handguns vs shotguns for home defense.

R

RHarris

New member
Anyone who has basic firearm knowledge knows that getting shot short range with a shotgun is far more deadly than any handgun. However, that does not make a shotgun an "ideal" home defense weapon. Even an 18" shotgun can be difficult to manuver in the confined spaces of many homes. One walk around a corner and an invader might be able to simply grab or push the muzzle away. No, this doesn't apply to all situations, but I don't see much talk about it either. I have tried moving from one room to another in my residence with a shotgun and have found it far from ideal while a handgun did not share the problem.

Any thoughts on this?
 
A typical home defense situation will not be a trek through the house anyhow (unless you have to get to your kids). In general, a home defense situation is guarding a door while on the phone to 911. In this instance, a shotgun is ideal.

Of course, having said that, a pistol is much easier to keep locked up in an easy access safe so that it is inaccesible to children.

Either firearm is useful in the hands of a good shot.
 
RHarris; I have a Rem 870 HD but I use it for camping instead. For home defense I have a Glock 21 that I feel comfortable with and have shot a whole lot more than the shotgun. Seems a heck of a lot more portable too. Just my thoughts, J. Parker
 
I keep a 45ACP pistol on the night table at night but its for me to have something while getting to the closet to get the 870 shotgun. I don't expect to move around the house if I suspect someone is inside. That's what my 2 dogs are for.
 
While I rotate through various guns in my nightstand (presently it's a Sig 229), my Remington 870 (mine being the marine magnum version) stays in the closet, unloaded and locked up.

It's a tough call. While I don't mind cycling the 870 at the range, I think that it might be one more thing to worry about if there was an intruder (semi-auto Benelli is on my list of things to buy). It also holds less rounds than most of my handguns, is tougher to reload, and harder to store right next to the bed. Finally, it's easier to grab.

If I was ducking behind my bed waiting for an intruder to come through the door, I'd take the 870. With a semi-auto handgun as backup!

One final tip. While I'm no professional, it seems to me that if you were to use a shotgun for house-clearing, you'd do best to point it down at an angle to prevent someone seeing you before you see him while you're coming around a corner (I took out a friend of mine at paintball that way!).
 
In home defense, or house to house fighting, I believe a smaller weapon is the way to go. My home defense weapon is first a Beretta in .40, then a .308. If you can't kill it with a .40, then the rifle works because they are probably wearing a vest.
 
No hard and fast answers on this, but...

A shotgun at HD ranges is as sure an instant stopper as anything this side of tactical nukes. Like any other tool, proficiency is the key. And lots of folks just do not shoot them well. Wife and Daughter both do OK with
revolvers, so the 870s here are mine.

There's been lots of threads on this over on the Shotguns board, you may want to dig them up....
 
My answer: if possible, both.

The shotgun is an excellent stationary defense weapon for the ensconced home defender. Clearing is more difficult (but not impossible) with the shotgun (cf Suarez's "The Tactical Shotgun") but as Dave said, the stopping power of the shotgun makes it an extremely desirable home defense tool.

The handgun is, to paraphrase Clint Smith, used to fight your way back to your shotgun. It is also much better suited to house clearing, should one have to resort to clearing. It is also easier to manage if you need to guide non-combatants into your saferoom with your non-dominant hand, or open doors, turn on lights, etc.

So having both allows easier clearing: use the handgun if you need to gather the spouse, kids, pet bunny or whoever into the saferoom and use the shotgun once you are ensconced there.

For some people, having both is not an option. Some persons live in jurisdictions where handguns are all but outlawed (e.g., Chicago, WDC). Others, especially those on fixed incomes, cannot afford to lay out $700 for a SIG or similar quality handgun.

For those people, the only choice is a scattergun. Thus, the study of clearing skills with a shotgun is not a dead art. :)

Justin




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Justin T. Huang, Esq.
late of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania
 
Greetings Poster's; Home defense weaponary is
a very touchy subject as most of you know? With that said, you will get many (widely
varied) opinions on that subject. I too have
rotated a full 360 degrees; many, many times,
going from one weapon to the other!!! :eek:
And I still use several weapons for home defense. :D My main stay is in the form of
a Sig-Sauer P220A in .45ACP; a big, slow
projectile that has the right amount of
"knock down power" combined with very slow
velocities. After all, I don't want to shoot
through the outer walls, and end up killing
someone's grandmother. :( Then, there's the
Glock 27 awaiting the dare devil intruder
with 10 more rounds, this time in .40S&W. :p
If the creep is still alive after all of that; then I'm going to resort of my Remington 870 Marine Magnum, loaded with
00 Buck's. :) Hopefully, by the time the local
PD get's here, the creep will be expired. :D
But before all of this takes place, my wife
will probably have shot the "dude" in the
ass with her Rossi stainless model 68?

Respectfully,
Ala Dan, N.R.A. Life Member
 
I have noted that those who hunt dangerous game use double rifles for the quickness of the second shot and for the fail-safe of having a second mechanism, instantly, if the first fails.No racking the slide, no clearing if an auto. They used twelve gauges with buck-shot to kill tigers in caves in India, crawling in feet first. That is the reason i have a double barrel shot gun in my bed-room. I went house-clearing solo once in the middle of the night. Never again.
 
For a barricade gun (i.e. you're staying in one place and defending while waiting for the calvalry to arrive) a shotgun or .223 carbine is what you want, no question. If you absolutely have to move, use a handgun and good tactics, preferably with a mounted or handheld light and night sights. Maneuvering even the shortest of shotguns is NOT fun inside a house that might have bad guys around the corner.
 
I prefer the handgun as the "first to grab" firearm in home defense. If for some reason I have enough time to get the shotgun, I will use it in addition to and in preference to the handgun.

Clearing tight corners is tough with a shotgun or other long guns, yes. If it became a bad-guy-grabs-my-shotgun day, then if I can't bring the muzzle to bear then the handgun becomes very useful. Note that good search technique can help minimize the dangers. This means very slow going, though.

Some advantages the shotgun has over a handgun are
-ease of aiming (because it's a long gun, not because of the pattern spread)
-powerful

Apparently there's something about being hit by OO buckshot that's out of proportion to just the individual .33 caliber pellets. The 9 pellets don't just make 9 wounds; the simultaneous impact really does a number on the bad guy.

One instructor I was fortunate to train under had been in more than one "for real" shooting situation. To him, one shell of buckshot was worth a whole magazine of pistol ammunition/damage. In other words, he had great confidence in a shotgun's ability to stop a serious threat (within the confines of a shotgun's limited range).

This is something all handguns lack: more certain stopping ability. NOT 100% mind you. Some bad guys even soak up more than one blast of buckshot to stop. But handguns are much less effective here. I heard somewhere that 20% of handgun wounds are fatal, while 80% of rifle and shotgun wounds are fatal. I'm not saying we're trying to kill the bad guy. I state these to reinforce the point that long guns are much more decisive.

Shotguns are difficult to reload. Fortunately, most civilian defense and police situations don't need much more than what's in the shotgun to begin with. An experienced instructor told me that he's never seen a shootout require reloading a shotgun. No, we cannot count on that and extra ammunition is better safe than sorry. However, the difficulty of reloading a shotgun isn't a reason in itself to reject them for home defense.

Shotguns aren't for everyone. Some people are not comfortable with the size/weight/kick of a 12 gauge. Note, though that even a 20 gauge can still have at least twice the energy of a .44 Magnum.

In summary, the shotgun and handgun don't replace each other, they complement each other in supporting roles.

Hope that made sense.

Edmund
 
The Counselor is right on the money. Handgun for mobile. Shotgun for safe room.

------------------
The Seattle SharpShooter - TFL/GT/UGW/PCT/KTOG
 
Ditto, what Edmund & jtduncan said. If you have you family safe with you, then nothing beats a shotgun pointed at the entry way. If, on the other hand, you have to first secure the rest of your family while making your way through the house, it's best to be amred with a handgun.
 
I don't own a shotgun (or a rifle).

Every shooting task I've EVER encountered has been solved with a handgun (or a 155mm).

------------------
"All my ammo is factory ammo"
 
For home defense I would choose my shotgun. Home defense is when people are outside trying to get in.

For home self defense I would use my Glock 30. A pistol is much easier to control in tight area's and since my children are on the opposite side of the house I would have to start sliceing the pie and search my house. Another reason is if the crook is quite enough he may get to my room before I wake up. At that moment I would need to get up, grab my gun, and possibly grapple with him before I could get of a shot. Try that with a shotgun.

------------------
"It is easier to get out of jail then it is a morgue"
Live long and defend yourself!
John 3:16
NRA lifer
GOA
GSSF
KABA

[This message has been edited by leedesert (edited July 28, 2000).]
 
Both have their place. For most purposes, I'd use a shotgun. I don't believe in trying to clear a house if you have reason to believe someone is in it. Unless their are kids to be protected, I'd stay put and wait for the BG to come to me and my shotgun while waiting for the police to arrive.

But, if the doorbell rings at midnight, I'm taking something smaller with me in my bathrobe pocket. YMMV.

Randy
 
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