Good shotgun for home defense (pucker factor)?

A

Arkieshooter

Inactive
Howdy Yall,

I am looking to purchase a shotgun as a theft prevention device(home defense), but I'm not real sure which one to choose. I currently own several handguns, however the sound of a shell being chambered in a pump-action shotgun produces more of a "pucker factor" than a pistol ever will. Any ideas/advice/opinions will be greatly appreciated!
 
Anyone that buys a gun to intimidate someone does not have the proper mindset and shouldn't own a gun. The rack the PG deal is about as worn out as the movie "cock the hammer on the Glock" deal. Not a real fine time to load your gun when the criminal can hear it and ascertain your location and readiness. What if he has a gun and unloads through the wall where he hears you? What if you brainfart and shortstroke it?
 
Welcome to TFL

You will find lots of useful information here. This topic comes up about every 15 minutes or so. You might try the search function and see how many posts come up. My guess is you will have several days worth of reading. Just run a search for home defense or any one of the shotgun brands.

Good hunting :)


Stinger
 
"Anyone that buys a gun to intimidate someone does not have the proper mindset and shouldn't own a gun"

Maybe it would have been more polite and educational at the same time to say "anyone that buys a gun to intimidate someone should be disabused of the wisdom of that notion..."

Other than that, Navy Joe's makes good points by painting a very plausible scenario. Never telegraph your location or let the BG prepare for what he's up against...surprahs, surprahs, surprahs...
 
Sound=target indicator. Remember the BGs are not under the same Rules.

Say there's an evile BG who has not seen a movie, entering with the intent to commit mopery and other eeevil deeds. He hears gun rag/Hollywierd "round being chambered" Foley effect from behind the dry wall. BG Iraqi offhands into your bedroom. Sadly, Hollywierd cool sound effects do not stop bullets.

Do not be a target. Identify your target. Better yet, don't be placed in that situation.
 
No, I was getting right to the point in a polite manner. No offense intended to our Arkansas friend, but that kind of thinking sheds light on a thought process in which someone rightly understands that a gun gives them power but at the same time has a rather, shall we say, under-developed sense of that power. More than likely the same person that would brandish a pistol without being fully prepared to use it, thus getting room temp fast. The difference between racking a shell in the chamber and flipping the safety off of a loaded weapon is the difference in a barking dog and a biting dog. One of em ain't ready.

I have watched a super-tactical dude in a competition scenario manage to short-cycle two tube-fulls without one sucessful chambering. Granted he was a complete idiot, but you may be too at 3am when you hear glass breaking and children crying.
 
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Navy Joe, I agree...it just sounded a little abrupt, is all. I'm sure that Arkieshooter is now considering your observations, as well he should. I still believe the maxim about catching flies with honey :D
 
Stayed out of this till now, but...

First, 20 years of working in prisons left me with some understanding of the criminal mind.

B&E types are not on missions. If faced with an opponent, they'll chalk it up to bad luck and leave.If a house proves burglar resistant for any reason,they'll go elsewhere.

Faced with an armed and alert homeowner, they'll leave very fast.Nothing to gain by staying, plenty to lose.

Now, if the perp is fueled on enough crack,or is a psychobomb waiting to happen,or both,there's no telling what they'll do. Luckily, dopers full of dope prefer to lay back, they commit crimes when they're out of drugs. And the psychotics tend to weed themselves out quickly.

Most burglars are either teens out for fast money, or career criminals lacking brains, brawn and/or bravery, and most likely to just leave if the house turns out to be occupied. Racking a shotgun loudly will likely deter them.

Also, just how long does racking take? Around one second, IIRC. One could cover the area with shtogun mounted, safety off, forefinger on slide release,ready to chamber a round and shoot PDQ.
 
Yeah, research the threads here will yield nuggets of gold...

I just did that research here a few months ago... wound up buying a Mossberg 500 pump.

Recently shot in a two-day class with guys armed with auto SG's and held my own on average in terms of overall speed.

Being a fan of the Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS) philosophy of life, the simplicity and reliability of the pump SG appealed to me.

I'm still torn between a Home Defense ready condition that is either (a) have a shell already in the chamber and only need to quietly shove the safety forward and then fire if necessary, or (b) have the hammer down on an empty chamber (and thus no slide release needed) and only need to rack the slide and then fire if necessary.

I have evaluated all of the other comments on this forum and mostly agree with the not disclosing one's position with noise, but think a "rack and move" strategy combined with a gun-mounted flashlight "flash and move" to ID the target makes the most sense for my level of grogginess when awakened by a bump at 3 am.

Bottom line... don't over-estimate the power of the slide rack pucker-factor... you gotta be ready to back it up with the real deal.
 
First Welcome.

granted "racking' is an awakening, however...

personally , round chambered, safety on (semi or shucker)
Mom, single shot, round chambered, she'll have to pull back hammer.

gunsmith -helps teach armored car security persons, security co policy is safety off no round chambered--these are pistol gripped and they require, " rack, point, shoot". I have helped with this and took a bit to get used to this manual of arms-but works.

Key: Practice, practice, practice, repetiton becomes habit, habit becomes faith,

in a situation not the time to figure things out, weapon should be an extension of one's self, brain is the weapon, firearm the tool if needed,

watch a skeet shooter, or a great wingshot, they focus on target and fluidly paint them out of the sky.

best
 
While I agree

that racking the slide is a pretty effective way of letting BG know your intentions, and is gonna send most of 'em packing..I have shotgun for HD simply because under stress, i m more comfortable that I will score a hit, and that that hit is gonna severely impact the target...know too many LEOs that tell me horror stories about BGs (often cranked up on drugs)being hit with multiple pistol rounds, and keepin' going...In most of these cases, the BG was finally dispatched with a shotgun (occasionally a rifle)...Shotgun not "sure fire" solution, but I feel better odds than a pistol..Hell, I've got 3" magnum 00 buck in there...the freakin' muzzle blast'll hurt 'em at close range!
 
The way I keep my shotgun is with the magazine full, the chamber empty, the trigger lock on, and the key hidden nearby. The point of that is so I don't face my own shotgun if I walk in on an intruder.

Michael
 
HD/CQ

For home defense bigger is always better and so is faster. I have two pump shotguns (Win 1300/Moss 590A Bullpup) and a semi-auto (Franchi Lawman 12) and I'll say it again, faster is better! To heck with the racking/pucker factor. :)
 
pucker factor tends to be higher on my end than the situation so went with hammerless revolver and SG/AK as second option, for home or outside environment.
 
Having 'been there', I am not a believer in 'pucker power' or letting the perp have any advantage or knowledge. If he is in my house uninvited, it is at his peril.
 
IMO the pucker factor of a gauge being racked is an urban myth, having first hand witnessed the fact that a determined criminal is not impressed.

Yeah, the proberbial "reasonable person" will be affected by the sound, however, bad guys are not "reasonable people."

Just my .02

Denny
 
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