HD in a small apartment..

Also agree with Crazy88Fingers.

Also as well with furnishing the apartment(the best you can) as to strategically(spl?) keep rds inside your apartment. i.e. bookshelves, furniture,decorative rugs etc.
 
Lots of good points already.

Sure don't want to hurt any innocent neighbors, but if the home invasion gang come crashing thru the door at 2 AM, (because there are lots of houses surrounding) my nightstand gun is either a 32 ACP, .380, 38 spl, 9x18 Mak, or 45 ACP (standard loads no +p) coming out of 3 inch or shorter barreled handgun. A 44 spl snubbie should be alright too, shorter barrel = less velocity = less peneration. Hollowpoint ammo would further lower the risk of overpenetration.

The 9mm para and 40 S&W are penetrators, and best avoided here, we had a recent tragedy when a cop had an AD shot go thru a house and killed a young girl lying on a sofa inside.

Teddy Roosevelt's bedside gun was a 32 ACP Browning M1900, which was the first Browning semi-auto pistol. His predecessor, McKinley, was assasinated with a 32 cal Iver Johnson revolver.

PS --- not to forget mags or speedloaders on hand.

Best of luck to you.
 
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Let me tell you all a little something. I am an old sailor, a corpsman, so I have served with alot of Marines. We plan for, train for and think about combat situations all the time. That said, when the shooting starts and it is your cherry experience, you are in full panic mode(almost everyone) So how can any of us, who have never been in a combat like situation, expect to keep such a cool head that we shoot like we were at the range or hunting? You Won't! No insult, I didn't few do the first time. So if you are really so concerned about a potential 'home invasion' then get a decent reliable shot gun and load it with bird shot! You will hit your target at close range(no matter your state of mind) and probably kill him, certainly he WILL BE INCAPACITATED! Anyone who trys to tell you different is 'talking without experience' CLOSE RANGE BIRD SHOT KILLS BUT ONLY YOUR TARGET it won't penetrate the walls unless you are right on them. By the way this is a one in a thousand shot Home invasions are very rare even unarmed burglars are rare enough. We would all be much better served giving this subject less attention and paying greater attention to range saftey and safe hunting techniques.
 
The problem with using a birdshot that is light enough it stops in drywall is that it will have extremely limited range and basically requires an unobstructed frontal shot like a B-27 silhouette within that range.

Contrary to mnero's assertion, people can and do survive being shot with loads like #6 12ga birdshot and then continue to function. In fact, John Farnam has mentioned at least one case where a man shot his attacker in the face with a high brass #6 load at less than 6 feet, blinding him in one eye. That attacker then killed him with a load of buckshot and drove 2 hours home before seeking medical attention.

At the end of the day, you've got some hard choices to make on how much you want to trade effectiveness in order to limit potential liability from a miss.
 
I see people recommending shotguns of a smaller gauge as being somehow less likely to overpenetrate.

Am I wrong in my assumption that shotshells have very similar velocities irrespective of gauge? In other words, double-aught buck from a 12 gauge, 20 gauge, 28 gauge or 410 bore exit the barrel at quite similar velocities; only differing in the number of pellets.

Seems as if the danger of overpenetration, in case of a miss, is exactly the same.

Or are we saying that you're less likely to hit something on the other side of the wall with 3 pellets from a 410 bore than 9 pellets from a 12 gauge? That does make some sense.

I should think that in the OPs scenario, frangible ammo might be the best choice.
 
Surviving bird shot in the face at 6' is anomolous; it happened but probably once! You should not consider an anomoly when considering a hd strategy. You are in an apartment, not a house. As such there are simply limitations that must be observed. You keep you HI FI at a reasonable volume, you get a dauchshound or a poodle nota pitbull or a rot, and you don't load your shot gun with triple buck or rifled slugs! If it gets you killed, then you should have lived in a single family house! Better you die, then you live, but kill a perp and your neighbor and unlike the fellow that took bird shot in the face from 6' and was not incapacitated, people actually do kill their neighbors with stray lead! Gun ownership and employment comes with great responsibility, you can't just shoot up the building and say "well I had no choice"
 
Ah I just figured out what the disconect is. Most of us have never seen what a shot up person looks like, smells like...taste like, yeah you will taste it too. That is definitely the disconnect here. Let me tell those who don't know; it looks bad, it smells bad and it taste bad...you won't forget not ever. Sorry to be so damn preachy but well it hits home when I hear people talk about killing so casually. Killing is wrong it is always wrong; sometimes it is neccesary, but that don't make it right!
 
mnero said:
Surviving bird shot in the face at 6' is anomolous; it happened but probably once! You should not consider an anomoly when considering a hd strategy.
Click to expand...

Survivor of accidental shotgun blast to face receives face transplant
Woman shot in face by husband from 8' away survives
Mother survives being shot in the face as she slept
Anthony Swinson shot in the back of the head with .410 at contact distance. Survives by wrestling gun away from his would-be executioner
More "I survived birdshot" stories here

But really, is that all that shocking? The whole reason you recommended light birdshot is because it doesn't penetrate drywall. Is it any surprise it doesn't penetrate the skull or other bones either? If it doesn't penetrate the skull, then all it does is make a horrible, bloody, mess which may or may not be deter your attacker, depending on his psychological state.

And even if you still regard surviving birdshot to the head as anomaly, I'd note that it is an anomaly that is reported less and less often as shot size increases.

Better you die, then you live, but kill a perp and your neighbor and unlike the fellow that took bird shot in the face from 6' and was not incapacitated, people actually do kill their neighbors with stray lead!
Click to expand...

OK, let's look at this from a different perspective. Two people are shooting in your home. One of them is the person who invaded your apartment. The other one is you. Which one of those two people is more likely to be a threat to your family or neighbors? Which one is more likely to stop shooting and presenting a threat to others once the other guy is stopped?

For that matter, do you think your attacker is as concerned with overpentration as you are? How does that safety outcome look when everything in your apartment provides him with hard cover but he can shoot right through the entire place with his ammo?

Gun ownership and employment comes with great responsibility, you can't just shoot up the building and say "well I had no choice"
Click to expand...

This is a straw man argument that nobody here is making. Nobody is saying "shoot up the building" and nobody is saying that you don't have a very grave responsibility here.

Instead, I am pointing out that any firearm that has a good chance of immediately stopping a deadly threat by physically forcing the body to shut down is also going to pose a risk to anybody standing behind 1" of powdered gypsum and paper. Your body is much tougher than drywall and it is unrealistic to expect something that won't penetrate drywall to be effective in physically forcing someone to stop an attack.

I think most people would be better off putting their energy into training and preparation. Learn to use and manipulate the weapon well so that fewer rounds are necessary to begin with. Secure your apartment so that you have ample warning of threats and time to react. Look at your layout now and learn what directions are "safe" backstops and which aren't so that you don't have to make that call under pressure.

If you decide you are willing to risk greater injury or death in order to limit the penetration of misses, then realize that even limited penetration loads can still seriously injure and maim people and don't have unrealistic expectations that because you loaded your pistol with Glasers, you can now safely fire at will without regard for backstop. And realize that if you reduce your ammo to the point it won't penetrate two 1/2" pieces of sheetrock, well, chances are very good that your effective range is around 6-8' and even then you may need to shoot repeatedly to stop the attack.
 
Without reading all the things that have been said (Deja vu), a good light load 38 should be good. I for one believe in the prefrages in the apartment thing.
 
My bedside gun is a 357 loaded with 158 gr LSWC 38 specials. That is for my bed to my bedroom door distance. When I get to my feet it is a 20 gauge shotgun loaded with #4 shot. Farthest shot possible in my house is 8 yards and that is close enough for a serious hurting. If I lived alone my choice would be different but wall penetration is an issue for me so this is my choice.

For inhouse distance in an apartment any of these will do but in a revolver. I have had problems getting them to feed in a pistol. http://www.ammunitiontogo.com/index.php/cName/38-special-frangible-ammo
 
Shotgun with a light shot will get the job done and penetrate less drywall than the average pistol round. Then there's the whole "scare" factor of the shotgun. The average thug gets docile with any gauge shotgun pointed at them.
 
I usually would say use 00 Buck in a pump shotgun, but frangible ammo sounds darn good in this situation. I like .357 magnum :)
 
As usual grump makes good sense. A few incidents amongst hundreds of millions of americans is not an argument against bird shot to the face at 6' not incapacitating the victim. I will take my chances, besides my .38 is my first choice. At 6 or 10 feet I wouldn't miss, but if I thought different i would grab the twelve loaded as I said earlier.
 
I agree with all the others that suggest a 20g. Hopefully just the sight of a gun will have the BG running and save you having to fire.

I'd say a dog is the best security system but a small apt is no place for a big dog.
 
acid test

One shot of .38 to center of mass= almost no chance of one-shot stop.
One shot of buck to center of mass= almost 100% chance of one-shot stop.
Is your perp a serious threat or are we just fooling around?
 
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