Best home defense gun.

[Lantz]

You keep forgetting that I live in Idaho. I CAN legally own a gun, just not a handgun, I gotta wait until Im 18 for that. And I have a gun. A Mosin-Nagant 91-30. And if I ever felt the need to shoot an intruder with that, you can be sure that the results wouldn't be pretty. Or maybe the gun has to be in someone elses name....I dunno. Either way, its mine, I paid for it, it's traceable to MY bank account, so I am responsible for what I do with it. Also, sgtbear,I'd say if I was using a shotgun for home defense that I'd use 00 or 0 buckshot. If I was using a double barreled shotgun, I'd probably put 00 buckshot in the front triggered barrel, and a hollow point deer slug in the rear triggered barrel. If those two together didn't do the job, you might as well give up and hand over the money, because Superman has been known to rob the occasional house.

[Lantz]

If BB pistols had to be registers, I would have to be just as old to buy one of those as I would have to be to buy a gun.You aren't allowed to buy a BB gun unless you are over 18, i think paintball guns, and those little airsoft guns are that way too.

[Creeker]

You keep forgetting that I live in Idaho. I CAN legally own a gun, just not a handgun, I gotta wait until Im 18 for that. And I have a gun. A Mosin-Nagant 91-30. And if I ever felt the need to shoot an intruder with that, you can be sure that the results wouldn't be pretty. Or maybe the gun has to be in someone elses name....I dunno. Either way, its mine, I paid for it, it's traceable to MY bank account, so I am responsible for what I do with it. Also, sgtbear,I'd say if I was using a shotgun for home defense that I'd use 00 or 0 buckshot. If I was using a double barreled shotgun, I'd probably put 00 buckshot in the front triggered barrel, and a hollow point deer slug in the rear triggered barrel. If those two together didn't do the job, you might as well give up and hand over the money, because Superman has been known to rob the occasional house.

This actually plays into a peeve of mine...

How the hell are we supposed to know where you live when you don't fill out your location on your profile?

I never heard of a firearm being registered to a bank acount. Seems to play into the myth that Cops can trace all firearms.

... and I'd use #1 buck alternated with a slug in my shotgun for more scatter in a chaotic situation such as home defense.

[Lantz]

Fixed the problem. Do you know how to put up a profile picture?

[Creeker]

Use tinypic.com make it small, then cut & paste the link from tinypic to your profile. Thats one way that might work.

Or upload a small pic straight out of your computer.

[retdetsgt]

... and I'd use #1 buck alternated with a slug in my shotgun for more scatter in a chaotic situation such as home defense.

I still like the idea of nine .32 cal size pellets. Any firefight is going to be pretty short range and there's not going to be much room for scatter of any kind.

I don't care what anybody says, I've been to enough autopsies to see what various calibers will do to the human body. The bigger the better still applies in all the cases I've seen.

[retdetsgt]

Fixed the problem. Do you know how to put up a profile picture?

I upload to Photobucket, then copy and paste the url.

[MikeG]

Since you aren't old enough to own a gun....

Reminds me of the quote by G. Gordon Liddy, who still has felony conviction.
Paraphrased:

"I can't own a gun. But my wife can. And sometimes she stores them on my side of the bed."

[hjajck]

I really like my SIG P239. We have both a .40 and .9 mm. Good for concealed carry, too.

[Creeker]

I still like the idea of nine .32 cal size pellets. Any firefight is going to be pretty short range and there's not going to be much room for scatter of any kind.

I don't care what anybody says, I've been to enough autopsies to see what various calibers will do to the human body. The bigger the better still applies in all the cases I've seen.

I am assuming that you probably haven't seen many #1 buck injuries, because its not a real common round, in these parts, anyway. I've been to my share of Autopsies as well, but don't recall ever seeing any.

IMHO, I don't think the additional .03 (#00 = .33 cal, #1 = .30 cal) in round size is as important as the number of pellets ... or holes in the attacker to bleed out of (#00 = 9 pellets, #1 = 16 pellets)... especially in a chaotic environment in close quarters battle. All of this is assuming the attacker is struck with a single shot.

Yes, I know I am doing some assuming, too.

I finally found the article I've been looking for on this topic, which I'll post here for your thoughts:
Home Defense Shotgun Ammo

[Norm357]

Guns scare me.

[Creeker]

People who fear inanimate tools concern me. :D

[Hudson69]

This here takes a lot of thought and research and there are a lot of factors to address:
Do you have kids, do you live in a high crime neighborhood, do you live in a house or multi-unit dwelling. What kind of weapon do you prefer (handgun or long gun), what is your budget?

Ultimately it will all be determined by what you like to shoot. Most home defense guns I have seen were pistols under the guise that long guns do not maneuver well at night, in the dark, with an unknown threat This added in to the over-penetration of most rifles and the spread affect of shotgun rounds. This isn't to say that a long gun couldn't be the right choice for you.

Pistol shooters tend to stand on the argument that they can have one hand free (can option out a tac light to their gun easily, keeping one hand free), have multiple rounds to fire like a rifle, have better options on ammo selection and faster reloads.

Kids come into play simply because they are kids. For those that have them you know you have to lock them up better but other things to consider are: the over penetration possibility of any bullet fired, do your kids live on the same floor as you and if not and someone breaks in at night are you going hunting (in the dark, having just been woken up, on an adrenaline dump...), if someone breaks in will the kids be cognizant enough to either hide under the bed or will they wander to find out what the noise is?

Where do you live? If you have your own home the possibility of a missed shot hitting someone it shouldn't goes down some and if you live in a rural location it goes down a lot. Do you live in a town-home or apartment complex where a missed shot with your Smith 500 magnum or your full metal jacketed rounds are going to slice through drywall like a hot knife through butter?

Regardless of what you pick you have to look at ammo as well. Glaser makes a lot of home defense rounds and they have been around long enough that apparently their products have been well received. Handguns tend to have the most options in regard to ammo choices but shotguns also have a lot of choices and shotguns tend to have more exotic choices as well (flechette rounds, flare rounds, bean bag rounds, slugs, bird shot and more). All of this also has to factor into what you like to shoot and know you will be capable of bringing into action under the worst possible conditions; bad/no light, you are tired, have just woken up with a start and so on.

What ever your choice is you also have to remember to train with it and make it as realistic as possible for what you going to do with it. Stationary paper targets in full day light while you are calm and can take your time is not realistic training.

IMO

[mcsap]

Guns scare me.

Just semi-autos.

[ChesCopPodz]

While 7 months isn't the longest a thread's gone between posts, it still qualifies as thread necromancy.