Bump in the night.... how do you search/clear

C

capflyboy05

New member
If you hear something at night, how do you clear your place?
My house I swear is "haunted." lol.
I'll hear someone going through the drawers...
Then get down there with my Marlin 60 .22 lr.... :rolleyes:
To find nobody.
I'm not 21, thats why I dont have a pistol.
It's either the marlin, or my M91/30... :D
I wouldnt feel like cleaning up that kinda mess though. haha.
Anyways, just curious to see how others clear.
And do you practice clearing your place just in case something happens?
 
I call out in a well practiced and authoritative voice... "We are all armed, the police are on the way, and I'm about to release the dogs...you should leave...NOW!"

So far that speech has impressed the hell out of a possum climbing on or back screen door in the middle of the night! :D
 
I roll over and go back to sleep. Unless the dogs are in full alert and the alarm system is screaming, then I would make sure the spouse is next to me and the weapon is hot. No house clearing for me.
 
I dont have any dogs, just two cats.. who are cute and cuddly.
They'd just play with the intruder. xD
We also have no alarm system...
I cant wait to get my own place.
I'm leaving soon for the military.
So I'll get a place off base, and get an alarm, with a pistol when I turn 21.
 
I usually investigate with a handgun while having another family member back me up with either a rifle or shotgun. If I were certain that someone was trying to break in, I would simply barricade and call 911, but calling 911 everytime someone in the house thought they heard something isn't very practical.
 
House clearing isn't for sissies.
Or for the untrained, either.
Anyone who has trained for it can verify, it's hard to survive even a practice one.
But if you insist on trying, at least buy some of the training videos.
Better, yet, use house alarms that protect your bedroom, have a good lock on the door, keep a cell phone there and stay there, until you absolutely know that it's safe to leave.
Running around, against unknown odds, is not a good idea.
 
Posted by capflyboy05: I'll hear someone going through the drawers...
Then get down there with my Marlin 60 .22 lr....
To find nobody.
Click to expand...

This has been discussed numerous times at great length. Use the search function.

Most people who have "successfully cleared" their homes have been successful for the same reason: there was no one there.

FoF training and simulation have demonstrated that one who attempts to clear a house alone, even a house that one knows inside out in the dark, is most unlikely to prevail. Think about it--while one is searching, one can be ambushed by however many people are in the house, and unlike the resident, they will not have to identify their target before firing. Trained professionals with the right equipment do not clear structures alone.

If you believe there is someone inside who should not be, or someone trying to get inside, and if there are family members who need to be brought to safety, going forth to do that is a necessity. It's dangerous, but you have to do it.

Otherwise, stay put. You want to be on the defensive. The guy who loses is the one who walks into the other guy's ambush. Let it be yours.

Learn to distinguish between noises made by a branch or screen door blowing in the wind, a scratching raccoon, the ice maker or a falling book and the repetitive sounds of an intruder. Listen and see if the noise repeats itself. If you do have reason to suspect that there is danger, call 911 and get into a defensive position and wait.

Oh, and do not shoot until you have made certain that the person coming in is not a family member or a fireman coming to rescue you.

Passive protection, such as river gravel under windows, rosebushes, and bells hanging on door knobs are a good idea, and inexpensive closed circuit televisions can give you eyes in other rooms.
 
capflyboy05 said:
If you hear something at night, how do you clear your place?...
Click to expand...
We've talked about this a bit here already. See these threads --

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=379063

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=365308

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=328646

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=317285

Solo house clearing is generally a pretty bad idea, especially for people without training. And people who have had training will want to avoid it unless absolutely necessary (such as to round up stray innocents and get them to a place of safety).

And I just recently got back from my third trip to Gunsite (for an Intermediate Handgun class (350)). We did several solo clearing exercises (3 indoors and 3 outdoors) plus a force-on-force exercise with simunitions. That further reinforced my past training that solo house clearing is a lousy idea unless absolutely necessary. Actually, being necessary doesn't make it a good idea; it only makes it necessary even though it continues to be a bad idea. (And note that people who do this sort of thing for a living do it in a group.)

If you think there really is an intruder in the house, get everyone who should be there to a defensible place of safety; call the police; and wait.
 
Thats how I feel.
I've been watching some of those.
I dont live in an area where theres a high crime rate at all.
I figure I wont ever clear unless someone in my family is in immediate danger.
Otherwise, I'd wait to see if they were just robbing,
Or had an intent to kill, hurt, or otherwise injure me or a family member.
If they start coming at me with a knife or other weapon...
They can count on a few bullets flying their way.
 
This is my plan, considering only my wife and I are in the house with a dog downstairs. Note it does not involve me clearing ANYTHING. If I hear noises and the dog starts going nuts like someone is down there:

Quickly smack the wife to be sure she is in bed with me and to wake her up. Grab the 870, rack it, close the door (it should already be closed), have the wife call 911 immediately. BE SURE she lets the officers know you are armed and where exactly in the house you are. Tell them a code word like giraffe or something stupid nobody would ever say.

Get in your predetermined tactical position to lay fire on the bedroom door and wall, having previously had taken careful consideration into overpenetration towards neighbors, etc. Start yelling for the BG to leave and tell him you have loaded guns and are not to be ****** with. If you have multiple firearms in the bedroom, now would be a good time to get pistol in your wifes hands if she hasn't already grabbed one.

When the police arrive have them yell a code word that your wife has told the police over the phone before you allow them to come upstairs. Set the guns down, but not so far away that you can't grab em real quick. :p


Anyways, if you have strong suspicion that there is a BG in your house already, you are WAYYY better off waiting for him to come find you. A shotgun behind a closed door is a very good tactical advantage and a fatal funnel for the BG. Another not so bad idea would be to install a emergency light outside your bedroom, so if the power goes out it turns on. For one it will be useful for then the power actually goes out, and it will silhouette and destroy night vision of the BG.
 
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capflyboy, if after reading the above and comparing a couple of the posts you are thinking that I have learned a lot from fiddletown, who has participated in a lot more training than I have, you are right.

I hope you have found this helpful. We all have to learn some time. Years ago I found myself traipsing downstairs with my Smith and Wesson Model 39 in hand to investigate noises on a couple of occasions. Then, when I took my CCW training, I learned to "let the threat come to me".

Fact is, though, I should have figured it out for myself long before. If I go anywhere in the house and look toward the path I took coming down into the hallway at the bottom of the stairs, I can see that I was the proverbial sitting duck every time. The firearm in one's hand does not make one bulletproof.
 
You can own a pistol at age 18, just not buy it from any FFL.. Private sales, thats how I own handguns.
 
I live in the country, there are lots of "bumps in the night" around here. I have a couple dogs, though I doubt they would hurt anything (they are basset hounds), they let me know when there is something to be concerned about.

They are friendly cusses, its easy to tell if its a critter or human. They think all humans are here to play with them.

Anyway, get a dog, after watching them for a while you'll be able to tell if its friend or foe.
 
My dog will wake me up barking...is she hears a noise that is unusual.


She already wakes me up at 3am and 4 am to take her out every so often.
 
You might find this video interesting. I just came across it. It's one of the Gunsite instructors, Il Ling New (she was an instructor of mine at a rifle class I took a few years ago) taking a student through a house clearing exercise. This is the first level handgun class (250), so this is probably this student's first experience doing this sort of thing.
 
If your going to be in the military...you will deploy. Unless you're married, forget getting a dog. Besides that, dogs wind up being VERY expensive to keep fed and seen by a veterinarian with any regularity. Get an alarm system instead. It'll wind up being MUCH cheaper.
 
I am speaking as a dog owner ... and as an active duty military servicemember. I dont recommend any single servicemember getting a dog, especially just out of bootcamp.
 
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