shotgun or rifle for Neighbor rescue?

[Krenn]

So, You're home alone in your suburban house, It's getting late in the evening, and you hear a single scream from the house next door. you look out the window and see the following:

The Husband's car isn't in the driveway: you seem to recall he left on a business trip yesterday. The wife's car IS in the driveway, that's probably whose voice you heard... the couple have no children or houseguests. The door to the house is wide open, and the porch and hall lights are on, but you can't see or hear anything more about your neighbor's status. You dial 911 with one hand while opening the long-gun safe with the other. You fill the operator in QUICKLY, and are moving out the door with a long gun in hand. (you were already wearing your handgun in a concealed holster)

So here's the question: What type of long gun do you choose? A shotgun is the traditional weapon for suburban work, but if you walk into a hostage situation, you won't be able to take the shot without hitting both. A pistol-caliber carbine would probably work... if you selected sights and duty rounds for housework ahead of time. Is the carbine really prefferable to a high-power rifle? how worried should you be about a rifle overpenetrating? and frankly, how many of those guns did you actually have stored one step away from being locked and loaded in the first place?

 

[rmgill]

Shotgun. You can with practice know where your pattern is going to go and adjust to compensate. It's a good thing to know. Further, you can just go with slugs in the necessary instance. I've got 6 slugs stored on my shotgun for such issues where I need penetration, reach or a point shot.

 

[hso]

In my area the next thing would be to call the neighbors and 2 or 3 of us investigate (former Korea War Marine, former Iraq War Marine, current AF Security)

M4

 

[R.H. Lee]

You may want to re-think the whole scenario and your response to it. If police are on their way and arrive while you're walking around with a long gun you stand some chance of getting shot. Also, you might want to abandon the notion of taking a shot at someone holding a hostage. You're only asking for trouble. Bad juju. I'm not saying do nothing. Just know your limitations and exposure and don't get in over your head.

 

[Mulliga]

I agree with every word R.H. Lee wrote.

And a shotgun's pattern is pretty small at typical indoor ranges. I'm not saying that it's ideal for a hostage situation, but it certainly isn't so wide as to be impossible to aim precisely, especially with buckshot or slugs.

 

[SpookyPistolero]

I say you obviously call the cops, and do it immediately. Give them your description and tell them that you will be going, armed, to check on her (assuming you are morally compelled to do so) unless they have a unit in the absolutely immediate area. Now, I would be hesitant to go running in there unless you have a fair amount of real training. Room clearing and hostage scenarios, especially all by yourself, are not easy things.

That said, assuming the pieces were falling together in that way, I would grab a carbine with a light and preferably a reflex sight of some kind that I could see in the dark (night sights would suit me fine). Never know if a stray pellet might make it's way to the hostages head instead where you wanted it to, so I'd take bullets.

 

[nfl1990]

Srpgfld Armoury Socom II (chambered in .308Win, 16" barrel) prefrably with red dot sight for low light. Or I would use my Mossberg 500, w/slugs.

 

[f4t9r]

I would prob just go with my ccw gun , Im very confident in it and shot it more than anything else and why take the time to open the safe

 

[tuna]

If you're able to talk on the phone and open the safe, I'd take the shotty. If I need a shot at a hostage holder, I've already got my handgun.

 

[KC&97TA]

Shot gun is good for going into unknown situations, expecialy if you are carrying a combination of slugs & buck. The M4 is the next best choice after that. Over penetration with a 5.56mm isn't too much of a concern, as long as you aren't gut shotting the perp when he's standing in front of a window, a normal 68gr slug will most likely not make it out of the house after penetrateing a body.

If I was in a hostage situation with a shotgun and a handgun, with one perp, I'd switch to the handgun and put it against the perps head, most people don't have what it takes to kill in cold blood, knowing the other guy will be cleared on a justifiable shooting.

 

[Oldtimer]

R.H. Lee gave you some good advice, but I'll add just a bit to it.

You have already heard the neighbor lady scream, and you've already called the police. By entering the neighbor's home, you MAY actually escalate the incident into a hostage situation! True, you may feel the NEED to take immediate action, but I can just about guarantee that whatever has happened inside the house has ALREADY taken place, and by entering you will only add to the confusion, plus it may even compromise you.

Personally, I feel that it would be best for you to take a position of advantage, say, behind a parked car or wall, so that you can continue to observe the front door of the neighbor's home. Take along a cell phone, if you have one, and try to keep the police informed of the situation. Even IF a bad guy has taken the neighor hostage, he MAY merely drop the neighbor on the driveway and attempt to escape by taking their car. Even at that point, it might not be a good time to play "hero", for you DON'T know if the police have arrived and are quietly moving up behind you! If you pull out ANY firearm, it may end up with you being a DEAD "hero", for it's difficult for the police to automatically KNOW that you're a good guy!

Consider this incident for what it's worth: A "silent" robbery alarm is activated in a liquor store, and the alarm company notifies the local police. The nearest police unit is only 2 blocks away from the liquor store when the alarm broadcast is given out, so it's a matter of only seconds for them to respond. Mind you, approximately 93% of all alarms turn out to be "false" alarms. Well, the police have NO way of knowing if the alarm call they're responding to is false or real, so they need to ASSUME that it MIGHT be of the 7% that are REAL. The police arrive, start to approach the liquor store, then see a man with a revolver exit the liquor store. That armed man doesn't have a sign on his chest that says he's a "bad guy", or the OWNER of the liquor store! All that the police see is a man with a gun....and that a robbery alarm has been activated at that liquor store.

"POLICE! DROP THE GUN!", is what the armed man hears. He is in "limbo" for a moment, not knowing what to do. Again, he hears the command to drop his gun....but hesitates. Even during the tenseness of the moment, the police notice that the armed man's reluctance to drop the gun hasn't put them in harms way, for he hasn't started shooting at them. FINALLY, the man PLACES his revolver on the ground and starts muttering, "But.....But...".
The police command the man to step to the side, away from the revolver, and he does so. He is then commanded to drop to his chest, and complies, albeit reluctantly. One officer approaches, hand- cuffs the man and pats him down for additional weapons. When he is assisted to his feet, he explains that he is the OWNER of the liquor store that just got "robbed"! The "robbery", however, consisted of a WINO walking into the store, shoplifting a couple of bottles, then running out.

This incident happened to ME, for I was one of the police officers! I couldn't BELIEVE that the liquor store owner was READY to shoot a bum for having stolen a couple of bottles of cheap wine!
The liquor store owner didn't seem to KNOW that his robbery alarm button was for a ROBBERY, not a shoplift! Sure, he had every right to keep a gun in his store, but.....when he ventured outside with it, his actions only ESCALATED the situation.

'Nuff said?

 

[belton-deer-hunter]

ok here is what i would do

you take the shotgun most deffinlty but you load every other shell a slug and mix in buck shot you see if you need to shot a perp you just rack and you have a slug in chamber to take him out without hurting hostage or jsut use you ccw it is a pistol probably not loaded with rat shot so use it jsut take the perp that away

 

[charby]

What RH Lee and what old timer said.

You could watch the scene from a safe location (front porch behind railing, lights off) and give info to the police as needed or when the situation has been deemed safe.

Stay on the phone with 911 while doing this.

Charby

 

[Medusa]

Yeah, I would rely on some practice and training and would definitely grab the G36K carbine and talking to the cops would notify them of my intentions and some ID so they wouln't shoot me. First, recon - maybe the lady dropped smth and screamed over that and the whole thing might not be so serious at all, but with imminent danger to the neighbour's life I'd use the flashbang and scream really loud and scare the crap out of the BG and if possible take him in. but that's my thoughts, you're all welcome to critizise these.

 

[lotus]

AR out of the safe, find a spot INSIDE my own house to surveil while continuing to feed 911 info (cars in sight on street, additional noises, sudden appearance of woman with her brother just back from duty in Iraq who suprised her, etc). I'm not getting between felons and responding LEOs if I don't have to.

 

[TMM]

20 gauge loaded with slugs or a .45ACP carbine.

..or just my CCW pistol.

~TMM

 

[civilian]

You may want to re-think the whole scenario and your response to it. If police are on their way and arrive while you're walking around with a long gun you stand some chance of getting shot. Also, you might want to abandon the notion of taking a shot at someone holding a hostage. You're only asking for trouble. Bad juju. I'm not saying do nothing. Just know your limitations and exposure and don't get in over your head.

+1 - this has the makings of a very bad day for the hostage and the would be rescuer.

 

[gezzer]

Niether my neighbor is anti-gun. They are on thier own

 

[RyanM]

I'd take along some kind of first aid kit, and probably stick with just my CCW. If all you heard is a single scream, chances are much higher that your neighbor fell down the stairs, slipped in the bath, or saw a mouse, than the chances of a home invasion of some sort. Door open may be a little suspicious, depending on the area and the season, but still not enough to warrant going into full mall-ninja mode when investigating. For all you know from the information given, the neighbor could be trying to shoo a bat out the door.

Calling the police is definitely a good idea, though. Never know.

 

[mitchshrader]

you're going in, armed..

yes? no matter what. OK. take the shotgun. it's more intimidating.

suppose it's ME in there, and what i want is a free TV.. and housewife surprises me.

and neighbor comes in with a shotgun. i'm done.

suppose i have a pistol... and see a shotgun... i'm done.

suppose i have a pistol and see a pistol.. hmm. might fire.

suppose i have a pistol and see a rifle.. MIGHT fire anyway.

hardly anyone will mess with a 12 gauge. has this paralyzing effect when you see that train tunnel sized hole.

just my take on it.

thats not saying you SHOULD go in, or not. but in that situation...