Options for home defense - baby on the way

[Bruenor]

Hello everyone. I'm relatively new to rifearms, and am looking for some advice for a good home defense gun. If it was just me, I'd probably go for a 12 gauge shotgun and figure that it would take care of any problem. However, I am married, and my wife and I are expecting our first child in December.

What I'm concerned about is 1) What can my wife shoot while pregnant, and 2) When the baby is here, if the noise from a shotgun would damage his/her hearing.

That said, which do you think would be better; handgun, shotgun, or rifle. Also, what kind?

Thanks.

 

[YammyMonkey]

Shooting while pregnant:
Big no-no, I was told when my wife was pregnant that it's more the noise than lead exposure that the docs are concerned about. But there are much worse alternatives.

Hearing Damage:
Yes, it will damage the little one's hearing. I don't know if it'll be worse or not as bad as the effects on an adult, but damage is damage.

Your best bet (in my opinion) would be a short barrel AR with a suppressor, but that's out of the price range for most of us. Unfortunately I don't think there's a "good" solution, you're just on a sliding scale of "bad."

 

[Taurus92 in KyleTX]

I can't comment on the health risks of a pregnant woman shooting, but I'd recommend shooting at an outdoor range.

I'd also suggest that w/o a suppressor, any firearm has the potential to damage your baby's, yours, your wife's, and any intruder's hearing, pending location w/in the home.

I did the same thing 3yrs ago, when my wife was pregnant with our first. I felt this overwhelming instinct to get better prepared to protect my family. This started the addiction that is firearm ownership.

I learned that any handgun/shotgun/rifle is useless when someone won't take the time to learn how to use it. (Though, it gives me the excuse to buy at least one of each.

I bought a 9mm handgun, thinking it would be quicker and easier to grab and get upstairs to my kids' rooms than either of the other two options. The wife is afraid of it ("too big and loud"), and refuses to learn how to use/shoot. If I'm not there, it's not worth a darn, and possibly a liability, if an intruder gets it.

I bought a 12ga pump shotty, thinking it's oft-considered the universal HD gun. My wife would use it, but she won't take the time to learn how to work the release in order to "pump it". Nor, does she know how to load it.

Rifles just got more complicated.

Finally, I bought a Walther P-22 for a plinker, and all of a sudden, it's "her gun". Now, would I trust it to save her life? No. But, I like that 1) she's willing to shoot it, 2) she's willing to learn how to use it, and 3) it let's her check off rule 1a of a gunfight (Have a gun). Granted, it likely violates 1b (Have enough gun).

Lesson learned? unless you want to spend $1000's on firearms at the chance your wife won't learn how to shoot, get her involved in the search, and make sure she's onboard with learning. Now, you may WANT to spend $1000's on firearms, but I still recommend getting your wife's buy-in.

 

[Dismantler]

I wish that you guys would post where you are. Many members would be willing to help a new shooter.

I think that your best option is a
.38 caliber revolver. You can get a used Model 10 Smith & Wesson, a typical old police-type revolver in good (used) condition for under $250. It is a medium size revolver and should be good for you and your wife. There are many fine ammo choices, from the mildest target loads to the most powerful .38+P loads.

Ask her doctor if she can shoot. As far as your baby's hearing...if a nut with a machete is in your house, that will be your LAST worry! I would leave her with the grandparents when you have range time, but if you are under siege, hearing loss beats death. It will not do your hearing any good to shoot in your house, either.

 

[Bruenor]

Dismantler,

If it helps, I live in central Indiana.

We already have a Ruger .22 that both my wife and I shoot. She's pretty good, able to hit COM every time on the 7 yrd range, and with our house she'd never have to fire at anything further away inside.

I'll look into a .38 revolver. I was planning on buying 9mm for myself this month. That should give us enough options for home defense.

 

[Dismantler]

I had a Ruger .22, both the Single Six Revolver and the MK II at times as my only gun. Not the best SD guns, but I was not too concerned. I understand that it is not good to shoot hyper velocity rounds out of the semi-autos, but a magazine full of CCI Stingers won't hurt the gun.

I like revolvers better for defense as they are really easy to use. You pull the trigger...they go bang. You can leave them loaded forever without worrying about spring fatigue. They take any power/bullet style of .38 ammo without jamming or having feed problems.

If your wife is interested in a .38, have her hold it and see if it is too big or too small for her. She should be able to make a smooth double action trigger stroke, all the way through, without having to adjust her grip in mid stroke. If a K-Frame Smith is too big, get her a J-Frame, the snubby size.

See the revolver check over thread at the top of the revolver section. It gives advice for buying a used revolver.

 

[mekender]

a pregnant woman is vulnerable to both the noise which can damage the baby's hearing in the womb and to the pressure waves that can cause severe damage if the pressure waves are too high... small calibers and a 12ga are probably no biggie, but just about any rifle could be dangerous... i would advise her to not shoot while shes pregnant...

as for the hearing once the baby is born... i know that there could be some damage if any of you in the house hears a shot without protection, but in a self defense situation you wont be worrying about that... also i would doubt that one or two shots would lead to permanent damage to hearing...

 

[macadore]

While I have never shot a 45 ACP carbine inside, it seems that would have less recoil and make less noise than some other firearms. It might be the only practical reason to have a 1927 Thompson A-1.

 

[Fred Fuller]

Have you considered getting a dog? Might help eliminate the need for shooting at all, if the sound of a canine inside keeps BGs outside...

Also, be sure you have done a walkaround on your house and hardened your perimeter as much as possible. Motion activated lighting outside, good locks on doors and windows, the usual stuff. Don't forget the upstairs too, if you have one.

Establish a home defense plan, to go along with your fire evauation plan. Once you decide how to handle emergencies, practice your plans until they're instinctive.

Look into the NRA's Personal Protection In The Home class. You might have instructors near you teaching the NRA classes, and this one is well worth your while. Failing easy access to the class itself, there's an instructional DVD out now, and the textbook is available too.

Ear protection is always a possibility for all of you, given that you have time to don it. Amplified muffs can provide protection for you and your wife without making you unable to hear what's going on.

As to picking a firearm- use what you have the most experience with right now, and if you decide to adopt something new, stick with the familiar until you're good enough with the new choice to run it competently under pressure. Software is more important than hardware almost all the time.

lpl/nc

 

[roo_ster]

A big ol' plus one to LL's post. I would prioritize his suggestions above hardware selection.

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My wife avoided firearms when pregnant due to potential impact on the kiddo.

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As to your HD weapon, you might want to stretch your horizon a bit.

Do you expect your wife to be able to use the HD weapon?
If so, include her in the selection. Don't just buy a revolver, 12ga, or whatnot.

It took a while to find the right weapon for my wife, but we did...and it was what I thought least likely at the beginning, a 1911.

A buddy or local THR-er with an assortment of weapons for her to try on for size will accelerate this process.

How will you secure the weapon once your kiddo gets mobile?
A 12ga shotgun is a fine choice for HD, no doubt. But, trying to secure it from kids in a ready condition is very difficult.

We went with quick-access safes for handguns and do not currently have a long gun at the ready for HD.

 

[Old Guy]

Ten 40g lead projectiles fired into nocturnal visitor is what we call in Florida "A clue" Your Wife can use it, has used it, can hit a man sized target at 21 feet, can't be bad, splash of white enamel paint on front sight, good to go.
Big fire bell on outside of house, instruct your neighbors it is an intruder alarm, dial 911, press the alarm bell alert, if there is any intruders left to shoot, shoot them!

 

[B yond]

I suggest a good DA/SA auto-loading pistol (with a manual safety and integral key lock) in .45acp, loaded with heavy hollow-points and equipped with a weapons light.

As a father myself, I would not be comfortable with a loaded revolver in the house as they're just too easy to use. Your weapon shouldn't be anywhere that an unauthorized user can get to it, but just in case a manual safety could be a life-saver. The DA first shot would require a longer, harder trigger pull that a child would have trouble completing. An integral key lock is convenient if you have to leave it unattended (although you should probably have a quick-access safe for this purpose too), and easy to ignore if you don't need to use it.

I suggest .45ACP because it's well-known as a man-stopper but flies at around 850fps when a 230gr. projectile is used in a standard load. After impacting the target velocity should drop considerably, if not completely, so over-penetration and penetration through numerous interior walls is less of a concern. Besides that, traveling under the sound barrier you won't get that ear-splitting crack that you get from faster rounds.

You may be concerned about the recoil from that cartridge, which is one of the reasons I suggest the Ruger P345. It has a built in recoil-absorbing second spring over the guide rod that makes it kick about as much as my .380.

A light mounted to the accessory rail is incredibly useful for one-handed operation at night. Just try opening a door quietly while holding a flashlight in one hand and a pistol in the other! A laser/light combo could be attached to make aiming much easier for users who don't want to put in a bunch of range time.

 

[moooose102]

DAMN THE TORPEDO'S, GET A 3" CANNON!
just kidding! have you thought about one of the projectile shooting stun guns? that would keep you at a bit of a distance, SHOULD immobilize him, and while not as capable as a 45 at stopping an intruder, it would be non-lethal. that in its self should ease your wifes concience about shooting a b.g. start feeding 10,000 volts into somebody, it would seem to me it might change their priorities a bit! personally, i prefer the 45, but to each his own. i am more concerned about what a b.g. would do to my family than i am about a little temporary hearing loss to one of them. even if it ended up being permanant, hearing loss is way better than him killing \ raping \ kidnapping my kids or wife.

 

[jrpbullrider]

My Father in Law has a few guns in the house They both are over 60 and there house was almost broken in to The reason I say almost was that his small bulldog (small = 40 lbs and stand 2feet) went after the guy who was coming in. The guy never made into the main part of the house before he ran away. That is why dogs are great to have. My FiL never had to get any of his guns.
John

 

[conw]

a) mindset - like someone said, a dog's good, but still not a bad idea to have backup. True. Many pregnant, older, college student, young, handicapped, whatever, have guns to defend. Dog - good. Gun - good. Mindset - good.

(Point "a" brought to you by SM)

b) As far as practice, I am pretty sure it would be safe for a sensible pregnant woman to shoot a 10/22. Why not get something with a similar "manual of arms," let her shoot one mag worth, then practice more with a 10/22. She can still practice dry firing the other option. I would recommend a Hi Point 9mm carbine, it's a very reasonably priced and effective option with moderate recoil and noise. If she practices taking the safety off and aiming with it, and is accurate with the 10/22, it should be viable if she has to shoot it. I like my $30 BSA red dot sight on it too. Very user friendly. It's similar in size and somewhat similar in "feel" to the 10/22, so if she practices like heck with the 10/22 she should be fine using the Hi Point for home/self defense.

To recap, I said shoot about 1 mag from the Hi Point carbine, practice all the time with the 10/22, and practice dry fire and plain old aiming exercises, pick up, turn off safety, etc with the HD gun.

c) I, like probably everyone else here, am unqualified to really discuss the effects of loud noise on babies/pregnant women, but if she is a healthy woman and knows how to shoot a gun, she can probably shoot anything you can SKILL-WISE. www.corneredcat.com has some awesome recommendations about women picking guns, and one of the main points of that site is that MEN DON'T KNOW WHAT WORKS FOR WOMEN as far as guns (and most everything else). Guns are an individual thing, not something chosen based on gender, and if you really want a gun for your wife she'll have to be in charge of choosing it. cornered cat says that basically every man wants to get his wife a J-frame .38, which is a good gun, but no more "perfect" for any given woman than any other gun that she hasn't tried.

Good luck and congrats!

PS: Read "In the Gravest Extreme" by Massad Ayoob (available at www.abe.com for pretty cheap) for some great legal/moral advice on SD shootings. It's great for working out bugs in your system as far as moral and legal repercussions...

 

[Old Guy]

Once I was told a student was pregnant... No refresher course for her! The little munchkin is floating in liquid, sound transmits really well in water.

The Company would look after their employees very well.

 

[Corporal K]

Handgun - .38 revolver, snubbie. S&W or Ruger.

I know two people (personally know them) who have shot and killed bad guys w/ .38 snubbies. They only hold 5-6 rounds, but in most cases, that will be plenty.

 

[Cosmoline]

You need a carbine. The noise is less than a shotgun but it's vastly easier to use effectively in a pinch than a handgun. The inside noise and flash difference between a 4" .357 magnum handgun and a 20" .357 magnum carbine is night and day. The carbine has almost no flash and the rapport, while not quiet, is more of a "paff" than a bang. At the same time it hits like a thunderclap due to the velocity gain in the longer barrel. It may be counterintuitive, but overpentration is EASIER to reduce with the longer firearm. The higher FPS make expansion much more reliable and you can fine-tune your cartridge choice for maximum damage but minimal overpentration. Though of course any round able to stop a human man will by it's nature go through most modern internal walls.

There are many threads on this. No way would I suggest relying on some short gun unless you and your wife are *really* good shots.

 

[cassandrasdaddy]

vis a vis mindset

i've always been a tad on the aggresive side it was greatly magnified by having kids i need to watch my own attitude when kid was 6 weeks old a kid threw a firecracker in our vicinity (25 yards or so) my first reaction was ugly and disproportionate to what he did. it had been years since that switch in my lil pin head had been flipped glad i didn't act on it and it made me aware of how strong that instinct to protect is

 

[B yond]

You need a carbine.

I often wonder how much easier it is to relieve someone of their rifle as compared to a pistol. At indoor distances it wouldn't take very long to close the gap. I'd be concerned that a BG could get his/her hands on the rifle and control the muzzle, while a pistol could be effectively used with one hand from a retention position while the other hand fends off an attacker.

Never had any kind of retention training with a rifle, so I'm just not sure.