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

[LimaLimaMikeFoxtrot]

Hmm.. pistol grip, folding stock. Sounds like an assault weapon to me.

/ HUGE sarc now off.

[Kansas58]

I agree.
And, in the event of “Mad Max and Thunder dome” or complete melt down of society, I will keep a hack saw close by.

A sawed off shot gun is a perfect urban weapon.

I would like an M-16, but the rounds simply travel too far, and I do not think I will be out on the hunt, just yet, for hostiles.

[FormerACLUmember]

Remington 870 Home Defense model.

[mamelukesabre]

The beauty of the saiga 12 is that you can shorten the barrel without sacrificing magazine capacity.

[LimaLimaMikeFoxtrot]

Sound advice there on all those.

[ChildOfThe60s]

Just got my $30 rebate from S&W for this gun. Nice.

[mrsalty]

Nothing beats a 12 guage shotgun loaded with 00 magnum buckshot, doesn't matter what make or model. 00 buckshot is 9 pellets, all the same size as a .38 caliber handgun bullet, coming out at the same time! Devastating effect at close range! I don't know what you plan on hunting for to choose a rifle.

[guitarplayer1953]

Hunting: Depends on what you hunt, and where you hunt it [In a lot of New York, you can only hunt deer w/ a shotgun].

Hows that work out for you do you have to buy special shot to shoot a deer?

[ChildOfThe60s]

Unless you are pretty experienced and practice on a regular basis, go with a revolver. No jamming. No screwups in a sudden, high stress situation.

I have a S&W airlight 38. My daughter can do a hand sized spread at 60 ft with one. More than accurate enough.

Whatever you do, train with it. And get some guidance from an experienced shooter.

[Empireoftheatom48]

Smith&Wesson 357 Magnum. I love mine!!

[Southack]

Generally these threads devolve into p!ssi#g matches, where “larger is better.” It's the Internet, egos abound. What can you do?!

First, be realistic about your situation and budget. Are there others who live with you? Do you live in an apartment with close-by neighbors or out in the wilderness?

Do you actually hunt? Do you hunt big game, game, or game birds?

What are your local laws (e.g. carry, hunting, firing inside town, castle) and local prosecutors like?

There are lots of different firearms because people live in so many varied places, with so many varied threats (from law enforcement, from criminals, from terrorists, from wild beasts like polar bears, etc.).

As a general rule of thumb, you want a revolver for pure defense...a semi-automatic for potential offense. One is *always* ready and able to fire...the other can fire fast.

If you don't plan on regularly visiting a practice range, then a shotgun makes sense. You can load a shotgun with slug ammo if you need a “rifle” and you can hunt game birds with a shotgun and you can skeet shoot for sport with a shotgun and a shotgun makes for a good home defense weapon.

I prefer the smaller gages like 28 and 410 because on any given day I may fire 500 rounds at skeet. It's painful to the hands, shoulder, and ears...even with hearing protection, to routinely fire 500 rounds at skeet in a day from the larger shotgun guages like 12...so I stick with smaller.

In my opinion, more powerful rifles and semi-autos should be 3rd or 4th weapons...long after you've become intimately comfortable with your small guage shotgun and/or revolver. Clearly I'm not trying to gin up a macho “bigger is better” argument!

I've purchased more than 30 bullet proof ballistc vests over the years. Given a bit of Google.com searching and ebay.com searching, I've acquired Level II vests for as little as $25, and a level IIIa vest once for as little as $110.

If you don't want to wear a vest, you can at least stuff a few into your door panels. 3 to 4 ballistic vests will easily cover a Durango side door. Just pop off the interior panels and tape them so that they cover the door without blocking the automatic locks or windows (there's lots of free empty space inside car doors). Or you can use phone books and duct tape...which can typically stop most street thug pistols ala .22 and .38 (Saturday Night Special is the most confiscated weapon by police from hoodlums). A little redneck armor in your car can change your entire personal defense perspective. Riots and street thugs become less potent against you in a surprise attack.

Another great deterent and alarm against surprise is a dog. The 5 or 6 seconds that a dog lives during a home invasion or car-jacking should be all the time that you need to disable the attacker(s).

Speaking of which, there is no such thing as a fair fight. Do not poke your entire head around a corner. 1 eye at most. Do not engage in a straight shootout. Use cover. At the very least, drop to the ground. This is extremely effective against a carjacker who just sat in your driver seat. Drop to the ground near the door and shoot up at him through the floor/door. He will have very little chance of shooting back accurately.

Follow all laws. Get your CCW. Wear your vest. Redneck armor your car. Lexan is cheap if you want to do your windows, too. Half-inch Lexan will stop an Army Issue Colt .45 slug cold. Get a dog.

Carry a revolver if your threat is mobile...keep your small guage shotgun handy when at home. Some people prefer the intimidating sound that a pump shotgun makes...I like the rapid fire that a semi-auto 28 guage shotgun allows.

Your mileage will vary. Can't be helped. Every person, area, and situation is different.

But...start small and only work up if you find a compelling reason (which you may...or may not). Use fast-opening safes for gun-storage if there is a chance that children may ever be unattended or untrained therein. Store your “safed” weapons with correct ammo grouped together in the safe, or loaded. Label your weapons if left loaded...large magic markers and painter's masking tape works fine.

Be smart. Be prepared. Train at a range, not just in your imagination.

[JrsyJack]

anyone looking down the barrel knows you're not going to miss...

Looking down the barrel? Hell, most burglars will be gone about 2 seconds after they hear the round jacked into the chamber. That's one of those sounds you definitely never want to hear behind you.

[oldenuff2no]

Being a retired combat vet, gunsmith, competitive shooter, reloader, and self defense small arms instructor I am very sure of my knowledge of ballistics and physics. Your evaluation of terminal impact energy is a crock!!!!! I'm not going to argue one caliber over another. There is not one round that is best at all distances out to a hundred yards. I would keep a riot gun stoked with buckshot around for close in work and probably one of the AK clones loaded with expanding bullets for man sized targets from thirty to a hundred yards. I hunt with handguns and archery gear. The black bear,(400 lb boar) I took last year fell to my Ruger 45LC. I had it loaded with 320gr soft nose 45LC +P Corbon ammo. I engaged and dispatched the bear at 30’ with one shot. I would not even consider using the same weapon/ammo at a hundred yards. That combination, due to the loss of velocity at that distance, would not have the desired terminal impact energy.

[Total Package]

3” brass with #2 shot

[wendy1946]

I'd GUESS that finding 44mag ammo would still be fairly easy. 44Mag isn't something the gang-bangers have any partifcular use for. It's overkill for shooting humans and is normally associated with sidearms you'd carry for protection in bear country.

Again the 44mag is huge for a handgun; in a rifle muzzle energy is no more than that of a 243 and recoil is minimalistic, but the lethality is gigantic particularly with heavier kinds of ammo. That is, inside the intended 100 yard range of the cartridge which is where 90% of all real killing of game animals takes place. The one thing the 243 or 308 can do which the 44mag really can't is kill Bambi from 300 yards but, again, in real life, that's pretty rare.

[PzLdr]

Use a rifled barrel 20 gage slug gun [shoots sabot slugs] w/ a scope. Accurate to about 100+ yards.

[Sundog]

Hi, GP53, we’ve talked before.

I’ve bought three of these in the link, and put a crimson trace on each. Hammerless, 357 mag, where the red dot points is where the bullet goes.

These are mighty fine revolvers, no safety to worry about. That long pull on the trigger is all you need.

I like they way it hides in my jeans’ pocket, and I carry one in a soft concealed carry holster there. My wife has the second and my daughter the third. Concealed carry permits all around.

[Sundog]

See my post #57

[wendy1946]

Your evaluation of terminal impact energy is a crock!!!!!

Your conception of the meaningfulness of energy is the crock.

[bandit123]

Im gonna second that ,, i say SAIGA 12GA also . model iz-109
its shorter and you can get a tapco collapsing stock for 59 dollars
and then just use American mags ( to be compliant with import law 922r), you can get 12 round mags for 55 dollars. I was very impressed with its ability to deliver fire power down range . i also mounted a cheap laser to the front with a pressure switch. I don't even have to see good ( like at night )to take out a burglar. and saiga 308 in 22inch is a good gun for hunting , can be bought with wood stock
mine only cost about 575 each , and i am very happy with them for the money. and there is plenty of ammo at ammunitiontogo.com