Guns what to buy for home protection?

none ^ | 3/23/2009 | me

[guitarplayer1953]

I'm looking to buy a gun for protection and a riffle for hunting. I have handled guns but it has been a long time so I have become rather ignorant on what to have. So I'm asking the gun owners on FR to chime in and give advice on this and if possible some guide lines on what to pay for a good gun and riffle. Thanks

[guitarplayer1953]

After looking around has anyone had or has a Siaga 12ga assault with the 20 shot drum? If so what do you like and dislike about it?

[Sundog]

Sorry I don’t know much about the different 12 / 20 gauge offerings, or drums. If money is no object, here is a pricey, legal option. This is the USMC M4 shotgun.

http://www.benelliusa.com/shotguns/benelli_m4.php

[Frogtacos]

I have the same one!! Sits loaded on my bedside too!

[Red Steel]

My first choice for a brand new pistol would be a beretta Px4 storm.

A good choice.

[CodeMasterPhilzar]

I think you're right. #4 shot probably won't go through the two layers of sheetrock necessary to penetrate the next room unless you're very close to the wall and firing directly at it. If it does penetrate, it won't have much energy left and the pellets should be pretty well flattened out - not too dangerous. As for stopping power though, with a good auto-loader or pump action you can empty all 6 in short order - I'd keep firing until the perp was flat on his back. If you're firing center-mass that shouldn't be more than 3 to 4...

I've been looking at a Mossberg 500 "Tactical Cruiser" 6 shot 12 ga, 18 1/2" barrel, pistol grip. Big punch in a relatively small package and lots of intimidation factor - it just looks mean. http://www.mossberg.com/images/Mossberg_Guns/930/NEW/54125.jpg

Of course, the standard Glock G17 (9mm) gives you a lot of rounds in the mag... If the original poster can afford it, he should get both a pistol and a shotgun, for increased tactical options. A knife makes a good weapon of last resort too. Not that I'm paranoid - I just like to be prepared... I'd rather give an after-action report than an excuse.

[Kartographer]

Damn right about the sound made when you rack a shotgun! When I was a kid I attended a summer camp run by the Indiana State Police, the gunner Sergeant said the sound of a racking a shotgun could be heard even in a noise bar with a fight going on! Face it 9 times out of 10 the sound alone is going to send the guy running home to change his freshly soiled pants. It takes just a second to rack a shell in so you don’t have to have one in the chamber and though you should always treat every gun as if it was loaded, having an empty chamber adds a layer of safety. It also means someone has to rack a shell into it, hard to accidentally do that, hard for a child to do it too, not impossible but hard.

Also a shotgun can easily be reloaded on the ‘run&’ no need to change clips shells in your pocket on in a mounted shell holder can quickly be feed in. As far as someone grabbing it from you a short barreled pistol griped shot gun doesn’t extend that much farther from your body than your extended arm does holding a pistol. There’s also the penatration issued which is mentioned in several of the post #4 buck will knock down your intruder and really mess him up, but you are unlikely to kill a family member or a neighbor on the otherside of a wall from you.

[Red Steel]

Why to NEVER depend on a handgun for defense if you are not a VERY well trained psitol shooter

My Wife -vs- the Desert Eagle .50

[Loud Mime]

Here’s my 2 cents; it’s easier to handle.

http://www.endtimesreport.com/homedefense.html

[Loud Mime]

Your buckshot comment reminded me of what one gun dealer told me: Use birdshot.

Buckshot tells a capable defense attorney that you’re itching for a confrontation. Birdshot still kills, but kills the argument over your Rambo wishes.

FYI, nothing more.

[Chimes]

Nothing scares an intruder like hearing a shotgun shell being racked into the chamber.

[oldenuff2no]

Having done dissection on well over a hundred game animals from over 40 years of hunting gives me an excellent basis for evaluation of terminal bullet efficiency.
Your one size fits all theory just doesn't work. One of the main factors that your hypothesis failed to entertain or comprehend is bullet construction. Choosing the proper bullet to preform at the desired velocity for the selected animals density is important. When you discard all loads for all high powered rifles at 100 yards you are completely disregarding the fact that there are many bullets that are specifically designed to excel on deer sized game at that distance at higher velocities. When you lump all of the bigger rifles and the tens of thousands of loads all together you are demonstrating a whole bunch of what you don't know.
I shoot a wildcat round while hunting. It will accurately put a 170 gr bullet out of the muzzle at 3K fps with a 100 yard velocity of about 2850 fps, and a 200 yard velocity of more than 2500 fps. The bullets that I load for deer are specifically designed to expand and mushroom at 2500-3000 fps within the first inch of penetration. This means that the bullet I load for deer will preform on the game as it is intended to do from the muzzle of that rifle out to 200 yards. When hunting elk, moose, bear or any of the bigger game animals I shoot the same weight bullet at the same velocity but this is a different bullet that is constructed with a thicker copper jacket that will provide far greater penetration before it begins to expand. I want the bullets to properly expand and expel all of their energy into the animal. The perfect bullet choice is the one that sheds all of it's accumulated energy into the animal, mushrooms to at least 2X it's original diameter, and stops just under the hide on the off side. When you shoot through an animal all the energy after the bullet leaves the animal is wasted. Lets go back to your 44 mag. You said nothing about bullet choice. The bullets that have the best energy displacement at 25 yards are not going to be the best choice for that 100 yard shot. Those bullets too have a velocity window where they are made to preform. I don't know what bullet you are shooting but you need to know how that bullet was designed to preform and at what point in the decreasing ark of velocity this performance begins to degrade. There is one more term you need to become familiar with. Ballistic coefficient. That is the combination of all the math on bullet shape, aerodynamics, velocity, bullet weight and a few other things that determine the physics of how well a given bullet retains energy downrange. A pointed or semi pointed boat-tail bullet around .284"/7MM diameter retains the largest % of energy downrange. The wider blunt nosed bullets like the 44 mag shoots shed energy the fastest in flight. Have a nice day.

[guitarplayer1953]

no that a wiffle not a riffle

[guitarplayer1953]

Thanks for the link I did a search on you tube and watched some of those folks try to handle a 12ga rapid fire shotgun. Some of those guys were pretty good sized guys and they had trouble controlling it. Looked at a 410’s and they pack a wallop and are very controllable. Looks like I will check into one of those to begin with and go from there. Thanks all for your in put.

[P8riot]

Absolutely

[wendy1946]

Your one size fits all theory just doesn't work.

What doesn't work is thinking anybody could manufacture a bullet which would expand properly both at 50 and at 300 yards. The 44-45 caliber bullet doesn't HAVE to expand. A common experience outfitters have is for one hunter to shoot a large boar with a 45 and drop him right there and the next guy shoot a boar the same size or smaller with a 300mag of some sort i.e. a rifle with two or three times the muzzle energy of the 44mag or 45LC and find the boar 150 - 300 yards off in the next field.

This is basically America's most lethal gun:

Inexpensive (around 530 USD on gunbroker all day long), accurate, and powerful. Chambered for 45/70 and using Garrett ammo it kills African game more efficiently than all but one or two of the largest magnums. In 45LC or 44Mag it will drop any American game at the normal <=100 range at which 90% of game animals are killed, and holds ten shots. It's arguably your best normal hunting rifle.

[Doohickey]

I haven’t had any trouble finding any caliber in my area. I just bought 180 gr .30-06 a couple of weeks ago.

[SIDENET]

Good choice!

I have exactly the same gun, including the laser sight.

I even got one of the brand new ones without the internal (infernal?) trigger lock.

[mad_as_he$$]

http://www.dillonaero.com/

[mamelukesabre]

I bet that cut deep.

[Doohickey]

I should also point out that availability is a good reason to consider standard ammo. That’s why many will recommend commercial 7.62x51mm or 5.56x45mm NATO. These are quite similar to commercial .308 Winchester and .223 Remington. Similarly, 7.62x63mm is similar to .30-06 Springfield. The debate on the subject is endless, so do some research and either settle on a caliber or buy more than one. :)

Personally I prefer the stopping power of .30-06 to the flatter-shooting .308. But that’s just me.