As for recoil, you can get reduced-recoil rounds for a shotgun. Federal (ammuntion maker), makes these, as do some others. You might have fired a 3" magnum slug, which would make a grown man cry (admit it, guys!), while a Federal ‘Tactical Load’ 2 3/4" 00 buckshot is very pleasant to shot.
With a hunting-type rifle, assuming anything larger than .223, it’s going to recoil like a mofo. I would highly recommend against a hunting-style rifle for home defense, but it is better than a sharp stick or nothing…
Any good gunstore will have some of each. A basic shotgun (plain Mossberg 500 or Remington 870) will go for something like $200 or so.
I plan to go to a firing range and learn how to shoot the gun. I am a vegetarian and a pacifist, believe me, but I have real reasons to fear for my safety in my home these days. I will ask about home invasion laws and keep them in mind. I just want to be able to rest easy.
I cannot install a home security system or get a dog because I rent. When I buy my house next year, I will definitely look into both these options. I am considering some sort of First Alert door alarm, but I’m not sure how much of a deterrent that would be. It might just mean I’ll be awake when the guy gets to me.
Forgot to add that for home defense, I wouldn’t encumber the piece with a scope or anything like that. The 10/22 series is small, light, and easily handled as they come from the box. Very desirable qualities in a home defense gun. They are also enormously fun to shoot. That is good too since it will lead you to want to practice with the piece.
Points that I’ve made in previous threads regarding this same subject is that you want your gun to meet certain criteria:
You must be comfortable with using the gun. If you’re serious about having a firearm for home defense, you need to be intimately familiar with your gun’s workings. I’m not saying you need to go to the range every day, but you should have fired the weapon enough times to be able to use it on feel. No time for squinting at the safety when Charles Manson comes calling.
Your gun should be as “harmless” looking as possible. I know this may sound silly at first, but resist the urge to buy the HK knockoff with laser sights and 30 round banana clip. This is not what you want sitting on an evidence table if you end up in court for a shooting. I’ve gotten into discussion here on the boards for this statement before, but ask any professional and they will tell you if you are involved in a shooting, even in self defense, the first two phone calls you make should be the police and a lawyer. There is a better than average chance you will be arrested. Get something that looks as “sporting” as possible while still being the gun that you want. This can work to your favor in court.
All that being said I will go with the majority here and recommend a shotgun. The gauge should be dependant on your comfort level, as well as any additional family members who may be called on to use the gun as well. I by no means mean to sound chauvinistic, but if your wife is 5 feet tall and weighs 95 pounds, a long barrel 12 gauge loaded with double ought buckshot may be a little much for her to handle. Go to your local gun shop (not a pawn shop or Wal-Mart) and the staff will be more than happy to assist you in making a knowledgeable selection.
No a shotgun is not the only way to go, and yes you do need to aim shotguns. They certainly do not aim themselves. A typical home-defense range is probably <10 paces. A shotgun’s spread at that distance is essentially nothing.
I prefer handguns because they are much easier to keep close by the bedside, which is where the gun really needs to be at night. Not openly visible, but easy to reach very fast. And for Pete’s sake, the gun should be stored fully loaded, ready for use. I prefer revolvers because they are much simpler to operate than an automatic pistol, and more reliable as well. …Yea, you won’t have 14 shots, like in autos now, but that rarely matters in home-defense situations. If a guy walks in uninvited through your bedroom door, he’s going to be perhaps ten feet away. Hitting a human-sized target from ten feet with the first shot is not dificult to do.
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Also I think it’s a very dangerous mindset (to yourself) to have the idea that just “making a scary gun clicking noise” will harmlessly frighten off an intruder. If an intruder is close enough to hear your gun being cycled, then you should already be loaded and ready for their entry into your room.
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Please disregard everything in the above post. It is full of spectacularly bad tactical and legal advice.
At typical self-defense ranges the spread of the shot pattern is only a couple inches or less. You must aim the shotgun or you will miss.
2.If you shoot somebody, you’d better shoot for center of mass. police and military train that way for a reason. It is not only the most effective way to stop an opponent, and stopping him is your goal, it gives you the best chance of hitting your target under stress.
If you go for “non-letal” shots, you open yourself to a host of bad outcomes
-you miss entirely and your opponent kills you.
-you wound your opponent and he kills you.
-you wound your opponent and in the legal inquiry you get crucified. If the situation wasn’t grave enough to warrant lethal force you had no business using a gun!
-you wound your opponent and he bleeds you white in the civil suit he presses.
How much are you willing to spend? You can get a Glock .45 with a laser sight that slips right in replacing the pin that guides the recoil spring. The gun will need cleaning only rarely, it’s dependable, and the .45 is a big, slow bullet without much recoil and is known for having lots of take-down power. With the weapons ban having died, you can go up from a ten-round magazine to a larger capacity, if you want. Nowadays, there are hollow-point bullets that have a plastic-ish thingie in the hollow area that allows for the reliability that the regular no-frills bullets provide. Allegedly, you can fire 10,000 rounds through a Glock before the accumulated gunk starts to affect performance.
A shotgun would work just fine, too. You can use a small pellets to minimize penertation. Since a shotgun is intended to give a spread of maybe a foot and a half at thirty yards, you’re not going to be gaining any accuracy in the confines of your home.
I’d recommend looking up an NRA gun class nearby. It may cost a hundred bucks, but it will be informative and give you a chance to ask lots of questions.
I respect your criticisms of my post, but I just look at it differently. First off, a two inch margin makes a big difference. My error was saying that you didn’t have to aim “much.” Isn’t it realistic to see a deadly threat that can be stopped with a maiming injury rather than a kill? Like a guy running at you with a knife at 15 feet? I think a shotgun gives the option of using lethal force non-lethally because of the larger margin for error.
Sorry but I can’t make my decision whether to kill or maim based on the legal ramifications.
Just because your car can drive over 3000 miles without an oil change is not an arguement that you don’t need to change your oil. Any gun should be cleaned as soon as possible after firing.
Whatever you decide to do get training before ever considering any gun for personal defense. I suggest you do not consider using a handgun for defense until you have training and a lot of experience. Putting a box of ammunition into a paper target is not experience. It can take thousands of rounds worth of training before you can use a handgun competently in a stressful situation. A shotgun may be a better choice but don’t think for a minute that you can do it without training “because you don’t have to aim.”
If you get a defensive weapon mount a light on it like one from Streamlight or Sure Fire. If you anticpate having to shoot an intruder you better the hell know what you are shooting at. Tactical xenon lights are also extremely bright, enough so that a person cannot keep his eyes open while looking into the beam. Much better to have your daughter’s boyfriend temporarily blinded than permanently dead.
Never take safety for granted. Never forget that a moment of inattention can be disasterous. As they said in the old west a shotgun leaves an oozy corpse so if you have to fire one in defense make goddamn sure that is your only choice.
A spread pattern for a shotgun is roughly 6 inches at 18 feet. If I’ve got the gun already sighted and I tell someone not to move but they run at me from 21 ft, they’ll be sorry. There are also a number of people who would shoot to maim but think long and hard about shooting to kill. Too long. If you choose, you can still kill with the damn thing, but if the situation presented makes it possible to shoot off a leg instead, you don’t have to be as concerned about your aim. Do you not think a shotgun is the best choice?
KidCharlemagne, I think it’s an extremely dangerous suggestion to try and use a shotgun as a non-lethal weapon. Have you ever pattened a shotgun at fifteen feet? Even with a cylinder bore barrel the shot spread is only a few inches. If you need “margin for error” that tells me you haven’t had sufficient training to use a weapon in a defensive situation.
Life isn’t like the movies. The point of a Teuller drill is to show how fast a person with a contact weapon can cover 21 feet. If you haven’t had the chance to do this with an experienced instructor you should. It will scare the living shit out of you. Most people can’t even draw a weapon in time let alone decide to just “wing” the assailant rather than try for a center mass/CNS shot which is the probably only way to stop an attacker in time.
WARNING! do not practice a Tueller drill with real weapons. You can buy otherwise realistic training weapons made of blue molded plastic. They are molded from real guns and have proper weight. Most common defensive weapon types are available including pistols and shotguns. My defensive pistol is a Sig so I use a P228 replica. I think these are a good investment for anyone intending to use a gun defensinvely. You can safely practice draws and tactics with no risk of mistaking a real gun for a fake one or vice versa.
Assuming you manage to make your leg shot with a shotgun at Tueller-type ranges, you will inflict a rather large, bloody life-threatening wound on your opponent. There is also a very good chance he’ll go into shock and die. Look, trying to use firearms for non-lethal/intermediate levels of force is a REALLY BAD IDEA. Why do you think LE spends so much time, effort, and money on things like batons, OC sprays, tasers, etc? Note also that those items are usually described as “less lethal” weapons. I think you need to get some experience with real firearms and some training with same before you make any decisions or give any other neos more bad advice. Firearms and their use in real life bear nothing in common with movies and videogames.
