best self-defense caliber

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It's worth considering the design of your home. A rifle / shotgun would be unwieldy in many people's homes.

If we're talking about rifle-ish weapons an MP-5 would be a good choice perhaps. I prefer pistols though.
 
I guess the first thing that comes to my mind is were do you all live that there seems to be the high likelyhood that an armed bad guy is gonna bust into your house and commit mayhem??: Unless:
You're the local dope dealer
Gangbanger that likes to tick off the neighboring gangsters
[have offspring that fit the above]
A real sourpuss that no one can stand
ect ect.

I've been a cop for 34 years urban / suburban and now rural. I have never responded to or investigated a home invasion that didn't have a "hook" that the victim participated [albeit sometimes unwittingly] in. [really dumb craigslist add for instance]. Now I know they do happen but I'm wondering what the real per capita instance is.
Burglars usually don't what to meet humans or K9s.

Thing is I have to lug a gun around all day and I really appreciate the take it off and forget it time when I'm home or off duty.

That is of course unless I'm headed for the range / deer stand/ pheasant fields/

Life's to short to always be afraid.

2 cents worth nothing I know.
MJ
 
Really?

Anyone who has ever hunted deer knows that after they are shot, they run a short way before falling over dead
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No, I don't know this to be true. Shot two deer last week, fell where I shot them. It's been many years since I shot a deer that ran....
 
Good points by MJ

I've operated on dozens of people shot by many different cartridges. If they've made it my way, they clearly had sublethal injuries.

My thoughts: The human body is very tough, and doesn't just drop like a sack of potatoes when shot, as one might see in the movies. At least this is true for low-energy handguns. Most of us see deer drop or eventually drop when we hunt; however, that is usually with a high power rifle. I've seen people nearly dead from hemorrhage, who need restraint.

Most episodes of homicide and assault take place very quick, and with little precision. So probability and bad shots play a significant role. Low energy projectiles with higher mass and momentum probably inflict more tissue damage, because mass is preserved but energy is lost in the form of heat during bullet deformation and with impact on bony and muscular structures. For instance, a 9mm may break a rib and penetrate the chest whereas a.45 would continues to transfer energy after passing the rib, resulting in an incapacitating injury.

I would recommend that people focus on weapon familiarity and have a plan for what they would do if faced with hostility.
 
You cant compare a deer with a man. The deer is a wild animal and unless you cut the spinal cord he will run, even a heart and lung shot. Its instink, Servival. Also pain level talerance. Unless the man is geeked up on something that makes him like the wild deer, He dont like pain. Caliber for stop in a house is 12 gauge. You might consider super sonic bullet out of a rifle will do a job on your ears. Why people dont get this Ill never know. Maybe they have never fired a high powered rifle in side. My ears have been messed up for years now.
 
First, there's a big difference between stopping the actions of a target/bad guy and killing him. You want to make him stop whatever action he was doing that made you shoot them in the first place. If they live or die is between them and God, some do some don't, that's His choice. Some rounds tend to stop bad guys actions better and quicker than others, not always but often enough to make the goods ones be thought of as good self-defense rounds.
I'd rather have a handgun in .45 Colt than in .32 S&W. I'd rather have a 12 ga shotgun than a .410. I'd rather have a rifle in .223 than in .30 Carbine. Needless to say there are all kinds of choices to look at and some are, usually based on records, apparently better than others.
I don't have a 'home defense' rifle, if I did it'd likely be in 7.62x39 with a soft point.
 
You guys need to do some research. Watch Star Trek once in a while, for Pete's sake! The answer is obviously a phaser set on maximum kill. They DO NOT go through walls or anything else and they instantly vaporize living things.
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Oh yeah? What did Picard use on the Borg when the phaser failed him? That is right; holographic .45 ACP in a Tommy Gun.

.45 ACP trumps phaser.

Maybe they have never fired a high powered rifle in side.
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That is why my vote is for .223 with a suppressor.

I've operated on dozens of people shot by many different cartridges.
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How many did you operate on that had been shot in the head with .223 at close range? Postmortem only I bet.
 
Staying with rifles, since this IS the rifle forum, I figure that most any centerfire cartridge will work. I don't think it really matters a whole bunch. Lots of other factors come into play.

Over-penetration? Why didn't you already do some planning and tactical thinking about probabilities in the event of need? Lanes of fire, positioning and all that. Various possible scenarios.

Effectiveness? You figure on shooting once and then stopping to look to see what happened? Probably not very smart. I go along with Cooper: Shoot until the trouble ends.

Shot placement: Important, but a miss of the center of mass with a hit to a leg means you'd likely be able to win a footrace. A COM miss which hits the weapon arm probably results in a call to the rug installers, but odds are that the immediate problem is solved.

Which IMO all adds up to some sorta short and handy semi-auto in .223 or 7.62x39, preferably with soft points. Thought and skill help, of course. :)
 
The closer you are to a loaded weapon at the time of incident, the more effectively you can respond to a threat. A loaded .22LR in your pocket is worlds better than any rifle, shotgun, or heavier handgun in the safe!!!

However; for most of us, proximity to loaded weapons is perhaps a greater risk to family and friends than the threat of attack. That threat is real every day and the more exposed we are to loaded weapons, the greater the risk of an accident. That's just fact, borne out by incidents of friends who have shot pets, TV sets, a couch, windows, and pictures on the wall. My b-i-l even squirted his dog-deterrant ammonia into his nostril at a wedding reception, thinking it was nasal spray.

News media have documented many other accidental discharges, but we don't think they will happen to us. It's kinda like folks who text while driving; accidents only happen to other people...or do they?
 
My vote of SELF-DEFENSE round, as the OP asked about. I don't consider rifle calibers viable for SD, range/penetration too great.
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Just for the record, I was referring to 9mm carbines here, all applies except maybe the concealability factor.
 
Self-defense is different from searches. In a home invasion, you're safest if you stay put. As for the gun being in another room, it applies equally to handguns as to long guns. You can carry a handgun wherever you go in the house, but you can do the same with a long gun. It may be an inconvenience, but that's all it is: a minor inconvenience.
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Get real, who carries a rifle around the house 24/7. Home invasions, or just about any SD situation is a supprise, not something you are forewarned about. Do you carry your rifle when you go to grab a re-fill of coffee or sandwich during a commerical?

It's nothing to get use to keeping a small pistol or revolver in your pocket. Its with you every waking hour and hung on the bedpost with in reach at night.

I have tons of rifles, and you can bet I'd use then IF I KNEW. But who knows.

As to searchs; are you saying you never investigate strange noises??

So lets say you hear a noise in your daughthers bedroom. You investigate, you find a bandit climbing through the window and you get the drop on him. So you have a bandit, you have a cellphone to call the police, you have your young daughter hanging on you crying. Which would be more practical, a long gun or pistol/revolver?

For the life of me I cannot think of a realistic senario where a rifle would be more practical then a pistol/revolver in an everyday SD/Home invasion situation.

I know this is in the Rifle Section, but come on, where does reality stop?
 
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For self defense- with a rifle- where size/weight of the weapon is not a consideration as it would be with a handgun, the answer is deceptively simple, and straightforward.

I don't see how anyone, could argue the premise that whatever makes the biggest hole, wins...

The human body is like a car, an instructor once told me...
Drain it of oil (blood), and it quickly dies. The bigger the hole in the oil pan, the faster it croaks. Shot placement isn't so critical when you're blowing out a huge wound cavity...

This was said way back in post #18, and I agree.
 
The human body is like a car, an instructor once told me...
Drain it of oil (blood), and it quickly dies. The bigger the hole in the oil pan, the faster it croaks. Shot placement isn't so critical when you're blowing out a huge wound cavity...
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Sure. And that's why snipers at anything below long range go for head-shots.

Try again.
 
Shoot em in the gonads. A swift kick will put anyone down I can imagine getting shot there would hurt worse, and if a large cal was used, it would probably do the pelvis in as well.:eek:
 
Quote
"If you hide in your room and wait for the goblin(s) to come to you, which you should, maneuverability won't even be an issue."

How does this tactic help if the "goblin" goes into your kid's room first?
 
A deers anatomy lends itself to easy double lung shots. With a human you need to stop the heart or sever the spine for an instant kill. Even if you have a perfect heart shot on a 250 lb guy coming at you with a knife, gravity and determination may aid in his objective.
 
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