Posted on 02/16/2003 8:38:11 PM PST by conservativefromGa
John Strauss
Assault rifles offer a bit too much for home defense
February 14, 2003
As store shelves throughout the city are emptied of duct tape and plastic sheeting by people concerned about terrorist attacks, other folks think the best defense is a good offense.
Don Davis said gun sales at his Westside store have doubled since the latest terrorism alert. He said the $599 AK-47 is a top seller.
Davis became locally famous a few years ago with endlessly repeated TV commercials in which he cocked a finger at the camera and cackled, "Folks, I don't want to make money -- I just love to sell guns."
It turns out that terrorism sells.
"For me, when times are bad, business is good," Davis said Thursday.
He was at a trade show in Florida this week, shopping for gas masks for customers suddenly nervous about chemical or biological attacks.
At his Don's Guns, manager Ben Chance let me test-fire the AK-47 and a $999 Bushmaster, similar to the military M-16, in the store's indoor range.
The Bushmaster delivers a high-velocity round very accurately with little kick. The AK-47 will give you a jolt, but with that kick you get a larger round capable, they say, of going through a car's engine block.
Just what you need to stop terrorists invading your subdivision.
Of course, some people might end up with guns simply for home protection. And if that's the case, Chance says, an old-fashioned shotgun might do the trick.
"A 12-gauge is a nice gun to have in the house. You don't have to aim the gun. You just point it in the general vicinity, and you're actually going to hit what you're pointing toward, because (the shot) scatters."
Business also was up at 500 Guns on the Westside and at Pop Guns Trading Post on the Eastside. But managers at those stores said that had more to do with the arrival of income tax refund checks than Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein.
"There have been a few people come in and express concern," said Mike Hilton, the manager at Pop Guns. "But overall, people tend to be pretty complacent about it, to be honest."
Hilton said he recommends that someone who wants a gun take a training course. Then, once he has an idea of their skill level, he'll suggest a firearm -- often a small revolver.
He's not big on the AK-47 in this case. If used for self-defense, it's likely to "overpenetrate" -- go right through the attacker, through the wall of your home, through the wall of the next house and into somebody there.
Guy Montgomery, manager of 500 Guns, also recommends a revolver -- not a battlefield rifle -- for home defense.
Still, there's a magnetism about the assault weapons. Firing one of these guns is the shooting equivalent of twisting the throttle on a squat Harley -- lots of noise and simple, raw power.
They're fun, but they may not be real practical.
So if you're convinced al-Qaida is down the street and you want to establish a defensive perimeter in the front hallway, do the neighbors a favor.
Just borrow dad's old shotgun.
I taught skeet shooting at a university for two years. Most of the students did not supply their own guns and we had three 870 pumps for those. When I got there the 870's were about 20 years old. I did some rough figuring and they all had to have had over 100,000 rounds through them. In fact I think it was probably closer to 400,000.
The department chair told me none had ever been repaired. One had developed a slight problem in that it would sometimes let a shell slip out of the mag past the shell stop. The other two worked perfectly.
I have owned probaly half a dozen Mossbergs. I like them, especially where the safety is placed but they don't have the solid feel of the Remington. Also most of them have had the safety break. The problem is so common that most larger gun shops keep a supply of spares on hand. I suspect Mossberg has by now fixed the problem but it should have been fixed to start with.
I'd also keep a good, big-bore revolver handy for those pesky velociraptors. A .44 should do for them, with 240-grain JHP's.
we are talking about the 7.62x39 - please lets try to maintain some credibility - maybe - just maybe on a MGB block
Given the large number of velicoraptors operating together I would like a couple of large bore revolvers .44magnum or better.
Same ballistics as a .50 caliber with a HEDP round at the end of said trajectory.
The shorter of the two is the better and badder beast.......(My old EOD toy takes a back seat to this new payload rifle :o) Stay Safe !
You can get hi-caps into it with a little fiddling around; There's lots of good info on the web. Here's a typical gun board thread: http://kalashnikov.guns.ru/wwwboard/messages/11351.html
Just for the record, I think 'home defense' is one of the highest and best uses for the AK types, and you'll probably never need to shoot ANY major engine components! ;^/
Heck, it's not speculation -- You'll need something that will reliably break any bones involved AND penetrate to the far side. Ideally, it should still have enough energy to leave an exit hole, but many slugs stop under the far-side hide after smashing a shoulder ball-joint.
I can't think of any rifle other than the .50 BMG that would perform on a reptile that size.
D'ya think Wal-Mart will sell the HE ammo?
Over the years I have developed loads for the .460 that are equal to a hot 45-70 load that works very well for Mulies and Elk in the lower 48. Thus I do get some use out of it.
As to the .500,.... I fly fish a lot and get to go to Alaska every other year and got tired of lugging a 12 gauge pump gun with me for a last ditch anti-bear tool. That is only if Mr/Ms Bear won't just take my catch offered freely and let me walk away........
Stay Safe !
I'm not recoil 'sensitive', but I remember reading Layne Simpson's test of the .460 Weatherby -- How he had to drape a bag of shot over the top of the rifle and use another shot bag for a shoulder-pad, and that was a heavy bolt rifle.
You couldn't get me close to a lightweight single-shot in .460 WM. It would be perfect for Alaska though; One shot's all you'd get, probably. Put a red dot on it. It might make fly casting tough, slung on your back, but I've seen those big Alaskan flies -- You could cast them like a bass plug!
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