Posted on 08/18/2014 9:57:48 PM PDT by DRey
Roger.
Remember that the aftermath will have armchair quarterbacks judging your performance.
You must be able to articulate clearly why you did what you did. Keep it simple.
It is perfectly reasonable, after an event like this, to say something like ‘I am pretty shaken. I want to cooperate fully but need to compose myself before doing so. Please give me some time.’
It is not uncommon for a survivor to laugh at the release of tension ... avoid doing this out loud as it may not be understood.
Being a woman has some advantages.
Bfl
I go to an indoor range regularly with my handgun, but don’t know where to go with a shotgun. Is there a “practice” type shot they allow at indoor ranges if you know? Definitely all about confidence through practice.
Understood. Although I will say that it’s pretty hard to convict in-home self defenders from intruders in TX, regardless of outcome. CIVIL issues may be another matter. Hopefully never come close to either situation!
The only reason to do without the buttstock is for using in tight quarters. When it comes to actual shooting then firing from the shoulder is vastly better.
I would buy a 20 gauge if I was buying the gun for you.
If you do get a shotgun get a big sheet of cardboard, mark some aiming spots on it and shoot at them from ten feet or so, fifteen, twenty and so forth while backing up. This will give you an idea of the shot spread at different distances. You will be surprised at the small spread at close distances.
BTW, a fairly decent gunsafe is a real good investment for guns and other stuff.
PS, some states require shotguns, no rifles, for deer hunting.
I’m full of opinions. :-)
Why a gun safe? I have one in my purse, one behind the safe, and want this shotgun under the bed. Don’t have hunting rifles or anything to lock up for “special” occasions. Also, have awesome Kevlar locking holster very difficult for child to pull off but quick yank at right angle for me and ready to fire. Why gun safe?
It’s actually easier to hit at close range with a rifle than with a shotgun.
The true advantage of the shotgun in a home defense situation is two fold. First, shotgun loads don’t over penetrate walls, so you don’t have to worry as much about killing a family member in another room or the occupants of an adjoining apartment. Second, with a load like the Winchester PDX1, one shot from a shotgun puts even the biggest, baddest guy down and incapacitated immediately with one shot.
Most ranges I go to will allow bird shot. None allow slugs unless it is outdoors and a pretty good distance.
The post by Yosemitest has several points worth thinking about.
First, in a room clearing weapon you do not want a long barrel. If your barrel precedes you into a room an adversary there will just take it from you with a sharp yank. They may grab it and push back or twist it to break your finger in the trigger guard. In any case your advantage is gone.
Second, a shotgun takes some work to be able to handle smoothly. For example a semi-auto will malfunction if held too loosely as the gun depends on the shooter to hold it firmly so the action can eject and load another round. A malfunction turns your semi-auto shotgun into a single-shot if you have not practiced clearing the malfunctions reflexively.
A pump shotgun does not do that but you must practice running the slide on the shotgun fully in order to not short-stroke it and create a different malfunction when the action is locked and there is no round in the chamber.
To do this you must practice shooting 3 round sets of shots many times to make sure you can fully run the slide every time.
Finally a shotgun hurts if not held properly. A 20 gauge pump will have significant felt recoil much like a 12 gauge.
A shouldered shotgun held loosely will hurt you enough to distract you from the important job you have in front of you.
It is not a man vs woman thing in any sense. Good shotgun work takes a lot of practice to get OK at and more to be competent regardless of gender.
Finally an shotgun is slow to reload unless you are a 3-gun shooter with a bucket-load of practice.
Hence my earlier comments about pistol caliber carbines (short, light recoil, easy reloads, common ammo).
223/5.56 rifles can be used as home defense in an urban setting with frangible ammo. Ar style, mini-14, the Tavor any of them with a carbine length (or shorter if you can have it) barrel will suffice. The blast from a rifle cartridge will be significant in an enclosed space.
Any centerfire carbine is superior to a shotgun in my opinion for a non-professional home defender due to the increased ease of use and the amount of practice required to field it effectively.
You need the safe to store your wasp spray.
No really, it is kind of reassuring when you are not home to be able to lock up your guns——unless you take all of them with you——ammo, passports, cameras, jewelry, money, stamps, extra checks or other valuables. A fire liner is good and if you have someones kids over it can keep them out of mischief.
Of course, they can be breached or potentially carried off but it causes some discouragement amongst the typical smash and grabs yutes.
Signing off now. Good luck.
Am glad you are home 100 per cent of the time and never ever leave.
And if you had a safe and were home you would never ever open it until you heard an intruder. Okay.
Put me on the long list of Remington 870 supporters.
1. Get the 18” barrel for home defense. It’s lighter and easier to use in a confined space.
2. If you are worried about recoil or overpenetration, there are “Tactical Loads” that are significantly easier to handle. I’d go with a reduced recoil load in a 12 gauge rather than a 20 gauge if that is an issue. Note: I have tactical loads in my 870 right now, except that the last round is a magnum load in case I can’t count under pressure.
3. Remington 887 is NOT RECOMMENDED for home defense. Remington claims that the Remington 887 is the same design as the Remington 870, just with a more rugged polymer coating. They lie. The 887 is durable but not as reliable as the 870. Most of the 887s work, but far too many people have had failure to go bang issues with the 887 when they pull the trigger, and I have had that failure dozens of times with the 887 before I finally got it fixed. My 870 has never, not even once in over 5,000 shots, failed in any way.
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