Home defense

I would step away from shotguns and AR's in the off chance you miss you will be going through walls and everything else. Then it becomes a concern who is on the other side of every wall. Rather get yourself a Glock 19 or 17 pretty reliable and relatively cheap. Look at Springfield XD's as well.

Best advice is go to the gun range and shoot a bunch of different guns they have and that will help guide you.

 

For sure. But there is always the chance they are high on something. Definitely could cause that.

 

I bet just the sound of racking a shotgun would be a pretty good deterrent for the person breaking in.

 

Maybe, but that's not something I'm going to bet on keeping me alive. Not to mention, my stuff is loaded so that racking sound is ejecting one of my eight shells I have to work with.

 

So you're telling me that if you had someone pop off two rounds in a hall way, in the dark, with no hearing protection you would keep approaching that person. This topic is like asking people if they put peanutbutter and then jelly, or jelly then peanutbutter. I know for a fact that there isn't a person out there that would let me shoot them with a .22 or a .460 so what difference does it make. The best home defense gun is the one you are most proficient with in the dark, disoriented, and in a panic. You're hands will be shaking do to adrenaline so I'll take a 2" spread over 9mm any day of the week.

 

An AR is THE most effective gun for defense.

There are plenty of links and information on the net with general summaries of information however I don’t agree with everything out there, take take information as you will.

Handguns fail to have the speed to cause the amount of tissue damage and hydrostatic shock that a rifle cartridge will provide. The relevance is to stop a threat “right now” even without a perfect head or CNS shot. Penetrating organs alone isn’t enough to cause immediate stop to a threat.

While people get wrapped up in walls and over penetration, if you live on the western side of the United States, you have drywall. Basically paper and 2x’s. A shotgun with buck shot and or a handgun, will still penetrate the wall, and as stated, birdshot is not effective at killing.

So it comes down to over caution and use a less effective tool, or make proper planning for a home defense situation and working around over penetration for a more effective cartridge. Early detection and deterrence is your friend. After that, you can’t be half in or half out, the only way then is to use complete and utter lethality if it comes to it. A shotgun might fill that, but a good AR will fill that for about 5 intruders on one mag, and can maintain effectiveness in even the longest hallways, and allowing for a better aiming solution and follow ups then a shotgun, for those that know what it means to zip up, and zip down. It’s not really about the gun though. It’s about the smart decisions, pre planning and tactical proficiency that makes the difference.

 

Yep, had way more rounds fired at me in the dark and still kept approaching. I get the attraction to a slightly larger spread but the downsides of reduced capacity and harder handling far outweigh that in my opinion. The widespread notion that shotguns are best because of their huge spread and point em that way idea leads to a lot of bad information. Fully agree with your statement about the best firearm being the one you are proficient with.

 

I vote shotgun and I like the mossberg 500. Get the 18.5" barrel (shorter mag tube) and you can swap in a nice longer barrel anytime and go shoot birds or clay.

I saw an earlier post- pistols will penetrate a lot of drywall too. Check out this website: https://www.theboxotruth.com/the-box-o-truth-1-the-original-box-o-truth/
These old guys shoot at everything; lots of good reading and pictures on there. Good luck with your choice.

 

Not a chance. Lol

 

Lots of good information here! For those talking about going through walls... I live in a block house, so I’m not to sure that’s a worry for me.

 

Where do you people live that you have concerns of 5 or more people breaking into your house in the middle of the night bent on a shoot out? You all living in Walter Hill movies out there?

 

With cylinder bore, lots of buckshot will open up to 6-7” by 30’. Gotta test your ammo and buy accordingly.

 

Agreed. A home defence situation is in most cases going to be close quarters and the last thing you need is to be swinging a barrel around. Imagin the perp breaches your bedroom in the middle of the night when split seconds count you can't imagine how much longer it takes to square up a longer barrel as apposed to a shorter barrel and heaven forbid you have a struggle with said perp you're doomed with a shotgun or rifle in your hands. My bedside is a Glock 40 S&W, laser grips with the extended clip holds 14 rounds. My wife's bedside is the Glock 17 which holds 19 rounds. With the built in safeties its point and shoot.

Regardless of what you end up with OP keep it SHORT. Long barrels are for reaching out to hit your target which is unnecessary when inside your home.

 

So many flaws in this theory I'm just going to turn my head and move on

 

No please, enlighten. Tell me the ultimate defense strategy and set up. Tell me about terminal ballistics, sources the statistics. Tell me about the proper amount of tactical savy.

 

$500 worth of training with a $200 gun will always be better than the biggest bullet and more stopping power any day of the week.

Whatever you decide, train with it at the range and train with it in your house. I’ve spent hours “clearing” my house with my guns and done the same day/night.

I also spent time training my wife how to do it as well. Well placed shots and knowing what you’re doing will always win against bigger bullets/scarier sounding guns.

 

5+1



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10+1

 

I'll cover one to enlighten you THEN I'm moving on. Hmmm let me pick one..you say handguns fail to have the speed to cause the amount of tissue damage and hydrostatic shock that a rifle cartridge will provide. The relevance of this is absurd. You're not hunting game at 300 yards. You're target is going to be within 20 feet of you when in your home. Besides home defense ammunition for hand guns is outstanding. Keep your 7mm mag in the closet until hunting season. Can I go now?