Sorry- this is my first post- I have been carrying semi-automatic pistols- and the occasional revolver for 25+ years in my career in law enforcement, but when it comes to what I keep on to my bedside table, I have a 8-shot .357 magnum revolver on the bedside table loaded with DPX and Hornady's FTX, a dependable flashlight, and an Remington "Police" 870 pump 12 ga. shotgun with a pistol grip propped up against the side of the table in the corner, against the wall. The 870 "Police" model comes with a Surefire light built into the pump action, and I added a sidesaddle carrier and a loop harness so that you can work with both hands free in a pinch.
I went with the revolver next to the bed because I am such a sound sleeper at times, and at other times I wake up quickly, but either way, when I am woken up, I am often pretty groggy and disoriented from working so many long hours, and with that disadvantage, I feel that a revolver is an easier handgun for me manipulate and use effectively if I am woken up and feel completely disoriented. No grip issues, no trigger jerking, no double-feeds, stovepipes, etc. to have to clear from a jammed semi-auto- with a revolver, just pick it up, aim, and squeeze (and deal with the few other hundred other things going on in your mind at the same time).
I rely on the 8 rounds of .357 magnum to be 100% reliable enough to get me to my shotgun next to me in the corner (I almost forgot to mention my wife- also a long career in law enforcement) on the other side of the bed has by now called 911 and is laying down a hail of lead from her 9mm Sig duty weapon and her .380 backup as we move to hold the second floor).
Once my wife is awake and we have pushed back the threat(s) from the bedroom, I can retrieve my .556 P.O.F. ("M-4" style carbine) along with a semi-auto Benelli 12 gauge, and as we can either hold up in the second floor until police arrive, keep fighting, or escape from the home (at least that is the way it is supposed to go), but of course, Murphy's Law always comes into effect sooner or later....
Coming from the perspective of a law enforcement officer that has experience in a variety of crimes, you do NOT/NOT want to handload the ammo that you keep in your weapons for self-defense- even if your loads are no hotter or more destructive than commercially available stuff- trust me- the fact that you handload your self-defense ammo will be used against you in court should you find yourself having shot one or more individuals, having had no choice but to shoot to defend your life, the life of a family member, or the life of a member of the public. Not that I agree with this, but experience has taught me so.
So the burning question for some...... What do I carry at work? Well, we are issued Glock 32s (.357 Sig), which I like- there are definite advantages to a modern bottleneck cartridge, it is accurate and real flat-shooting, and an improvement over the 9mm and most of the popular law enforcement calibers, however, I am in that crew that has "been around long enough to carry whatever they damn well please as long as they can qualify with it", so I carry a Glock 29 SF (10mm) and aside from the 10+1 stock mag in the weapon, I use the full-size, Model 20 15-round mags with Arredondo mag base extensions (adding 5 rounds to the magazine's 15 rounds of 10mm), loaded with Winchester Silvertips and Cor-Bon DPX- totaling 51 rounds on my belt). The furthest spare magazine that I have is filled with commercially available higher-power hunting ammo in case we encounter a large dog or animal that would be unaffected by the standard duty 10mm ammunition.
My backup gun is a .357 Sig Glock 33- a caliber and magazine match to the current issue weapon. If things ever get so bad that the suits are running out of ammo, I can beg some off of one of the uniforms ;-). I carry my Alaskan if I am driving out into the country into an unfamiliar area.
But to get back to the thread question- is an Alaskan .454 good for home defense? Well, yes if you live alone and have no neighbors nearby as the .454 will be overkill on any and all the walls, floors, and ceilings in your home. Should you have a N.D. with a .454 round (or nail the intended target but have a thru-and thru shot that keeps on going into the neighbor's home.
If you load your Alaskan 454 with .45LC and use high performance, but a lower-penetrating, but good expanding round like Gold Dots (just as an example), or go with a .45LC round that is labeled- on the box- as being made for "self defense" or "personal protection", you are far better off. Read the stats on the box to get an idea about how fast the bullet is going, and how heavy it is. If you want to keep a .454 next to your bed, my recommendation is to load it with lower power .45LC ammo.
If you end up justifiably shooting an intruder in your home, the police will give you a hard time if you handloaded the round that you shot the intruder with, even more so than if you use a round that is used for hunting much larger game- like an elephant gun. Your 45-70 may have been the closest thing to you when you found yourself in a shooting situation, and that can be mitigated, but shooting someone with high-power, exploding, fragmenting, fire throwing, poison-tipped, super-penetrating nano-warrior ammunition that you loaded up yourself to just past SAMMI specs or bought off of the internet, well,... it is not going to be pretty- even though all of that can be explained, the prosecution is going to make you look like you are somehow sick and twisted for shooting him with whatever happened to be at hand- even if it was the was the only choice you had- the photos of the wounds will be blown up, passed-around, and hung up for the jury to look at if they are dramatic or gruesome.
Anyhow, is a Alaskan .454 good for "home defense"... yes, it can work fine, but there are better, cheaper, and safer ways to go about getting it done than using the Alaskan. A 4" .357 Magnum comes to mind.
My cousin (52), picked up my Ruger SP-101 (snubby .357 Magnum) that I had sitting on the table next to the couch where I had just been sitting, and I told him that it was loaded, so go ahead a put it back down (he grew up with firearms and knows proper handling procedures), but he failed to follow my instruction, or his own common sense, and instead, for some unknown reason, pointed it at my new 42" Plasma HDTV and pulled the trigger. Kaboom.
Luckily nobody was injured, but the 125 grain Gold Dot round that it was loaded with went completely thru the new Plasma TV, thru both sides of the wall behind it (leaving fist-sized holes) and into the bathroom (the room on the other side of the TV), and since the bathroom door had been left open (it opens inwards into the bathroom), it went thru both sides of the bathroom door, thru the towel on the towel rack on the wall behind the door, and stuck into the far wall. Pretty damn good penetration for a round that is advertised for "self-defense", and not to "over-penetrate"- now think if that gun had been the Ruger Alaskan .454 Casull, loaded with some hot rounds. I would have had much bigger holes, and the round would have kept on going- to who knows where.
I read that some people had some issues with their Alaskan having a poor, gritty, trigger and a bad pull- I sent my Alaskan off to Metalife to have it coated in Metalife as well as have the trigger smoothed and have an action job performed, and the chambers numbered. When I got it back, it is perfectly smoothed- the action is like butter, and there is no/no slop. The Metalife finish makes it impervious to weather and corrosion, needs no lube, and they also put a red insert in the front sight. I love this gun, and I carry it in a pancake holster when I am hiking with two speedloaders- one with Grizzly Punch (solid brass), and the other in Doubletap's all-copper hollowpoint .454 DPX. In the pistol, I alternate Punch ammo with .454 Punch. The reason I bought the Alaskan in the first place is because we own quite a bit of property that is overrun with Brown Bears, and if I am not feeling like carrying my Rossi Puma .454 or my Marlin 45-70 Guide Gun, I feel do not feel undergunned with the Alaskan. THe only thing that I still want in my Alaskan is Tritium night sights- I'm pretty positive that the Tritium sights from the rear of a Ruger Super Redhawk will fit the rear of the Alaskan, but that still leaves me with the front sight. If you know know anyone that will so it custom- let me know.
Sorry for the long email!
Regards,
Loki
