Defensive shooting

Well, I'M going looking (but then again I'm an adrenaline junky, always looking for next fix)....Shotgun shouldered, low ready position...HOPIN' I get to plug the SOB...
 
dfaugh,

I like your style!

For awhile there.....I thought I was the only one who is willing to stop these freaks from preying on us.

....let's roll indeed!

M Gruber
 
The question was:
When looking for an intruder, is it best to keep your shotgun at your hip or at your shoulder?

Let's see, if i had the shotgun at the hip, and the perp had a baseball bat, my face and upper torso would be very exposed, quite a large target for him to take a whack at and disable me. :(

But, if i have the gun set at my shoulder and pointing 45deg downwards, my head and less of the torso would be exposed. A smaller target for the perp to make a disabling hit.

I'd choose keeping it at the shoulder, moving briskly, and cautioned approach at corners.

Keeping a good house dog is also a fine idea. It eliminates the guesswork in determining whether the intruder's a "friend or foe", or where he's at.
 
As far as "bullet proof vests", bring 'em on....Even so, the impact of 15 .32 balls from a 3" magnum is gonna stun 'em....Hell, at REALLY short range the muzzle blast will probably kill 'em...If the first couple rounds don't stop 'em we go for head shot..Or I regroup, and break out with the big stuff ...(Including the SKS, w/ "special" clip full of alternating AP and incendiary rounds...bet those steel radials burn REALLY good!)

P.S. Of course, then there are the 5 German Shepherds, 3 of which are trained as personal protection dogs, including my 120 lb male..But why let them have ALL the fun...
 
Hrm.

Note: Hypothetical. I don't have a family of my own (yet), a house, or any guns (college rules suck).


If I hear something suspicious, I'd break out the shottie and clear the house. If it's a bad guy, he won't be bothering anyone again.

If I'm 100% certain it's a BG, step one is to ensure the family's safety. Get a barricade up and arm everyone who can handle a gun (which would be wife and any teenage kids). Then, I'm going criminal hunting.

I would, of course, train a lot before attempting such. The local PD are nice guys, but they're not incredibly well-trained either.
 
If I'm 100% certain it's a BG, step one is to ensure the family's safety. Get a barricade up and arm everyone who can handle a gun (which would be wife and any teenage kids). Then, I'm going criminal hunting.

You better make sure you do all your training with your wife and kids or else you just set yourself up for a nasty blue on blue tragedy when you return to the room they're barricaded in. As for me...I'll stay with them behind the barricade and "let the dogs out". No way am I letting my loved ones out of my sight, much less setting them up to accidentally blow dad away.
 
my wife would never let me barricade, chances are I'd have to grab for the AK since she'd be halfway down the stairs with a CS grenade in one hand and the shotgun in the other. she doesn't take very kindly to invaders.
 
You better make sure you do all your training with your wife and kids or else you just set yourself up for a nasty blue on blue tragedy when you return to the room they're barricaded in. As for me...I'll stay with them behind the barricade and "let the dogs out". No way am I letting my loved ones out of my sight, much less setting them up to accidentally blow dad away.

Of course. I'd never marry an anti anyway.
 
"Criminal hunting"??? Yikes. Let's be careful out there, young man.

As wise man in Tejas saith, the more you know about gunfighting, the less you want to do it.
 
Once, ONCE, I had to "clear" my house. I called my wife on my way home from a late night meeting. One of the dogs was barking at a small door leading to an attic crawl space off our bedroom. She was in the office with the dogs, a S&W 686, a telephone, and a large easy chair in front of the closed door.

I had my choice of weapons, including a 20-gauge pump. I chose a .45 Goverment and a SureFire 9P flashlight. I figured I could hold the gun close in by my side as I peeked under beds, behind doors, in showers and tubs, around corners, in closets, under the stairs. The light might temporarily stun someone hiding in a dark space waiting to jump out. By the time I finished up in the basement the grips were WET from my nervous sweat. That 5-10 minutes of "house clearing" sucked, but I didn't feel undergunned with the pistol. I believe I would have felt awkward and less mobile doing all that with a shotgun.

Have I "investigated" downstairs noises before? Yeah, like the time the wind blew in the kitchen window and knocked something off the dish drying rack. But I stood silently at the bedroom door for several minutes, listening intently, gathering my wits, and letting my eyes become accustomed to the darkness. Then I sent the two dogs (brothers) downstairs first, about 15 seconds ahead of me. They didn't alert on anything, and they know where to look, because I play hide-and-seek with them.

But if I ever heard a DEFINITIVE smash/entry, with voices and heavy bootsteps, it's a) call police on bedroom cell phone and leave line open b)wife in the closet with revolver c) soft body armor on d)rack shotgun and point at locked bedroom door. And my dogs better not get in the way.
 
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