I really would like an open discussion on how to best keep my family safe. I realize it's a risk posting this type of thread but hopefully the benefit outweighs that risk. Thanks for the advice though!

So is all the info on the mag safe just horse phoey?

 

[MechAg94]

You might consider getting a shotgun w/ buckshot as well as it may not penetrate as much as 9mm in many cases (at least in drywall).
I agree with just knowing the lines and angles and where everything and everyone is.

A bed with a tough head board facing the hallway?

 

[crofrog]

You might consider getting a shotgun w/ buckshot as well as it may not penetrate as much as 9mm in many cases (at least in drywall).
I agree with just knowing the lines and angles and where everything and everyone is.

A bed with a tough head board facing the hallway?

Actually buck and 9mm have very similar pentration characteristics of interior walls. one of the best is actually .223 It normally begins fragmenting rather quickly after going through a few layers of dry wall. Let me find the documenation I've got on it


And yes if you've read anything postive at all about mag-safe you've been bamboozled.

 

[desertplinker]

Looks like I'll be going back to the Gold Dots as soon as I get home! Thanks!

 

[Creeping Incrementalism]

So is all the info on the mag safe just horse phoey?

Fackler, who is the pre-eminent guru of wound ballistics (the U.S. military, FBI and others all listen to him) anaylzed pre-fragmented handgun bullets and found they showed inadequate penetration. It will make a messy wound, but will probably not bust through to the heart. Law enforcement doesn't use it, and if it were truly effective I'd bet they would, because over penetration is also an issue for them.

High quality hollowpoints are designed not to penetrate all the way through someone, anyway.

SP .223's create terrific wounds and are not likely to overpenetrate, if you're up for using a carbine.

 

[TexasRifleman]

Another huge problem with Mag Safe is the price.

If you subscribe to the common idea that you need to shoot 100, 200 rounds MINIMUM of your self defense ammo in your weapon to be sure of reliability and accuracy, you'll go bankrupt using that kind of ammo, even if it is good stuff.

 

[HankB]

Just about anything that's a serious defense round will penetrate interior walls easily. "Bullet proofing" interior walls is going to be a major undertaking - you'd be better off trying to bulletproof the sides of the crib itself . . . which will only work until Junior is out of it.

Note that the bullet resistant qualities of metal plates - be they steel or aluminum - vary GREATLY with alloy and heat treatment, if any. (The guys who were shooting metallic silhouettes in the '70s and '80s found that out the hard way.)

 

[strambo]

If possible, the best thing would be to install a solid core door with deadbolts opposing the hinges at the top of the stairs. Lock it at night and this will creat a "safe zone" out of your living area. Give you time to get the baby into the MBR and wait for either the lowlife(s) to break through (and blast 'em) or the police to show up, whichever comes first. Have a cell phone in your room, they can't take that off the hook.

 

[OrvilleYertleson]

For your wall penetration issues check out:
http://www.theboxotruth.com/

It's an interesting website w/ a lot of do-it-yourself experiements w/ buckshot, 5.56, 9mm, etc. penetrating drywall.

His results are sobering, and while actual results are sure to vary I think he was able to demonstrate that much of the common knowledge about penetration is bunk.

It is true that glazers and magsafes have some penetration issues (in people), but they are pretty good at not penetrating walls (especially at oblique angles) and they still mangle those who get shot with them.

If you want to hedge your bets you could always buy some glazer silver rounds which use larger shot in the core and are supposed to penetrate people a bit better while still being stopped by walls.

I personally load two rounds of glazers followed by gold dots or hydrashoks. I don't know whether it is a 'tactically' sound thing to do but I feel comfortable knowing that I can shoot without having to worry about killing a neighbor, and if the glazers fail to get the job done I have regular, proven, ammunition backing them up.

Bear in mind that any frangible ammunition will punch straight through a wall, they are stopped most effectively when they strike the wall at a narrow angle and the bullet has time to fragment and spread before hitting the second layer of drywall. Your house seems ideally setup for frangible ammunition if you decide it is the best compromise for your needs.

 

[Fred Fuller]

I'm not one who favors roaming about the house looking for whatever went bump in the night. I'd rather hunker down behind concealment AND COVER and wait in the dark, with a 'friendly wall' (no doors/windows) to my back, spouse on the phone with the county cavalry, some small lights left on or remote controllable outside the bedroom door to backlight anything that appears there.

No munchkins here in casa Lapin, if there were I would want them in the room with me- or would want me in the room with them if things got threatening. I would not send my spouse out to retreive the little one alone and unarmed- we would BOTH go to a prepared place in the baby's room and hunker down there with the child safely behind cover. A cordless phone could be carried, you should have a cell phone too just to be on the safe side. Some bad guys cut phone lines on the way in, you know. Even a cell phone with no service subscription can be used to dial 911.

As to cover plus concealment, loaded bookshelves are pretty cheap to set up and are decent cover. Stacks of old magazines are good filler, try shooting a foot thick stack of 20- year old National Geographics and see how they do. Library style magazine boxes are pretty cheap at office supply places and help keep stacks together. Secondhand book stores offer readable armor cheaply too. No one has to know that you aren't a literary family after all... .

Lots of kids' rooms I have seen have an alcove set up in a corner using furniture, shelves etc to help contain toys and make a 'fort' for playtime. No reason the 'fort' can't be dual purpose... . Or you can start a home decorating trend and build a brick wall waist high on the inside of the rooms you want to protect. Solidly built furniture can work as cover too, don't overlook what's already in the house. Remember that it does't matter which side of the wall it's on.

I personally prefer a shotgun for domestic security, but I wouldn't at all argue with your choice of weapons though. Having a light on the weapon is IMHO a good idea, as well as having a separate light that doesn't require sweeping everything you illuminate with the muzzle of a loaded gun.

Do you have a fire evacuation plan also? IMO it's a good idea to incorporate as many elements of the fire evacuation plan as possible into your domestic security plan. That way there is less to keep track of in the middle of the night when you are jolted out of a sound sleep.

I'd also suggest adding a dog to your family. Doesn't have to be a Schutzhund-trained German Shepherd, just a tailwagger that loves the family and will bark at strangers. Any good dog is worth its keep as a mobile self- activating burglar alarm in any household where there aren't medical issues (allergies etc) associated with canine presence. Even relatively small dogs can do just fine in this role.

There's more details involved in a comprehensive strategy but that should do for starters...

hth,

lpl/nc

 

[gc67]

just a thought, but if you moved him to the room adjacent to yours, you could install a door between your closet and his room. This would give you access to his room withour exposing yourself. That way if you heard something your wife could grab him and bring him back to your room

 

[Rockstar]

Just curious: How old is the neighborhood? How many fatal home invasions have been reported there since the neighborhood was begun?

 

[desertplinker]

The neighborhood is 7 years old. So far in the zip code there are no murders to date. We are somewhat removed from the freeway (approx 7 miles). Closer to the freeway the statistics are fairly bad. Many businesses have reported armed robberies, etc. Several shootings have taken place.

I really appreciate all the input. I am definitely switching out the MagSafe on your suggestions. I really like the idea of a door leading to the extra bedroom and that makes the idea more plausible.

The landing area is open to the downstairs with only a half wall. I would think it would be a good place to cover from while my wife retrieved my son. Also the one way in and out seems more secure. The ideas for bookshelves makes even more sense to create barriers.

I do own an M4 as well as several shotguns. I had considered strapping the side by side to the underside of the bed as a secondary choice. I thought under stress my wife would be better off with that.

Again awesome ideas. I've been lurking here for over a year and finally decided to test the waters. It's great!

 

[strambo]

The landing area is open to the downstairs with only a half wall.

I would have assumed so. Finishing the wall and adding a door shouldn't be too big or expensive an undertaking though. The main advantage is of course that if they are already coming up the stairs and you are just waking up...there is no time. The baby in the room next to yours with a connecting door is good. You could put a solid door with deadbolt on that exterior door and your exterior BR door and access through the interior door in the morning or in an emergency.

You could leave the Magsafe in the chamber assuming your first shot is the most likely to miss (good assumption? maybe) and all the rest a good quality HP. The Magsafe will deliver good energy into the target and HPs with penetration will be a split second behind it.

 

[desertplinker]

Good points. That sounds like a near perfect setup. I think I'll be heading to Home Depot this weekend. Luckily the bookshelf option already is easily accomplished. I figure consolidating all the books to that room in full wall bookshelves is even better to reduce the clutter around here.

I know for a fact my 226 will cycle with the mags I have and Gold Dot 115gr. I picked up enough to fill 3-15 round. I figure if I need more than that I'm already without a paddle.

I'm going to kill the picture link and picture in the thread since I think my question has been solved. Why leave a loose end? Also I discussed having security doors for the front and was pleased to find it was less than I thought. And they can do it next week!