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If you could have only 4 Rifles for home defense?

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#1. Series70 Colt 45 ACP rifle
#2. 12gage 18" Remington 870 rifle
#3. Extra magazine for #1 rifle
#4. cell phone to call 911 rifle
 
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Home Defense? Hmmm... I live in an older house with clearly defined rooms -18 feet is about as far as I can get from anyone inside my house without a wall or two blocking my view of them, a shotgun seems a better choice to me personally.

Sooo... I'll take a simple 18" pump 12 gauge as my first choice please. And I'll take a Benelli M4 with laser sight as my 2nd choice - autoloader firepower could be handy if the 3:00AM home intruders turn out to be little green men looking for someone to .. umm.. probe... 12 gauge autoloader > phaser on stun

And I supposed if a horde of brain eating zombies or ill tempered squirrels (or zombie squirrels) were running rampant in my neighborhood at midnight, a suppressed .22LR with some night optics might be nice to open up with from my front deck, the neighbors might even be able to sleep through the midnight invasion and cover their day shifts still.

And I'll grab a Ruger SR556 as my 4th choice, I like them, and it would be dandy to finish off any zombies that survived the midnight rain of .22s - pretty sure that would wake the neighbors though.

I like other people's responses that include pistol cartridge firing carbines like the Marlin autoloader and lever guns. I think those are practical, less expensive alternatives to pricey "black guns" for this purpose... I'll be honest and confess that a short barreled Marlin .357 lever gun has been high on my "want list" for a very long time.

You did ask :)
 
10.5"-12.5" SBR AR-15 of quality manufacture outfitted with a light, and an Aimpoint
16" mid-length AR-15 of quality manufacture outfitted similarly, as a back up
(two is one and one is none)
Anything additional is just icing on the cake, and I would invest in lots of magazines, lots of ammo, a quality pistol, and training before I got another rifle.
 
Thank you all for your interesting suggestions.

The place that i'm living now agrees to let me have long rifles but they want to come to terms how many i plan to have... it sucks till now only having hand guns
 
long guns

Sorry for my levity, but Was just trying to communicate that rifle's don't make good HD weapons. It's a bummer being told what you can have and them having someone else choose the most dangerous home defence weapons (over penitration and killing neighbor kid). I feel for Your anger.
 
I think I can comfortably get by with just one in this scenario: my 1980's vintage Winchester Model 94 Trapper in .30-30. But in all honesty, I should like to think I would first choose my Ithaca M37/12gauge. If that failed to do the job, I would hope that my Kimber TLE/RL Custom 2 would be on my hip.

BTW, John, who is actually limiting you to owning just four rifles?
 
Rifles for HD? A poor choice, IMO. No offense guys just my opinion.
I`m aware this was a "rifle" question but.............. :)
 
I'll give it a whirl.

1. AR-15 for it's high capacity low recoil.
2. Bolt .308 for extended range or punching through things
3. Lever action in .357 magnum. Plenty of punch and easy to use.
4. AK-47 underfolder. It's small size makes moving through the house easier + high cap.
 
Midlengths.JPG


FALnMossy.jpg
 
First off, 4 rifles for home defense only is kinda rediculous in my opinion. Unless there are 4 people in your home that can handle a rifle in which case its a great idea.


If there really are 4 people that will be useing all 4 rifles at the same time.

4 AR 15s. 4 AKs. 4 lever carbines whatever. with that kind of firepower it really doesnt matter.

If its just you and you are looking to put toghether a battery of general use firearms.

1. Ar 15 with conversion kit
2. 44 mag levergun
3. cz 452 22lr
4. Muzzleloader if you hunt or a bolt gun in a heavy caliber if you would rather.
 
Purely for home defense? I can only carry one rifle at a time... that's my 14.5" DlaskArms AR15.

As far as shotguns are concerned, I'm quite happy with my Mossberg 500 12 gauge.
 
I think I have to climb on the " 4 AR-15/AR-10" wagon too guys.

I'd want two carbines and 2 rifle length. Matched pairs of 5.56 and .308s.

The carbines setup for short range engagement.. ie under 200 yrds

The two rifle length one setup for "reach out and touch them" situations.
Click to expand...

I'd say if you need 4 rifles for home defense, it is time to move to another neighborhood! That said, the above choices seem pretty sensible.
 
Home defense? Most any semi-auto will do as good as any other semi-auto in that use. AK-type, AR or Mini. No practical difference among them.

"Defense" to me is somewhere inside of fifty or so yards, on down to "up close and personal". Group size is irrelevant. Caliber/cartridge doesn't make much difference. Reliability and one's skill are what are important, IMO.
 
Thompson Center Muzzleloader. You get one shot. If they arent hit, they sure as hell dont know what just happened and you get a smokescreen to escape by :evil:
 
If I could only have 4 rifles for home defense, I'd be sitting pretty!

How about:

1. Lever action - .357, .44, .45 or 30-30.
2. Bolt action - .308 or 30-06.
3. AR-15 in 5.56 - any one of a variety of configurations.
4. Either an AK or and SKS to take advantage of 7.62 x 39 ammo availability.
 
rifle's don't make good HD weapons. It's a bummer being told what you can have and them having someone else choose the most dangerous home defence weapons (over penitration and killing neighbor kid).
Click to expand...
That is true of many high-powered hunting calibers, but not the intermediates. Civilians are not limited to military FMJ, and .223 with suitable civilian JHP's penetrates less in building materials than 9mm JHP and even heavy buckshot.

As to the OP's original question, my ideal choice would be either an AR-15 type rifle with a 6-position stock, 16" barrel with flash suppressor (or 14.5" with a permanently attached Vortex, at the expense of more blast), a light, and perhaps a red dot, OR a 5.56x45mm AK similarly configured.
 
I'll assume the OP means for an extended SHTF scenario or something like that.

1. My FAL
2. My AR15
3. My M39
4. My M1895GS 45-70
 
the sound of a 12 ga. racking is the universal word for "get out of my house NOW!"
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Nope, Me standing at the top of my steps with my gun, yelling "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE" that is the universal word. \

That gun will be either a Marlin 1894C or an AR
 
I don't want to have to defend my home from less than 300 yards.
Click to expand...

1) That's thinking about some sort of really rare scenario. I bet nearly half the population of the US lives with 300 yards of 100 other people. I come pretty close, and I live in a typical subdivision of 1/2 acre lots.

2) I understand the logic of the "two is one, one is none," but it works the other way too. A man with 2 guns is more dangerous than a man with one. A man with three guns is only slightly dangerous than a man with two. A man with four guns has only a very narrow advantage over a man with three, and if he's trying to carry them and ammo around, he may be at a disadvantage.

3) We should have a more explicit terminology. The OP is thinking of HD as defense from an attack outside the home. That would made home invasion an SD scenario and not HD, but would guess it's called HD more often than not. SD is more reserved for getting attacked on the street. Or am I wrong?
 
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