Yeah, that or any phased plasma rifle in the 40 watt range 
Hey buddy, only what you see on the shelf.
KelTec’s are nice guns, but they’re not designed to be the only gun you own, since they are shipped sans magazine. You order them based on the model of pistol that you already own so that you have a handgun and a carbine that are not only in the same caliber, but use interchangable magazines.
Apparently Ruger still makes the autoloading .44 magnum carbine. Limited ammo capacity and recoil count against it.
The “police carbines” are still in production, too. I think the OP should look into these.
There is also the Mini-14 series, but I don’t care too much for them. Had two, both of which were badly finished, inaccurate junk. Accurate enough at indoor ranges, though; and with varmint-type bullets the .223 is actually less over-penetrative than some pistol rounds. Blast from one of these indoors would be absolutely frightful! Still, if I were going with a .223, i believe I’d run with an AR-type carbine.
RE: Shooting at sounds. What a dumbass idea! In the civilian world, if you can’t see it you have no business shooting at it. You will be held responsible for where every round you fire lands.
Also part of any home defense system should be:
A large dog collar on a thick chain with a bowl of water next to your back door. Even if you can’t have a dog, the idea that you might is enough to deter many criminals.
A large, screechy alarm system with flashing lights and such. This will also convince many would be bad guys to run like hell.
Motion detecting lights on the outside of your house.
A telephone with 911 programmed as speed dial.
Guns should always be considered a last resort. Don’t shoot at “sounds” or “shadows” or anything else that is not a person shaped mass smashing down your bedroom door. It’s better to lose your new PC than it is to kill your kids, dog, or television set.
A twelve gauge shotgun with a 500 Lumen Tactical Light. That is the best Home-Only defense weapon.
You don’t even need to shoot the bad guys. The light alone will burn the body beyond recognition. I think you slipped a decimal place. 
So… what kind of light do you have. I have a Streamlight M3 but haven’t found a suitable shotgun mount for it. Considering getting the Sure Fire replacement forend with the built in light which will probably be more secure.
That’s the idea!!
He he, no the decimal is in the right place. I love light! Around here more light is a bragging point. I have a Surefire M500B on my M4. Also a handheld M6. Both 500 lumens for 20 minutes or 225 for an hour or so. I figured one could get something similar for their shotgun. Unfortunately, it looks like the most power you can put on your shotgun is 350 lumens. Rats.
Either way, you definitely want a light. I believe Surefire recommends 65 lumens as the bare minimum for an effective combat light.
Streamlight M3 is nice. I love it’s size. I have one on my Glock 32. I’ve seen some decent little mini-rails for attaching it to something of the M16 or HK variety. Not sure about shotgun mounts. Except those that come with screw holes for rails, (like the FP6). But it’s too tiny for a long gun IMO, anyway.
I mistakenly assumed that firepower was a figure of speech. Yikes. I defy anyone to look into a 60 lumen light and keep their eyes open. (bad idea, you’ll get a temporary retina burn at the very least). I was hesitant to get a light that is twice as powerful. Have to rethink that.
The Surefires are nice, however, did y’all read anything by Ayoob about weapon mounted lights, re if you point the light at the perceived threat, you are pointing a loaded firearm also? What’s your take on that (not to hijack the thread per se).
It’s part of acquiring your target to determine if it’s freind or foe, better to scare the crap out of a freindly and not fire a shot, then to fire at a sound (very poor gun handling technique anyway), besides, as has been stated above, most tactical flashlights are painfully bright, a thief breaking into a house who is startled and blinded by a tactical light loses the element of surprise, and if that blinding light also carries with it the sound of a shotgun slide being racked, the thief may also lose control of their bowels as well…
before you pull the trigger in a self defense situation, you had better make damn sure that you have no other options available to you, that you know where your target is, and what’s behind it (shotgun shells usually lose all effective energy at around 100 yards, or once a target has been hit, a rifle bullet has an unobstructed range of approxamitely a mile, and depending on the caliber, may go thru your target and still have enough energy to penetrate wallboard
a jacketed round (enclosed fully in brass or another tough, hard metal) has the highest penetration, hollow points expand upon impact, slowing the projectile and reducing overpenetration, “manstoppers” are designed to shred upon impact (basically a hollow point round that expands to a greater degree than standard HP’s), shotgun shells fire a cloud of pellets that will not penetrate more than 2 layers of wallboard
the reason shotguns are preferred, aside from their intimidating looks and sounds, are the fact that they generally don’t overpenetrate the target, a rifle or large caliber handgun would have a higher probability of overpenetration, that said, the myth of “not having to aim” a shotgun is untrue, it’s less critical, but you still need to know where the shot cloud will end up, it’s not a “spray n’ pray” weapon
if i was forced to use one of my firearms in self defense, i’d reach for my Mossberg model 500 pump action 12-gauge before i reached for my .357 Magnum…
It is a risk but you try workig a pump shotgun while holding a light in one hand. The risk can be mitigated by following rule three. Certainly a handgun and handheld flashlight is more flexible but not everyone is proficient with a handgun enough to use one for defense let alone use one single handed.
I’ll tell you the coolest, most intimidating gun for home defense.
Mossberg 500 or 570 pistol grip, black synthetic material, forend pistol grip and a flashlight/laser sight attached to the barrel. Oh man.
the tactical light i’m referring to can be mounted on the gun, you’re not holding a seperate flashlight
http://www.surefire.com/maxexp/main.pl?pgm=co_disp&func=displ&sesent=00&carfnbr=122
this one for example
I was responding to BF’s point about that type of tactical light forcing you to aim the weapon at whatever you are shining the light on. Safest situation would be light in weak hand and gun at low ready in strong hand. Illuminate the target and then only put the gun on target when you are sure of it. Unfortunately that may be impractical for several reasons I mentioned.
Just ordered me a Sure Fire Executive Defender flashlight. That will get me from the car to the door in relative safety. Put nails in my window frames, so no one can get in that way (now I better hope there isn’t a fire). I have some pepper spray somewhere from my brother the mailman… is there an expiration date on those things? I’ve had them for a while. I might still get a shotgun, though.
-
-
- The problem with most types of gas pepper sprays is that there’s no pressure gauges on the cans, and they can have slow leaks and lose pressure totally–and you don’t know about it until you try to use them. And even if it works right when needed, a baseball bat would work better.
~
- The problem with most types of gas pepper sprays is that there’s no pressure gauges on the cans, and they can have slow leaks and lose pressure totally–and you don’t know about it until you try to use them. And even if it works right when needed, a baseball bat would work better.
-
Sure, but seriously, am I supposed to carry both this huge flashlight and a baseball bat? With pepper spray, I can do both, and it’s portable. This is the same reason why I am moving away from the idea of a shotgun-- the time I think I will be most vulnerable is walking from my car to my house. I won’t have the gun with me during that time, so it won’t do me any good.
I have taken steps to secure my house, like driving nails into the window frames in all enterable windows. The door double bolts, and I live on the second floor, so I should be safe in my home. Once I get this flashlight, I think I’ll feel better about things.
Roger that. Yeah, a long gun would be unwieldy using one hand.