Firing any gun indoors without hearing protection is going to be disturbing. I have not seen any studies, but I would think that the sharper “crack” of a rifle or handgun would be more disadvantages than the lower velocity bark of a shotgun. By the way, like your screen name, bought an Armscorp .38 earlier this year.
Great point that hasn't been brought up, shotgun blasts are around 150-160 decibels, loud enough to cause permanent hearing damage to people in the vicinity not wearing hearing protection. While rifles and handguns are loud, they're around 20-30 decibels quieter than shotguns.
This is another reason to avoid using shotguns as your main home defense weapon if you live with other people or have other people over on a regular basis.
“Firing any gun indoors without hearing protection is going to be disturbing. I have not seen any studies, but I would think that the sharper “crack” of a rifle or handgun would be more disadvantages than the lower velocity bark of a shotgun. By the way, like your screen name, bought an Armscorp .38 earlier this year.”
I think the only sources on the subject would be combat veterans who were involved in urban warfare. There apparently being no studies on the matter.
I bought my RIA M200 revolver 3 years ago and I’m quite happy with it. An economical gun that does the job.