Question About Firearm Selection for Home Defense (VANITY)

vanity | April 13, 2003 | Jim Noble

[Jim Noble]

I have been trying to select a home defense firearm. I have handled and fired .38 special, .357 Magnum, and .45 ACP handguns, and 12-gauge and 20-gauge shotguns, but I'm not (yet) an experienced shooter.

I also have small kids at home.

I like the shotgun option, but have 2 concerns. 1) Do I like it because blowing away bad guys with a shotgun looks cool in the movies? (i.e., is this as viable an option as a handgun). 2) Can a bad guy with a handgun kill me before he is in lethal range of my shotgun?

Thanks in advance to all the experienced shooters here.

[SauronOfMordor]

Since the homeowner may have to navigate narrow passageways, as well as around furniture, the homeowner that uses any long gun risks having the intruder take control of the weapon due to the lenth of the barrel

Another disadvantage of the shotgun is that it is a two-hand weapon. With a handgun, you can use your other hand to hold a flashlight or phone, open doors, drag little kids out of the way, and do other useful things while still maintaining your gun ready for instant use.

Think twice about putting a flashlight attachment on your shotgun. Yes, it's convenient, and allows you to keep both hands on your gun. But it also means that your muzzle is pointing at whatever you're illuminating, whether you'd like to or not.

[CFC__VRWC]

Yeah, that's a big issue. 3 kids, 5, 3, and 1.

My brother has several guns - shotguns, handguns and rifles -and two kids. He keeps his weapons locked up (his choice of "nighttime insurance" is a Browning 9mm), but he also pounded gun safety relentlessly into the kids' heads, from the moment they were old enough to understand until today.

[algol]

No, you're not racking the slide with the intent of scaring the thug, that's just a beneficial side effect of doing it anyway.

Why do you want the element of surprise? That only makes sense if you're expecting an assassin and want to get him before he gets you. Or do really want to kill some burglar instead of just scaring him off? (I admit there's a certain satisfaction in contemplating that, but in reality the paperwork probably isn't worth it.)

Oh, and if you're fumbling with loading the weapon, you haven't practised enough.

[Shooter 2.5]

If chambering a round is louder than a whispered converstaion, some gun oil should fix that right up.

If you think you're going to be chambering a round that close, you already did something wrong and you should go over your plans again.

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

No, you're not going to SAW anything off.

You are right! I would grind it off instead.

(As I said in my first post... It's illegal.)

[Jhoffa_]

A shotgun loaded with very coarse pellets will do the trick for sure. Indoors, range won't be an issue (it wouldn't in about any urban setting anyway..) and if anything in the scenario you are concerned about.. You will most certainly score a hit with a shotgun, while at attacker with a pistol might very well miss you.

If you want a pistol, I like the heavy caliber revolvers. They are inherently safe and just natural to pick up and use.. No safety levers and such to fool with if you need to use it and you need to use it right now.

[Noslrac]

The kids will need to be taught not to touch the guns except in your presence. Additionally, you should give them time to do just that (check, check, check the firearm then check it again, no ammo in the room etc and keep them pointed in a safe direction). I would also recommend taking them out shooting so they hear and see what that thing does. I'm no professional, but this is how I was brought up and it seemed to work. I didn't hurt anyone and love to shoot these days. Dad got me a bb gun at 7...set me up in the basement shooting paper targets. Let me go at it all I wanted when he was there, but I was getting a whopping if I messed with it when he wasn't around or if i wasn't safe about it. Started hunting deer and small game at 10. I guess the moral of the story is, if they know what the gun is and know what it feels like to handle it and know what it does, there is less mystique about it.

[Billthedrill]

Might I suggest a "redoubt?" This is a single room - usually the bedroom - that has a strengthened door and is accessible to everyone on a minute's notice. Teach the kids to go there in an emergency.

In this room you have your firearm, ammunition, and a cellphone. (A regular phone works fine until the wires are cut). If you think you have trouble, gather the clan, lock the door (a steel-frame door with a deadbolt works best, but NOT one of those hollow-core pieces of trash that are your usual interior door), call the cops, chamber a round, and wait for help. Teach your wife to respond this way. Drill the kids.

I strongly do not recommend clearing a house on your own - the SWAT guys certainly don't do that. And above all, no warning shots. If you have to pull the trigger the situation is already in extremis and you're only wasting ammunition.

[Shooter 2.5]

Right. It's like Murphy said. Tracers [flashlights] work both ways.

A nightlight at the end of the hall is a better idea. The rest of my house, other than the confines of the bedrooms, are light enough where I can identify anyone.

[algol]

3 little kids behind one layer of sheetrock 30 feet downrange from the bedroom door. A shot through the open bedroom door is heading for the kid's room.

You might want to think about adding a layer of really tough panelling to that wall, if that's the case. Or pour concrete between the studs (only half kidding).

[Jim Noble]

I strongly do not recommend clearing a house on your own - the SWAT guys certainly don't do that. And above all, no warning shots. If you have to pull the trigger the situation is already in extremis and you're only wasting ammunition

I certainly agree with all that.

Just as having fire extinguishers doesn't make me a firefighter, I don't plan on becoming a SWAT officer just because I have some guns.

[Atlas Sneezed]

"...a sawed off 12 gauge shotgun is the home defence weapon of choice. Of course, being so effective, it's also illegal..."

Not at all. Just file a form 4 with the ATF, pay your $200 tax, then when the tax stamp comes back, saw away! Seriously.

(Some states may vary.)

[Bubba_Leroy]

I am partial to a Remington 870, 12 gauge, loaded with 00 Buckshot. At 50 feet it will tear a whole through a 1/2 inch sheet of plywood. Plus with a scatter gun you don't need a whole lot of light to get a bead on your target.

Exactly my choice for home protection as well. Several factors make a pump action shotgun such as the Remington 870 ideal for home protection.

First, it is my preference not to have to shoot a home intruder (and for my wife and children not to have to shoot one when I am not home). I would prefer that the S.O.B. simply drop what he is doing and run for his life. Killing home intruders, no matter how satisfying, can cause unnecessary legal complications, not to mention the hassle of cleaning up the mess.

The pump action on the Remington 870 makes a distinctive sound that virtually anyone should recognize. Any burgler hearing that sound will realize that his intended victims are armed and prepared to fire.

If the burgler does not flee from the sound of the pump action, having the business end of a shot gun pointed at your face is far more intimidating than any hand gun.

Finally, if the burgler does not immediately back down and I or a family member have to kill the S.O.B., aim is not nearly as important with a shot gun as with a hand gun. Just point towards the center of his body and fire.

[Fraulein]

So You Want To Buy A Gun?

[Wisconsin]

"Birdshot at close range has excellent stopping power but won't go through sheetrock and hit people in adjoining rooms."

Having once been in a room as a kid where a 16 gauge was accidentally discharged, I beg to differ. Two layers of sheetrock (the two sides of a framed wall) were penete
rated with about a 3" diameter hole, and an area about 2' square of plaster knocked off an exterior stone wall in the next room. The second room (between the interior wall and the exterior wall) had so much plaster dust in the air you could barely see across the room.

I do not remember for sure the shot size, but since we usally hunted pheasants as kids I would suspect #6 or #5.

[Noslrac]

I apologize my comment sounded just like you took it. However, the more control you can have over the situation the better off you are. I would rather be aiming at said perp ready to go and then identify him and inform him he has a decision to make than have to deal with racking a slide no matter how fast it is going be. One reason, If you rack the slide, and chuck a round out, you just gave yourself one less round to shoot. If you just rack a round in from the mag, you still aren't to your fullest capacity. If you are going put a round in then rack you may be slow. Remember you are going to be in a very stressful situation, not knowing exactly whats going on, possibly just out of a deep sleep. I understand your reasoning for racking the slide, I just don't agree that it is the best idea.

[Constitution Day]

bump for tomorrow...

[algol]

If chambering a round is louder than a whispered converstaion, some gun oil should fix that right up.

What kind of weapon are you talking about? I can see where that'd be true with a bolt action rifle, but not any kind of autoloader. (Well, except some submachine guns that chamber and fire the round as part of the same action, but those are merely cocked, and yeah, that's quiet.) Don't have a lot of experience with shotguns, though, not in years.

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

Not at all. Just file a form 4 with the ATF, pay your $200 tax, then when the tax stamp comes back, saw away! Seriously. (Some states may vary.)Can someone tell me if this is true for sawed off shotguns in Maryland? Almost every thing else is illegal in Maryland...

[Atlas Sneezed]

"Mossberg's 500 has a button that must be pressed in addition to racking the action"

Yes, If the action is closed on an empty chamber, you must press the little button behind the trigger guard, rack the slide (switch off the safety) before you can shoot. Some experts consider this to be an ideal way to keep a curious child, or grabby intruder from using the gun on an innocent.

They pick up the gun, pull the trigger. Nothing.

They find and switch the safety, and pull the trigger. Nothing.

They try to rack the slide. It won't budge.

You: [button] "rack, chack" [flick] "BANG!"