your "best" 'tactic'........

[innerpiece]

while alotta folks put pounds of equipment on their guns to make them 'feel' more tactical, and others go thru training courses to make themselves feel more able to do "tactical/defensive" work for themselves.

some folks on this forum will pick and choose where they contribute, do to their experience and how it relates...
some folks will type paragraphs of their past experience, and try to trump any debate, because they say they did, and they have YEARS of experience on the internet. they should write a book and save us the time with non applicable posts.
some folks will come on and follow what everyone else in the majority said, either because they diddnt get to the topic on time, or they are still learning but want to have something to say.
some just want to explore.

Now. MOST folks live in different places, under different curcumstance than each other here, and that makes comparing/sharing "tactics" quite tactical! something most people that 'share', dont ever consider.....
for me, if I called 911, on a great day, I could expect to see them in 8-10 munites, if they raced and made it!
on bad nights like tonight, I might be looking at anywhere from 15-20 minutes untill help arrived, if they diddnt have to call a plow to make the way!

I personally KNOW, my best tactics for my situation. they consist of communication with my partner, phone/cell phone, firearms, and our plan for inner home defence.
I just really want to take this mssg, and emphasize to everyone, that our best defence can be cookeud-up, by ourselves...
not saying to 'not' take advice.. but no-one else here is in yer situation.. so take advice with a grain of salt, and take in what IS usefull for you... apply it to what you can, but best of all, look, look, look, and look again at YOUR situation, cause more than likely, YOU would be the one defending it... not one of us!
some folks will try to tell you how it is, plain and simple, because thats how they know it, be it long or short winded.
some folks may take time to relate and try and understand, then offer a suggestion.
Some folks will tell you a life story..
some will tell ya just shoot it... grrrr...

Im shure some folks will wonder why the hell I posted this, and some will think "good post"..

either way. many of us will think of the meaning of "tactics" differently, as will we apply them, and represent them to each other..

but mainly, this is because we understand them differently..

Hopefully we can learn how, where, and when to apply them in advice to each other.... but again, that will take some 'tactics' by each and every one of us..

sorry, just my thoughts..

ip.

 

[longhair75]

I have seen new Kimber 45acp pistols for sale at twelve hundred dollars or so. A new Remington 870 tactical shotgun goes for six hundred or so. Ruger Mini 14 is eight hundred or so.

One pistol, shotgun and rifle have now added up to twenty eight hundred bucks.

I put three steel framed, steel core doors in my house for just about a thousand dollars. I did all nineteen windows in security film for three hundred and a case of beer. ( the installer is a friend of mine) I am an electrician, so I put in the best quality motion lights completely around the outside of the house for two hundred bucks.

I have spent fifteen hundred or so to secure my house, thirteen hundred dollars less than a good quality pistol, shotgun and rifle. The security lights go on when anyone gets within thirty feet of the house. It is possible to get through my doors and windows, but not without a great deal of effort and noise. The security film will not allow the windows to shatter, but ten minutes with a heavy sledge will break them up enough that they can be peeled out of the frames. The doors are another issue. I am sure they can be battered through in half an hour or so if you have the right tools.

There is no way to get in quietly enough that my wife and I will be surprised and unaware. If the BG is determined enough to breach my perimeter, he will end up under the muzzle of my High Standard 12 gauge riot gun and the even more deadly muzzle of my wife's Browning HiPower. In the time it took him to break in, the authorities are well on their way, and my wife has decided into which eye she will place her first shot.

The BG's out there are looking for the easy targets. Make your home a hard target, and you will be safer.

Just my ever so humble opinion

 

[psyopspec]

Good post.

I agree. "Tactics" has an extremely diluted and ambiguous meaning, even (especially?) in the culture. IMO, it's a mindset or philosophy devoted to survivin' and thrivin' in every circumstance. It means applying the mind and body to make the best of any situation to achieve an objective. For me, that can be everything from wearing a seat belt while riding in a vehicle to disassociating myself with criminal types to knowing how to enter and clear a room/house/building.

The stuff I hang from my weapons might be there to help me fulfill an objective, but mostly I put it there because I like it. "Tactical" has little to do with it.

 

[Grey_Mana]

My best tactic: dialing 9-1-1
Second best tactic: running like a scared deer.
Pretty much all my other tactics revolve around surviving until help comes or I can get away.

 

[Templar223]

My best tactic: Having my "Stuff" together.

HYST (per Shane's "Listening to Katrina" website), is more than just having a gun, or a phone or a light. It's about having a plan, preparations, skills sets, and a willingness to see things through.

I take it the OP lives in Great Britain, given his spelling. My condolences given the lack of legally recognized self-defense there.

John

 

[innerpiece]

hahaha!
thanks Templar.
but no, I in Minnesota bud.. that might explain a few things too lol

we end up living in quite extreme conditions in my location more than a couple times a year, that might effect my spelling too

great additions so far folks, lookin foreward to more!

ip.

 

[Rodentman]

Yeah, I'm in MN too and right now I don't think there'll be any BG's outside in the snow, but stranger things have happened.

 

[sm]

All any of us can share are our life experiences and observations.

Too many folks so want to be matriculated into of the firearm community they parrot information that is current of the times to make them feel they fit in.

Some folks get "it", some folks don't get "it" and some would not know "it" if "it" walked up and kicked them in the gonads. - Lee Lapin

I am not going to post my "best" as I don't have a "best" .

Granted I have what I have based on experience, observations, private lessons, and other factors.
Oh, and I was born in the last great decade.

 

[outerlimit]

longhair75, what if firemen have to get into your place?

 

[Grey_Mana]

Oh, and I was born in the last great decade.

You were born in the Regan era? For some reason I thought you were older.

 

[hso]

You were born in the Regan era? For some reason I thought you were older.

The last great decade was the 1950's. Been all downhill since then, with a couple of minor peaks for emphasis.

I agree that "best" depends upon your situation. Best for an apartment resident in a high rise is different from the same person in a 3 story suburban condo is different from being in a semi-rural area. Best for a 29 year old healthy soccer player is different for the same 29 year old after a major car accident or the same person when they're 50 or 60 or 70+.

The best that any of us can do is have the proper mindset followed by skill-set. Tool-set follows.

 

[mpmarty]

Tactics? That's what you exercise during an assault.
Preparation? That's what separates a hard target from a soft one.

My preparation should eliminate the need for "tactics".

I live over twenty miles from the nearest town.

I live on a mountain top and own the surrounding forest land. There is only one narrow road into my property and it is a half a mile from the nearest paved road.
I have PIR and Laser intrusion alarms, wireless to my home that alert me when anyone leaves the pavement, and continues to update me if and as they progress up the twisting narrow access driveway. We have floodlights on all corners of the house, pointing down both "lanes" from each corner giving overlapping fields of "view" that are not automatic but must be "triggered" from inside the home from several points.

Our "tactics" are a bit different than normal. In an instance where an uninvited vehicle or person(s) ascend the drive from the paved road, I bug out of the house and take up a position where I can bring the house and the drive leading up to the house under fire from my 7.62X51 semi auto AK and 10mm pistols. When the intruders have gained the flat at the top and I'm behind them, my wife triggers the floodlights and I have a fine killing field.

 

[Claude Clay]

i read your entire post--you felt a need to express yourself & you did--good

i keep electronic muffs bed side. thus if dogs bark or whatever wakes me up i can hear a whisper from the far side of the house.and if i have to fire i will not destroy my hearing. if there are 'them' in the house their movements and plans are known to me and i can act rather than re-act. house gun is a cz-52; for them there is no hard cover inside my house.

my flash [press to on type] is separate from the gun and I've trained myself to move it independent from everthing--thus it is left of body high or low and always changing. if they target my light it is 'only' my arm at risk.

select lights are remote from my bedside. wife can wait a half-minute and turn on the far lite to hopefully distract and backlite them; than the next lite if she does not hear my voice. or all of them if the gun speaks.

wife/family members all have a part in the plan.

like you say--its whatever works for you, but have a plan.

 

[BP44]

My best tactical tactic: playing opossum!!!!!!

Just kidding, alot of good info on the thread and it's making me rethink my tactics

 

[JImbothefiveth]

Well, I get some duct tape and trauma plates, for my job at the mall.....

 

[Westley]

Wow, Longhair. If you spent that much on your house, you should spend even more making your car bulletproof. Give it unpoppable tires and little slots in the windows for sticking your guns through. If you can actually mount guns on your car and 50 cal people through your headlights Bond style, please do it. Oh and a smoke screen, oil slicks, tire popping caltrops, and an elephant gun so you can just shoot their engines into nothing.

 

[Westley]

I'd like to say though, that I think it is definitely a better idea to have a cc weapon on you at all times than to have a larger weapon somewhere else in the house that a criminal might get. A lot of people who are shot in burglaries get shot with their own weapons.

But if it's properly locked up, you might not be able to reach it in time anyway. Any gun is better than no gun in that situation, and if you know how to use it, it'll be all you really need. If it seems they don't have a gun on them, don't believe them. Keep them on the ground with your weapon trained on them and have someone else tie them and search them.

Keep your weapon trained on them from the second you see them- if they're not already aiming at you they're screwed. If they do anything funny, drop the whole clip into them.

If they have friends, then you'll have to make it to wherever you keep you're saiga 12, unlock it quickly (If that gun is taken, horrible things will happen) and make abundantly clear that if they do not drop to the ground they will become ground meat. Wearing body armor never hurt anyone's chances.

If 4 crooks came in, even carrying pistols and were blindsided by a trained marksman wearing riot gear and carrying a Semi-automatic AK shotgun, they would either cower or be killed.

 

[Pax Jordana]

longhair75, what if firemen have to get into your place?

Firemen can be noisy, and we always show up with big enough tools.

Tactics is a very broad term. Too often, and especially on the internet, we take "tactics" to mean secrets, or shortcuts, or routines. Worse yet, a series of "if..then" statements can masquerade as tactics. If they get in the house, then the dog.. if they get past the dog, then the bedroom door.

I think tactics are the options you have and the brains/cojones to choose between 'em.

In longhair's defense, he has taken pains to put himself at great advantage if someone tries to stealthily enter his house. That's not to say those security filmed windows are somehow no longer fit for bailing out of. Just what he considers the most likely route of approach.

Innerpiece seems to consider those people who put junk on their guns as unrealistic - but that's just his point of view. There will, statistically speaking, have to be some among us who get into gunfights in the open.

Until someone tries to invade his home, all of longhair's security measures are.... window dressing

so tactics in terms of concrete action is a game of odds and chance, awareness and decision making.

 

[longhair75]

I don't think the fire department will be trying to sneak up on us ;o)

We have smoke detectors to alert us to a possible fire, and will gladly unlock the doors for the firemen. If the house catches on fire when we are not there, the fire department will get in....or not. The stuff in the house is just stuff. I can always get more stuff, and it is insured. The safety of my family is an area where I will not compromise.

We have three handguns, three shotguns and a rifle. We are well enough armed, and both of us shoot well enough. (My wife shoots much better than I)

As our first "tactic" I have taken some extra effort to make sure we are safe in our home.

 

[WadePatton]

While it's quite unreasonable for most folks, my best tactic is that I keep completely irregular hours.

At home, my dogs go on alert if a car _slows down_ out front. The little one will bite.

On the street, I'm armed and MA trained and will go to reasonable lengths to avoid a "situation".

And I live in ruralhickville (quite by choice)-folks kill each other out here, but it's rare and never random.

 

[Claymore1500]

Tactics are funny things, I mean the tactics I might have good results from just might get YOU killed, which is why I normally don't post in the tactic threads.

But, I will make an exception, just this once.

My yard is maintained just enough to keep me out of trouble with the city, I am 6'4" 240# and wear a mossy oak ball cap all of the time, I have an old boat and two cars in the drive that never move, I drive a pickup truck, and ride a motorcycle.

In the imortal words of Jeff Foxworthy, "The bad guys look at my house and think, THAT'S A HOUSE WHERE A GUN LIVES".

Bad things happen all around me all of the time, In 17 years in this house I have never had so much as trash cans kicked over on garbage day, knock on wood, it will stay that way!

 

[innerpiece]

thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread!

Im glad my thoughts were precieved as I intended.. I was a bit worried about that at first.

please add more, as theres alot of gread opinions here!

ip.

 

[Grey_Mana]

I live on a mountain top and own the surrounding forest land. There is only one narrow road into my property and it is a half a mile from the nearest paved road.
I have PIR and Laser intrusion alarms, wireless to my home that alert me when anyone leaves the pavement, and continues to update me if and as they progress up the twisting narrow access driveway. We have floodlights on all corners of the house, pointing down both "lanes" from each corner giving overlapping fields of "view" that are not automatic but must be "triggered" from inside the home from several points.

mparty, you might as well leave the keys in the door if you are going to make it that easy. When you get serious, buy an old underground missle silo from the US Government, and get to work hardening that structure. If it is designed to withstand a direct nuclear strike, you should be able to get it defensible with a few years work.