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.
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.Best home defense weapon in my opinion is dog(s)
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.
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.
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.
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....
"Honestly officer, I have no idea where the body is... Does look like I hit something though. Hey, honey, have you seen the mop?"
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...
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
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.
++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.
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.
Certain dog breeds are better suited to home protection than others. 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.