If you had to pick: .45 or 9mm

im leading towards a 40 myself too. 45 cal is a little too expensive for me. but the 40 I looked at was about 350. might pick up a 9mm to practice shoot with too.

 

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... ^^^ ... x 2 ...
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I disagree.

Unless they are using birdshot... which is largely ineffective against a human target beyond point-blank (there's a reason birdshot is used for birds and buckshot is used for bucks).
Everyone seems to think that a shotgun will give a 3ft "kill" pattern. It doesn't, at least not at typical home defense range.

And what "shotgun"? 10ga? 12ga? 16ga? 20ga? 410?
There's a huge difference in both impact and the ability to handle them. My wife is pretty damned good with any handgun I've given her.
He hadn't shot anything in at least 20 years, and she was getting inside the 9 ring with my XD9 at 7 yards 10 out of 10 shots.
Shotgun? With her physical limitations, she would seriously injure herself with anything larger than a 20ga.

 

what?

 

I'm still going with a pheasant or goose load for home defense. I know for a fact that birdshot can kill within the distance of a room or hallway because I've bagged the bodies and attended the autopsies. I once treated a broken femur caused by a .410 slug too -- that guy was alive but he sure wasn't interested in causing any trouble for anyone. If I live in the house next door to you I would hope that you are shooting something that won't go through my walls and kill me too. If you have a handgun for home defense though and have family or nearby neighbors you might consider using frangible bullets.

Something like #4 buckshot would be good too as it combines more penetration with a small enough pellet size to not go through too many walls; here it gives about 10" penetration in gel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDjNaTeUt2Y&feature=related

To the person who decries my use of the word "clip," I spent six years in the Army and nobody ever asked me what I meant when I asked for a few .45 clips. Technically correct sometimes varies from commonly-used. For instance, a brook 'trout' isn't a trout at all -- it's a char, but if you want to call it a trout I know what you are talking about.

 

yeah the spread on buck shot or even bird shot at 20 feet will be about 4-6 inches around to those of you guys thinkin you'll just buy a shotgun cause they're noisy and you dont have to aim them

not arguing that a shotgun isn't a good HD weapon, just the intimidation and aiming part

edit, when i used to keep a 12ga stocked up for HD it always had #4 BUCK shot in it, little more spread, little more pellets, little LESS over penatration

 

Wow, lots of misinformation on this thread.

First things first. Buy a shotgun for your home defense. It's $200 and will give you the exact knock down power you need for home defense.

For a plinking handgun, buy a cheap 9mm that you find comfortable.

This will cost you way less than a cheap 1911, and will cost less than a medium to higher end 9mm, while giving you exactly what you need.

As far as knock down power and the .45 myths, well it's all subjective. You can shoot a man in the arm with a .50cal all day and it won't kill him till he finally bleeds out. Caliber is not the only consideration for self defense. Your ability to fire the round comfortably and accurately are what counts.

I personally go with .40s&w, because it's a combination of power, ease of shooting, and capacity. The more rounds you carry, the more able you are to defend against multiple attackers without having to reload.

No matter how bad ass your bullet is (hydroshocks, black talons, ranger sxt's, TAPs, whatever), you need to be able to place it on target where it can do some real damage to your attacker. Even if you hit him right in the heart, you still shoot again.

I've seen an inmate who is only in prison because he shot a guy in the back of the head at point blank and the bullet travelled around the skull instead of penetrating it. It made a big enough mess that the inmate thought the guy was dead. Nope, he lived and he sqwaked in court and the inmate is down for a long time. I've seen a guy shot three times in the back with a .223, which does a whole lot of different kind of damage than a handgun and is way more effective at killing than any handgun round on the market. He was walking around a cell that same night he got shot.

Again, whatever you choose, make sure you can shoot it accurately, comfortably, fast, and have enough rounds on you to take care of at least 2 attackers at once.

If you feel comfortable with a 1911, then use it. If you feel comfortable with a glock or xd, or whatever in 9mm, .40, whatver, then use it.

The worst assumption you can make when it comes to self defense is that you will end a fight with one shot. Even if it's only one guy, you shoot him till he stops.

Okay, /end rant.

 

Federal 00 buckshot has a tight group at 20yards(60feet), and is what most LE uses(well at least my dept). I wouldn't use it for home defense though.

Also if you are worried about the spread, you can apply a full choke. If you are worried about overpenetration, use lower power shells.

 

I know there's Law Enforcement AND Military Vets (me) on here. This can go on forever. But, go and shoot both guns. See what YOU like and are comfortable with. We keep guns throughout my home loaded at all times. I have no kids and the only guns my wife can't shoot stay unloaded, except the Mossberg 590SP. That one's got over 50 bucks of ammo in it. It holds 9, and I use some specialty ammo. Learn how to load the gun in the dark. Use and shoot the gun often, and you will/can protect your family with either weapon. My side of the bed has the Kimber Ultra Carry .45 and my wife's got the Beretta 9. It' only took a couple of days to get her to grab the gun, slam in a 15rd clip, and chamber one in the dark. She now sleeps comfortably when I'm not home.

 

Oh, and go get a concealed carry permit. These places offer training beyond the carry class that may help you if you have no Law Enforcement or Military training.

 

full choke is gonna make the pattern tighter

and if we're talking about the same federal 00buck flite control, yeah that stuff is awesome, i've got about 200rds of it and for outside you're house there'd be no better choice out of a 12ga


i think this whole threads drifted wayyyy off topic anyways, the OP wants ONE HANDGUN for multi use, not just for HD, somehow it went into "one shot kills", into the "click click" of a 12ga, and on and on lol

 

9mm, less recoil means easier follow up shots plus you can get them with 10, 12, 15, 17 round mags -- you'll stop em with this.

Ammo is cheaper for more practice.

If you like .45 and handle it well then do it, they do have more stopping power.

I have a Stoeger Cougar 9mm for home and a Ruger SR9c 9mm for carry and happy with them.

 

What are you going to do? Frisk them as they come through the window?

 

... ^^^ ... Very well said ... especially about shotgun for H/D, loading in darkness (by feel) and putting "multiple rounds on target" ...
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Indeed, indeed.

Always much fail in home defense threads.

An unloaded gun is no more useful than an unloaded paintball gun.

ALL of my handguns are fully loaded and chambered 24/7 (except the 1903, I haven't had a chance to test fire it yet, last time it was fired was 50+ years ago).

 

Love both these rounds, IMO, 9mm kick seems to be just as hard as 45. 9mm is a quick snap, 45 is more of a slower hard push.

For home defense, gotta agree with above poster that shotgun is weapon of choice. Cheap rounds, cheap gun, easy to load and shoot. Very menacing sound of a pump action being chambered!

Remember, this is your home, there could be friendlies.
ALWAYS positively id your target before engaging.

 

The sound of racking a shotgun will get you shot.... You people watch too many movies.

 

I agree, this ain't a TV movie. Racking a shotgun or making any gun sounds only alerts an intruder. Possible he could run, but also possible he could simply watch where the sound came from and shoot you when you step out.

Don't assume all intruders are dumb or scared, have your gun loaded so all you have to do is flip off the safety.

Now you have a chance.