Customizing Guns For Home Defense

Guns & Ammo Magazine ^ | 8/06 | Dave Spaulding

[Cobra64]

After reading your posts. I'd suggest you just call 911 and sit tight.

[CFC__VRWC]

I fit my Sig P239 (40 S&W) with Trijicon sights for night use. My S&W 637 Airweight will get a set of Crimson Trace grips soon.

[R.W.Ratikal]

Most important. Be familiar with your home-defense gun. Take it out and practice. Know how it works, Know how to break it down and clean it. Keep a good supply of ammo.

Take a gun safety lesson. Do not put trigger locks on the gun or lock it away in a safe or closet. Do not in any way hinder your ability to get the gun into action without delay.

Above all, keep the gun where it can be quickly put into action. Keep it loaded.

Good home-defense guns are sawed-off pump or automatic 12 ga shotgun. I call it my "Home Invader Persuader."

Don't depend on a pistol unless you know how to use it and will use it if you life is in danger.

[Cobra64]

I agree. I've heard that even use of +P can make you appear the aggressor. I know... it's stooopid. But a friend in CA read an article about this.

[Cobra64]

Kicks like a freakin' mule firing 3 1/2" mag loads.

I wonder why.

[JRandomFreeper]

Got one of those leaning in the corner. I call her 'Miss Manners'. I tried a pistol grip on it, and wound up cracking my thumb when I fired a high brass round in it. I'm back to the shoulder stock.

/johnny

[Phsstpok]

It can be legally owned by paying the tax

Yes, we all know about the nice little "tax" on such items.  We also know about the consequences of getting involved in that little bureaucratic swamp.

Probably a lot of recoil and muzzle flash would make followup shots difficult.

Well, yeah!!  That was partly the point of the rest of my post.  The BFR is going to be better, but, like you, I prefer the more "traditional" stuff.  That's where the Neostead comes in....

[mad_as_he$$]

So do you own Surefire stock? ;-)

[Cobra64]

Been a lifer since college. 1971.

[mad_as_he$$]

Two in the chest one in the head, shot that F'er till he's dead. Can't sue you then. Make sure the angle on the head shot fits the scene.

[mad_as_he$$]

Mine, S&W 357 six inch barrel. I use regular wad cutter load and turn the slug around. In pig carcass tests it rarely exits but does considerable damage. i agree a regular 357 round will go easily through a person and the next wall at 10 feet.

[clyde asbury]

bttt

[Uri’el-2012]

If you are planning to use a handgun for home defense, you might want to review and consider MagSafe.

[kAcknor]

Almost certainly not legal. Plus, you're looking at only 3 rounds, max (plus maybe one up the spout).

Oh, it's legal alright. $5 tax to transfer and own, $200 to build, so they are also expensive. Called an AOW or Any Other Weapon.

Can't argue about the three rounds though.

[kAcknor]

I did 'build' my own. Started with a $150.00 used Mossberg 500A with pistol grip I found at a gunshow. Had fun doing it too. Can't say I saved any money however! :)

Mash for looksee.

[308MBR]

I went a little dippy with the fiberglass stock for my M14. It's a sort of wild looking Day-Glo orange and green tiger stripe "camo" pattern with black and fluorescent blue pinstripes separating the green and orange. I have shot it so much that the bolt has set back a bit and it stretches brass about 0.030", so for right now, it's just for looking at.

As for the main deal, just an almost IDPA legal Springfield 1911 crammed full of Cor-Bon loaded Speer flying ashtrays and a Mossberg 590 with tritium ghost ring sights.....and for coming around corners it wears a bayonet. Up the tube, we start with 3" 00, then 3" 000 and four slugs up in the speed feed stock.

[mad_as_he$$]

I agree - for some people. In my personal test of magsafe I found them to be unreliable as far as coming apart to easy for my tastes. However, they do have a place.

I have perforated two perps in robberies over the years. Both convenience stores - odd thing is I have never worked in one - just walked in on robberies in progress. One with a 44 mag. and one with a 357 with my wad cutters. Neither robbed a store again. I have also used a 45 auto in VN to great effect. The 45 is not for everyone but it is my daily carry gun.

[Liberty Valance]

"I'm holding off for a Remington 870 Marine Magnum
my own self."


Hear hear! To thine own self be true. ;o)

[freedomlover]

Funny thing, THAT SOUND. I call it the "O Sh!t Shuck"

On a side note Hollywood loves that sound. I remember a Dirty Harry movie where Harry drives his car into a window and just before he drives into the glass you hear THAT SOUND and the next thing Bad Guy with a DOUBLE BARREL shoots at Harry. Not too many double barrel pumps I know of.

I am too afraid of relying on a pump in a panic situation based on the number of times I have forgotten to pump a borrowed pump action after being attacked by a dove.

[2ndClassCitizen]

This is an extremely complex subject. There are several things to keep in mind.

First and most important (to me), anyone or anything you think is a threat may be your children, the paperboy, a drunk, a kid sneaking in to visit your daughter (you may not like him but you do not want to hurt him) or any one of a thousand other harmless but scary to you people. So make sure (absolutely sure) that what you decide to shoot is the real McCoy. PS I am not a descendant of the Hatfields.

Second, equipment familiarity is most important. An 18" barrel or a 28" barrel, either is equally as effective. You must know the different strategies on how to use them, be able to figure out what the psychological effects will be on the "enemy" as well as the physical effects. Remember that most uses of a handgun are accomplished without bloodshed. So do you just want to display the firearm with the option to shoot..., I do. The chances are that you will be successful if you get the opportunity to show your firearm and warn someone off.

Third, you need to be prepared as well as you can. I almost always have a handgun within reach day or night. 9 MM either Glock or the CZ, 357 cal revolver (Security Six in stainless), the 45 cal H&K or the Sig, or the MK 11 Reuger in 22 cal. They are all quite effective depending on the particular situation. Of course the Damascus steel (hammered and turned 500 times) samurai sword is real good for a close up type of situation and is almost always at hand. The rifles and shotguns are available within two minutes if need be. The compound bows are available within one minute if silence is desired, and the crossbow is available if I have three minutes to get it ready. There are other self-defense options available for the specific need.

My point is that there are not optional weapons for home defense, there are a myriad of options depending on the situation. Practice and knowing how to use different things for their particular uses is where it is at. Know your weapon, know your enemy, and you decrease the possibility that you will harm someone in order to defend yourself.