Home Protection

[209Man]

I read on this forum and others about what handgun caliber should you use for home protection. Wouldn't be easier to get a shotgun and be done with it? You wouldn't have to worry too much about where you're hitting. I'm not sure, just asking.

[Milsurps]

I read on this forum and others about what handgun caliber should you use for home protection. Wouldn't be easier to get a shotgun and be done with it? You wouldn't have to worry too much about where you're hitting. I'm not sure, just asking.

Why not have both ? I do.

9MM & #4 Buck. Good to go here.
YMMV.

[209Man]

Why not have both ? I do.

9MM & #4 Buck. Good to go here.
YMMV.

lol yep, i have a sr9. looking into a shotgun.

[p7m8jg]

I read on this forum and others about what handgun caliber should you use for home protection. Wouldn't be easier to get a shotgun and be done with it? You wouldn't have to worry too much about where you're hitting. I'm not sure, just asking.

At "inside the house" distances you certainly have to worry a lot about where you're hitting. Remember how Dirty Harry got hit with a shotgun pellet in his leg & still fought back?

the old "scattergun" idea that a shotgun will put a 4 foot pattern down a hallway and "cut a man in half" is a myth. Take any modern 18" bbl shotgun to the range and pattern it on paper at 25 yards. With a cylinder bore choke you'll be lucky if the pattern exceeds 12 inches.

I always worry about "where I'm hitting." No matter who I'm shooting.....I mean "what" I'm shooting.

[KevinB]

A shotgun is by far the best home defense weapon. Loaded with #8 lead shot you can shoot and kill anything in your home and not have to worry about killing the wife and kids in the other room.

Any gun you shoot well is better than one you don't.

[BigDogatPlay]

Wouldn't be easier to get a shotgun and be done with it? You wouldn't have to worry too much about where you're hitting. I'm not sure, just asking.

To quote Clint Smith... in a fight two guns is one, one is none. Stuff breaks, runs out of ammo, gets damaged or lost when you get shot. While the odds are you might only need one gun, in the real world it's far better to have and not need than it is to need it and die for a lack of it.

As noted above, Shotguns at the close ranges of home defense scenarios are going to deliver relatively small patterns that need to be, to some manner, effectively aimed. You are legally and morally responsible for every single projectile you send out the front end of your gun so not worrying about where you are hitting is probably not a good mindset to be in.

[BigDogatPlay]

A shotgun is by far the best home defense weapon.

Agreed.

Loaded with #8 lead shot you can shoot and kill anything in your home and not have to worry about killing the wife and kids in the other room.

Not entirely accurate in either account. You might want to do some deeper research before making that blanket statement. Hopefully this doesn't start another back and forth war on bird shot vs. buck shot, but bird shot for defensive purposes has been shown to be questionable at best in real world scenarios.

Any gun you shoot well is better than one you don't.

100% true.

[DennisCA]

I would go with this!
Any would-be B&E (Breaking & Entering) suspect may think twice looking down two shotgun barrels!
I agree with my fellow posters; birdshot is best, hits a wide area.

If I may comment about tacticalcity's posting, if you have shot weapons before then a weapons class may be a waste of time.
(Your choice and money though)
Also get a shotgun that fits YOU and you feel comfortable with; that is if a 12 ga kicks your butt too much, try a 20 ga.
Alot of ranges rent weapons so you may want to try different ones (pumps, side-by-side, ect)
You don't need spend a lot of money, just something that will work when you want it to.
And most important - go practice with the thing - not just once a year and not just from the bench.
The last time I checked most people don't have a shooting bench set up in their house.
Good luck - Post up once you have something!

[tacticalcity]

Best thing you can do for "home defense" is get professional training (and lots of it) on whatever weapon system or weapon systems you plan to use. You can buy the most expensive guns and accessories in the world and build something truly impressive (and feel free to buy them from me ) but if you don't know how to use it properly you might as well be armed with a Red Rider BB gun.

Guns are only point and shoot in the movies. This is especially true of shotguns. You can't just aim the guy's general direction and pull the trigger and expect him to go down, though Hollywood makes it seem like you should be able to. You need to know the manual of arms, how to clear malfunctions, the various patterns your gun makes at various distances, the necessary holds at various distances, how to switch from what's in the chamber to what will work best for the given scenerio, how to reload during a fight, the proper procedures and tactics to use in a gun fight and how to do all of it at speed. You won't learn that by osmosis or by sitting on the couch watching the latest video.

The Competition, Action-Shooting and Training Section is filled with advertisements for training courses near you (a little less so not that Calguns.net charges trainers a vendor fee before they can advertise but there are still plenty of small and large schools advertising there). One day courses start around the $160 mark and they are available for Handguns, Carbines, Shotguns and even Precision rifles.

Here in Sacramento I recommend Grey Ops Training (might be spelled Gray) formerly Stone Cobra Tactical. The instructors are experienced law enforcement trainers and SWAT guys. They offer multi-level one day courses one level per month in a cycle. They do offer shotgun courses, but you will want to call them and get on a list so they know they have enough interested students and they can schedule a class. You might be a huge shotgun fan, but the handgun and carbine guys are much quicker to seek out training so those classes run on a more regular schedule. In a way that's good for you. You guys can get together on your own, and get a large group of people who want to train and they schedule a class with them at time that works best for all involved. No waiting for the course rotation to get to your right level.

The larger schools offer 4-day courses. They tend to be more expensive. Front Sight for example can run around $1500 per course. However, if you are a first time student you can usually find a certificate on ebay for around $150 that covers the cost of the entire course, but not your equipment, food, lodging, etc. The larger schools rent guns for an additional fee while the smaller schools do not. You tend to see a greater leap in improvement with the longer courses. 4 days of intense (but very fun) training really makes an impact. But if all you can afford is the smaller school's one or two day course in your local area that is certainly worth doing.

In the mean time, the best gun for home defense is the gun you know best. For most people that won't be the shotgun. They take their handguns and rifles to the range regularly, but that fancy 12GA they bought for home defense remains unfired collecting dust in the closet. They are not magically going to know how to properly use that shotgun when the time comes. It is not point and shoot. They might not have professional training on any of their guns (which is scary since in this hypothetical scenerio they are in a life and death firefight) but atleast they have trigger time on their handguns and rifles. So those will be a better choice for them than the shotgun they never bothered to train on. Now, the guys that bird hunt and skeet shoot actualy have some experience with shotgun. It is totally different than using a shotgun in self defense. But they will at least know how the shotgun works. So for them, maybe their shotgun is the gun they know best and thus the right choice for them.

Never the less, until you get some professional training in how to use your guns in self defense, you've got one hand tied behind your back. You are the weapon. The gun and the ammo, just a tool. So improving your self by getting professional training will do much more for you than buying the latest gear for your guns. But I don't have a problem with you doing both.

[Wombats Are Dangerous]

Hey guys! Interesting thread. I recently purchased a Mossberg 590 as my first shotgun. I've been practicing mounting the gun and find the stock is pretty long when I mount in an isosceles stance.

I'm six feet tall and measured LOP in the standard speed fitting fashion--put the buttpad into the crook of my bent elbow and see which finger joint reaches the trigger. My first joint (closest to nail) touches the trigger of my 590.

I can fit more than four fingers between my cheek and my thumb when the gun is mounted.

For home defense, do you want a shorter or longer length of pull?

[hcbr]

i got 4, handgun 10mm, double barrel stoeger 20" , ar-15 and an sxp in it's 18" when it's home! shotguns are always a good HD weapon, and i have two to back me up!

[prc77]

Hey guys! Interesting thread. I recently purchased a Mossberg 590 as my first shotgun. I've been practicing mounting the gun and find the stock is pretty long when I mount in an isosceles stance.

I'm six feet tall and measured LOP in the standard speed fitting fashion--put the buttpad into the crook of my bent elbow and see which finger joint reaches the trigger. My first joint (closest to nail) touches the trigger of my 590.

I can fit more than four fingers between my cheek and my thumb when the gun is mounted.

For home defense, do you want a shorter or longer length of pull?

a shorter LOP would be ideal. and a squared up stance gives you a more defined pocket for the shotgun to fit into. Better fit= lessfelt recoil,better control, faster follow up shot.

[Kokopelli]

I read on this forum and others about what handgun caliber should you use for home protection. Wouldn't be easier to get a shotgun and be done with it?

My house has very narrow hallways. Maneuvering with a shotgun would be more difficult than with a pistol. Also, my shotgun requires two hands to operate. Whereas my DA pistol requires one hand. The other hand is free to open doors, hold a flashlight, etc.

[chesterthehero]

i challenge you to be 6'1" 290lbs and navigate your way through my house with a shotgun without banging into every wall in this 900sf dreamhome... ill stick to my revolver..

[-hanko]

Go back about 5-6 pages in this forum...it's all been asked before and consequently beaten to death.

Though there are those who continue to read that bird shot is the optimum loading for humans...

-hanko