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Home defense weapon
- Thread starter 92FS
- Start date
Don Barnett
Regular Member
12 Guage at Home; .45 ACP While Out and About
This says it all...the scariest sound ever!
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12ga pump shotgun with heavy hunting/field ammo. I don't keep one in the chamber so the bad guy gets to hear the distinctive shell racking sound.This says it all...the scariest sound ever!
Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D.
Regular Member
Best home defense weapon in my opinion is dog(s) + high capacity pistol (holstered) underneath pillow.
Badger Johnson
Regular Member
To me it's not so much what you have for home defense but your overall strategy.
For example, my current plan is to have 'dedicated' HG in specific places such that they are always there. In the beginning having only two guns, we carried our home defense guns, and had to move them into the bedroom each night. But in the near future, we're going to dedicate a gun to the bedroom, a gun to the livingroom, and a gun to the upstairs. They will stay in place in easily accessible holsters (such as an under the table mount or a bed mount), and not be moved.
We thought about moving the livingroom gun to the bedroom not wanting to inadvertently arm the bad guy, but realized a simple concealment would be best, because otherwise we'd have to move the gun back each morning and it could be forgotten.
The idea is to carry in the house but if that breaks down, i.e. going to the bathroom at 2am, then we're never further than about 10 feet from a gun and can retreat to a defensive position.
Our plan is to retreat to the other side of our big wooden bed and regroup, and defend. So we'll have a dedicated cell phone (can call 911) and a dedicated gun and also carry in the home.
This is part of a layered plan - door locks, alarms, gated community, and so forth such that one layer is somewhat adequate, but together it's pretty robust.
$.02
For example, my current plan is to have 'dedicated' HG in specific places such that they are always there. In the beginning having only two guns, we carried our home defense guns, and had to move them into the bedroom each night. But in the near future, we're going to dedicate a gun to the bedroom, a gun to the livingroom, and a gun to the upstairs. They will stay in place in easily accessible holsters (such as an under the table mount or a bed mount), and not be moved.
We thought about moving the livingroom gun to the bedroom not wanting to inadvertently arm the bad guy, but realized a simple concealment would be best, because otherwise we'd have to move the gun back each morning and it could be forgotten.
The idea is to carry in the house but if that breaks down, i.e. going to the bathroom at 2am, then we're never further than about 10 feet from a gun and can retreat to a defensive position.
Our plan is to retreat to the other side of our big wooden bed and regroup, and defend. So we'll have a dedicated cell phone (can call 911) and a dedicated gun and also carry in the home.
This is part of a layered plan - door locks, alarms, gated community, and so forth such that one layer is somewhat adequate, but together it's pretty robust.
$.02
t33j
Regular Member
QFT, although IMO they're almost exclusively a deterrent rather than a real defense. Many people are also in living situations where owning and taking care of a dog is not possible or feasible.
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Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D.
Regular Member
If my 200lb dog bit you through your femoral artery and dragged your incapacitated body all over the house, you may change your mind
Humor aside, I agree. The dog is merely there as another layer which may alert me to a potential intruder (our house is also armed with motion sensors). And yes, some people depending on their living situations may not have the luxury of owning a dog...
45acpForMe
Newbie
If my 200lb dog bit you through your femoral artery and dragged your incapacitated body all over the house, you may change your mind
Humor aside, I agree. The dog is merely there as another layer which may alert me to a potential intruder (our house is also armed with motion sensors). And yes, some people depending on their living situations may not have the luxury of owning a dog...
About the only thing my 15lb dog is good for is alerting us of a threat. Other than that he tends to pee on anyone coming in the house so the burglar can probably sue me if he slips and breaks his leg!
I would like to keep some guns distributed through the house but with kids I can't much leave them laying around. Plus I also don't want to arm Mr. Bad Guy!
I seem to remember some survey of criminals and I think a dog in the house is right up there with ADT and usually moves them onto your neighbors house. Of course that only works with the opportunistic criminal rather than a determined one.
Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D.
Regular Member
About the only thing my 15lb dog is good for is alerting us of a threat. Other than that he tends to pee on anyone coming in the house so the burglar can probably sue me if he slips and breaks his leg!
I would like to keep some guns distributed through the house but with kids I can't much leave them laying around. Plus I also don't want to arm Mr. Bad Guy!
I seem to remember some survey of criminals and I think a dog in the house is right up there with ADT and usually moves them onto your neighbors house. Of course that only works with the opportunistic criminal rather than a determined one.
Hah! In this litigious society I wouldn't doubt you could be held liable for a slip and fall on dog pee.
I have kids too and have found the best thing is to have a weapon (or two) in a quick access bedroom safe (or under pillow, bedroom door gets locked in this scenario). If one must leave the bedroom, a pocket pistol (I use a Kahr PM9) should suffice when walking about the house.
45acpForMe
Newbie
Hah! In this litigious society I wouldn't doubt you could be held liable for a slip and fall on dog pee.
I have kids too and have found the best thing is to have a weapon (or two) in a quick access bedroom safe (or under pillow, bedroom door gets locked in this scenario). If one must leave the bedroom, a pocket pistol (I use a Kahr PM9) should suffice when walking about the house.
Typically if I have pants on I have at least one gun on me. I usually CC a BUG in my pocket and OC in a Serpa holster on my hip.
When I have my pants off my guns are nearby on a night stand or leaning near the bed.
The pistol allows me to fight my way to the gun cabinet for my long guns.
Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D.
Regular Member
Good plan. In a perfect world, I suppose I would have a couple of Dillon Aeros set up around the house hooked into motion sensor auto targeting systems. My wife tends to frown upon this sort of thing however....
45acpForMe
Newbie
Freedom First
Regular Member
Brrraaaaap!!!
"Honestly officer, I have no idea where the body is... Does look like I hit something though. Hey, honey, have you seen the mop?"
"Honestly officer, I have no idea where the body is... Does look like I hit something though. Hey, honey, have you seen the mop?"
45acpForMe
Newbie
Its more like, "Officer, that half of the person was attacking me, and the other half over there was propelling him toward me!"
Badger Johnson
Regular Member
Funny, but having a dog is one of the things I say one should consider, but upon further reflection, they really do just serve the same function as an alarm - they bark. Now, if you're not home and a BG comes to the door and the dog, smelling him, barks, that's a pre-alarm. If the alarm goes off it means the BG has already broken a window or pryed open the door. A pre-alarm (dog) makes sense in that it might save the cost of a window pane replacement.
But, you can't depend on the dog for more than that. Their kryptonite is a hunk of steak. Any burglar worth his salt will bring dog food, eh?
Still, it's all part of the 'layered' defense and should be considered, smaller noisy-er dogs make more sense than big 'might bite you' dogs.
$.02
irish52084
Regular Member
Certain dog breeds are better suited to home protection than others. Generally speaking large, intelligent dogs are best suited to protection because of their size and train-ability as well as intimidation. Most dogs can be trained to alert bark and also to avoid human food. Therefore nullifying a burglars attempt to feed them to pacify them. A little training goes a long ways and it's not incredibly difficult or expensive to do.
1911er
Regular Member
At distances you would use it inside the home (10-30ft) I don't think "pattern" really matters. It may spread out an inch or three but that is desireable when shooting at a moving target anyway. Shotguns do need to be aimed, unlike what is shown on TV.
Now Birdshot will spread out faster but after going to theboxoftruth and seeing 2-3 inch penetration I went and replaced all my shells with buckshot. IMHO any buckshot is good enough for self defense. I just chose 00 because of SD rounds being available and in case I ever need to use it for hunting.
I use a 12 gauge coach gun sxs with #4 shot just point in the general direction no aiming neccasary and click. With the short side by side it has a realy good spread at 20 feet witch is about the longest line of sight shot that we have in our house So bye bye bad guy.
Cavalryman
Campaign Veteran
Sorry, but no. You'd better take that shotty to the range and pattern it at 20 feet. I guarantee it doesn't spread as much as you think it does. You will still have to aim it.
4angrybadgers
Regular Member
++
Also, if it does spread very wide at 20', you may lose pellets on the fringes of your pattern because it's too wide.
45acpForMe
Newbie
http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot3.htm
http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot3_2.htm
#4 buckshot and 00 penetrate about the same with 00 maybe going through an additional wall. They also spread out about the same 3" at 12ft (depending on barrel length/choke) so at 15-20ft you still have to aim but the pattern may be 4-5" which can be good when you are targeting a moving bad guy. He mentions that #4 buckshot has some penetration problems too but didn't go into it on this page.
I still say 00 is the way to go. The above site also notes that 45acp which is a slower round than 9mm, 40, or any rifle round penetrated all 12 drywall boards. So by their experience a shotgun is safer to use in home defense over any pistol/rifle/carbine.
Badger Johnson
Regular Member
Well, my point was a dog as a "SD layer" serves a limited function when you get right down to it. They make noise. If it is possible, it's an effective layer, along with a HG, training, practice, alarm system, gated community, nice locale, locked doors. But you can't rely on a dog alone.
Edit to add: Also, most of us choose our dogs as 'pets' first, and not as watchdogs.
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