Home defense

Hey everyone! So I’m looking to get some insight on the best home defense firearm I can get. I don’t mean the most expansive, I just mean an affordable firearm that will provide protection to myself, my fiancée, and my dog in the event that anything ever happen.

I own a rifle and my CC is a bodyguard.

Please feel free to correct me, but I would think a shotgun would be a good home defense? Let’s hear what you guys suggest!

 

@ColoradoTJ
@El Duderino

 

Remington 870

 

AR-15 is considered by a lot of people to be the quintessential home defense weapon.

 

I like mine S&W 1911 45.

 

Maverick 88 loaded with PDX1 12 Defender.

 

IMO shotgun is the way to go for home defense. Especially when you have kids/other people living in other rooms or if you live in an apartment. Rifle/pistol rounds can go thru walls into other rooms where potential loved ones or neighbors are sleeping. Bird shot not so much, but will still do some serious damage to an intruder down the hall. It’s also a lot easier to hit a moving target in the dark if you’ve got a shotgun.

My personal shotgun of choice? Mossberg 500 Security.

 

Nothing beats a 12 gauge in home defense.

 

Full size pistol of whatever make that fits your hand right and a flashlight, mounted or not is up to you. A shotgun is nice but it's a lot bigger and unwieldy by comparison and has half or less as many rounds loaded. Reloads are slow and at the ranges inside your home the spread really doesn't come into play. At 30' most 00 buckshot has a 2" spread, if you were going to miss with a pistol you also missed with the shotgun. Difference is you have another 15 rounds in the pistol and only 5-7 in the shotgun.

No matter what you choose the number one thing that matters is practice.

 

FBI did a study on birdshot and deemed it to not be effective enough to bring down adult male sized targets. Lack of penetration from the small pellets is the issue. So I’d go with buckshot.

 

Glock 22 with a flash light and train with it. That’s my personal fav for home defense and I carry for Glock 27 cause I am a fan of the 40 S&W

 

Mossberg 590A1

Inexpensive with high level of control, and all the perks of a 12 gauge shotgun. IMO, you can not beat a shotgun for home defense. I have everything under the moon at my disposal in terms of firearms and i'll always opt for a shotgun when it comes to home defence. Just my 2 cents on the subject.

 

Fair enough. Although it would take one badass motherF’r to get blasted with 2-3 rounds from a shotgun and decide to keep coming. Lol

 

This is an old link but it fairly well illustrates the effects of various shotgun loads. While birdshot is a good choice to prevent over penetration of interior walls it will still punch through both sides of a typical 2x4 framed drywall clad wall in a house. The tradeoff for less penetration in walls is significantly less effective penetration and performance on the person you're trying to shoot. Keep in mind that the FBI testing standard calls for penetration more than 12" but less than 18" to allow adequate performance in the target (person) without leaving potentially useful energy expended after passing through the target.

https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/shotgun-penetration-with-various-rounds/

 

Benelli M4.
End of thread.

 

Well said, and absolutely agree. My goto home defense is a pump action 18 gauge Mossberg, with pistol grip, side sattle, and flashlight. I have many other shotguns in the safe, but I have the 18 gauge specifically for home defense because it's slightly smaller the a 12 gauge, easier to handle for the lady, way more likely to hit something with a wide spread shot round, less likely to go through exterior walls into a neighbors house, and no matter what language a person speaks when they hear the sound of a shotgun be racked in the dark they understand what you are saying. I feel that the argument that a pistol or rifle holding more rounds is kind of lame, the average gun fight in the US is something like 4 1/2 rounds fired total so 6 in the tube, 4 in a side sattel give you more then enough to fend off an intruder. I could go on and on about this topic, but for what its worth that's my two cents.

 

Yes.... face full of .357 mag and no other issues coming up

 

If you’re hear asking, I am going to assume you are not very versed with firearms. Otherwise you would likely have an opinion already. With that assumption in mind, I’d say shotgun all day. The spread means you don’t need to be exceptionally proficient at hitting targets right out the gate. You certainly want to practice, but it gives you time to learn better marksmanship while still proving home defense as you learn that skill set. As you learn more and become more familiar, you may choose to switch it a pistol or AR. Prior to that, a 12 gauge can be found for relatively cheap prices. Round options are almost endless, and there is an abundance of short barrel options.

 

Unfortunately that's really not true. The shot spread at interior home defense ranges is generally 2" or less, which buys you a little room for error but not that much. If you miss a 18"x24" target (average male torso size) with a pistol you're most likely missing with a shotgun as well. You cant just walk out and fire two blasts from your shotgun and call it good.