6 Home Defense Carbines, 5 are NOT AR’s

The Daily Caller ^ | March 15, 2012 | Michael Piccione

[2ndDivisionVet]

Let’s talk home defense.

First things first, shotguns are devastatingly powerful. Nothing can compare to the 12 gauge at close range. Even birdshot, which is still one mass of moving lead at close range, will tear a human to shreds. In my battery I have a Remington 870 and a bandoleer of slugs and buck ready to go for when the SHTF. You don’t lose much with a 20 gauge at close range either and you gain some agility with a smaller gun, and more family members are likely to respond better to the 20.

The second point I’d like to make is on handguns for home defense. Shoot the biggest cartridge you can handle.

--snip--

Hi-Point Carbine

This is the least expensive gun on the list with a suggested retail price of $285. You can get them in 9mm, .40 S&W and .45 ACP. The added barrel length as a rule of thumb will add 300 feet per second making even a 9mm a good stopper and even better with +P loads. The specs on this gun make it a good home defense choice; 16.5” barrel, length 31” and it weighs 6.25 lbs. Now here is the rub, some folks flat out hate these guns. Others love them. I’m indifferent right now because I don’t have a lot of range time to make up my mind but that will change because my neighbor just got one...

[Azeem]

Anything that won’t penetrate the plane won’t do a reliable job on a person. The airplane skin is very thin.

I don’t know what Air Marshall’s use but puncturing the side of a plane with a bunch of bullets won’t take it down. That only happens in Hollywood.

[SolidRedState]

Here's a video involving the 9mm Hi Point Nutn Fancy on the Hi Point 995TS

[Baynative]

Thanks for the post. I carry a .38 and my wife has a .22 mag for her purse and wants something bigger. (She fired a .357 mag at the range and loved it.) All we really have for home defense is a Winchester Defender 1300 and I’m rethinking what will be needed when times get weird(er).

[Baynative]

"please tell me where I can get an AR for $650."

Cash talks in da hood.

[Theoria]

9mm is fine for anything. I suggest it because ya can get plenty of dual use out of it. Grab a cheap Ruger Camp 9 Carbine. Nice little carbine and 9mm is easy to get. You get plenty of speed and power out of the rifle barrel. Great little gun to keep around the house.

Throw in a Mini-14 and 30. Nice little guns for any real purpose out there.

[Lancey Howard]

Good post, and good advice.

I’ve got a double-barrel 20 gauge shotgun (w/ two triggers), a 30.06 with scope, a Russian AK (semi), a 22 squirrel rifle, a 357 S&W, and some other miscellaneous handguns. Everybody in the family can be shooting away at any invading Obama Democrat locusts who venture onto my property when the SHTF.

I would like to get a couple more high-powered rifles w/ scopes, though, just to be sure.

[Lancey Howard]

Were they printed?

[Terry L Smith]

Carbine for the house? OH GOSH YES! I suggest a Rossi, not a Puma, for the money value. The Puma line are near Browning Hi Power cost, whereas, a Rossi will not break you. They make them in most revolver calibers, and even .44-40. I read a report, that stated a carbine in 16-inch barrel lentgth, (I believe it was on CHUCKHAWKS.COM), is the optimal length of a barrel for a .357 Magnum chambering. Any longer a barrel, and the ‘law of diminishing returns’ kicks in, and we don’t need that. Yes, folks do suggest mostly 158-grain loads, but for home defense, for me, I employ 125-grain loads. Remember, too, a 16-inch .357 magnum carbine weighs less than five pounds. That read-about .357 magnum ‘oomph’ has to go somewhere when that bullet leaves the barrel, and your shoulder is where it is going. You will feel the difference in the grain weight loads.

Here is what my 20th Century ‘jaeger rifle’ looks like, complete with John Wayne large lever loop:

http://www.rossiusa.com/product-details.cfm?id=174&category=8&toggle=&breadcrumbseries=

No scopes, no hooded sights. I have ordered, and emplaced a leather ‘butt cuff’ like this one:

http://www.diamonddcustomleather.com/Rifle_Butt_Cuff.php

(Won’t the liberals have fun with trying to regulate a handmade piece of leather, huh?)

And like the author, yes - the rifle can chamber both .357 Magnum and .38 Special, in that order, I prefer to feed this little beastie only factory 125-grain .357 Magnum loads. I was told that particular round is good on all things, feral.

So, enjoy life, get one of these little beasties, get the other leather to go with it - someone out there makes a muzzle cap, too - and for the full experience, get a pair of ‘mechanics’ style gloves at your hardware dealer in desert tan. (Shooting a lever action with a good set of gloves will save your hand.)

http://www.mechanix.com/tactical/the-original-coyote-glove

Have fun, learning how to guard hearth and home, like our pioneering forefathers did in The Great West. Besides, this particular carbine is in no way shape or fashion anything close to an “Evil Battle Rifle”, or E.B.R!!!

Happy New Year to all the Freepers!

Long live the Republic!

[Terry L Smith]

I forgot one thing .... everything the author recommends, except the lever action, is A SEMI-AUTOMATIC OPERATING RIFLE!!! Duh!

[Terry L Smith]

I’ll see your 9mm (Browning hi power mkIII), and raise you a Sw Model 10/15.

Why?

After shooting both a MkII and MKIII, with: non-limp-wristed FTF/FTE’s caused by factory ammo and magazine failures to keep slide back after last shot, with the seconds necessary to whether tap-rack=bang, or tap-drop-rack-slap-rack-bang, I do not believe that semi-automatic pistol machinery, in any caliber, can equate to the relaese of a nice lead 158 grain solid semiwadcutter, with each trigger pull on a four-inch barreled .38 Special revolver. I’ve watched intently every 9mm load fired through the ‘FBI-standardized’ four layers of denim placed in front of Simtest ballistic gelatin test material, only to see it fail to operate as designed. Solid semiwadcutters, which are not hollow point bullet deisgns, do not clog, nor fail to ‘petalize’.

What made me consider this load? I made a visit to the Fed pen in another part of the state, on a nice clear fall day, where the business office was located 75 yards from ‘the workout cage’. The weights being lifted by, and the girths of, these ‘refrigerator perrys’ helped me make that decision.

[MHGinTN]

I'm surprised this thread got this far without someone bringing up the Sub 2000 in 40 S&W. I have the glock mag model and thirty plus round mags for it, as well as Glock 22 mags for it. With hollow point ammo this weapon is not only light, it packs a wallop and is small enough to 'clear a house' with. And if you want to take it 'camping', it folds down to 16 inches from its 29.5 inch shooting length. I've shot eveything I can find, including Tula through it and it eats them all with no hiccups. [If you get one, put a hogue finger grip on the thing and enjoy ... with the ammo now available for the 40 S&W, I've stepped down from .45 acp to 40 S&W for home and personal defense. I can manage the recoil better ...

And while I'm rambling, the 5.56 in pistol configuration with two or three 30 round Pmags makes a nice surprise if a gaggle of feral ver4min show up at your home, uninvited.

[Mastador1]

A .22 to the head is usually a game changer as it likes to ricochet around the inside of the skull.Also remember you only want to deal with the situation in your home, not your neighbors. Pick the gun and caliber for your surroundings.

[Georgia Girl 2]

For clearing the house we rely on Mr. Mossberg 500 tactical.

[Georgia Girl 2]

For clearing the house we rely on Mr. Mossberg 500 tactical.

[SVTCobra03]

Most unabashed fans of bigger bore handguns have likely never shot at a target trying to avoid being hit. They also likely never have seen how hard it is to achieve solid hits in a two way shooting range.

Tell that to the Marine Corps which is changing over from the 9mm to the .45 cal. Semper Fi.

[43north]

Ruger 10/22 with a Ruger brand 25 round magazine, er, I mean clip, and a 2-7x or 4x quality rimfire scope. Want to carry 500 rds of something other than .22LR? Not me thanks.

[staytrue]

I like a handgun with a laser. Yes, I think it is difficult to hit a moving target with a handgun and be moving yourself and a laser makes the task easier.

[Okieshooter]

Mine is one of these in .45 ACP.

http://www.justrightcarbines.com/

[353FMG]

“....and 9mm is easy to get.”

.
Walmart was out of 9mm this afternoon and so were other stores.

What’s going on?

[Theoria]

I guess ‘easy’ to get. I usually don’t get all of my ammo from Wally world. I suspect its simple supply and demand as of now. Or perhaps, Walmart is slowly turning away from guns and ammo in the future? I know they took down their AR’s from online pretty quickly after the Conn. shooting.