Home Defense Gun for Inexperienced Folks

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Is a “home defense gun” is one that stays at the home and would be used for a confrontation between its owner and a real threat around the house or in the house?
That is in counter distinction to a personal protection firearm that goes with you everywhere?

In the case of the first scenario no one should choose a handgun. A rifle or a shotgun is what you need.

Ask yourself why every army on earth arms its soldiers primarily with rifles instead of primarily with handguns.

Because rifles are better for fighting. Handguns excel only in the fact that you can have one on your body at nearly all times. I pistol in the hand is worth far more than a rifle 100 yards (or more) away.

But if your friend has almost no gun experience at all, and if that friend is not going to get into shooting as a discipline or a sport I would recommend a Ruger `10-22 or perhaps an autoloading 20 gauge shotgun.

Handguns are better used by people that like to shoot and take the commitment seriously to gain skill.

A person with only 3 hours of training, armed with a rifle is a dangerous enemy to anyone trying to invade their home. In my estimation a rifle in the hands of such a person is about 10-20X more dangerous to an enemy than a handgun in the hands of that same person

If you doubt that, take a good 22 rifle and place a paper plate at 15 yards from the firing line and make your 3 hour old student do as many pushups as they can, sprint back 25 yards and sprint back to the line 25 yards. (this is to induce stress and make their heart beat hard) Have them take the rifle and fire all its rounds at the paper plate. Do this every 10 minutes until the 100 rounds are used up. Count the holes.

Now, do the exact same exercise but use a handgun (any handgun) and count the holes.

Then if you have one, try this all again with an autoloading 20 gauge.

I believe you will find that my estimation of misses to hits comparing the rife to the handgun is about right.

Using the shotgun will REALLY show a difference in hit to misses comparing it to a handgun.

Oh......one last thing
Read G Willikers and Rbids post above mine!
Excellent advice.
 
Shotguns

I agree with a lot of what you said about home defense WyoSmith. The sound of racking a shell into a shotgun in the dark is pretty dang intimidating. Just the sound would hopefully scare off a home invader. A home invader looking down the barrel of a shotgun knows he is in for a world of hurt. At the National Parks the ranger talks about bear safety keep saying that in the event of a bear attack it is very hard to hit and/or stop a charging bear with a handgun because of the stress and adrenaline and everything unless you are a crack shot. I think that applies to home invasions because of the fear factor and stress like you were talking about. Pulling a shotgun to your shoulder or even your hip makes it a lot more stable than waving a pistol around when you can't hardly breathe. At a hunter safety class recently the guest speaker/sheriff deputy said a mag flashlight was just as effective because you really have just enough time to swing your arm down on a collar bone when you are face to face with an intruder. Hesitate with your pistol and you are on the ground. Growing up just up the road from you in Greybull I never locked the doors, so home defense is not my area of expertise. I need to learn to lock them in Gillette.
 
Thanks for the feedback lots of good stuff here.

I’ve already offered to bring several guns over to his house and explain the differences/pro/cons between things like revolvers, striker fired, SA/DA, large frame, small frame, etc. Then I’d like to take him to the range and let him shoot the guns that he feels more comfortable with as well as browsing around some shops.

As for long term training I’ll try to give him some assistance after he makes a purchase and encourage him to get a lot of practice. Also, most of the local ranges offer some kind of Handgun 101 type course which I’ll encourage him to attend.
 
Entry level handguns....

I would always suggest buying a 3"/4" barrel stainless revolver with adj rear sights for a new gun owner.
You can get a 5/6/7 shot .38spl or .357magnum. The S&W model 66, the model 27 m8(M&P), Ruger GP100 or LCR, etc.

As for ammunition, Id suggest a factory round like Corbon's DPX, Speer Gold Dot 135gr JHP +P, MagSafe SWAT, Hornady Critical Defense, Buffalo Bore 158gr lead SWC HP +P.
For .357magnum, most opt for the powerful, proven 125gr JHP. Corbon, Remington, Hornady, etc.
I'd advise they learn the local gun & use of force laws too; Gunlawguide.com , Handgunlaw.us , Gunvideo.com .
Some suggest pre-paid legal service plans for any future use of force/lethal force events.
Even clear-cut self defense or lethal force events can require legal aid/lawyers.
 
BarryLee said:
As for long term training I’ll try to give him some assistance after he makes a purchase and encourage him to get a lot of practice. Also, most of the local ranges offer some kind of Handgun 101 type course which I’ll encourage him to attend.
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Respectfully, sir, unless you are an instructor by trade, I would encourage him to seek professional training. Even if you're a very good shooter with a knack for diagnosing and communicating technique corrections, there is still a sort of casual creep that takes place when buddies teach buddies. Anyone looking into the possibility of arming themselves for defense is well served by a strong dose of perspective and gravity. Maybe sign up for some classes together to help him not feel intimidated and for the sake of discussing material after.

For what it's worth, I do as I'm advising. It's generally best to make the process as serious and professional as possible early on to set them up for success.
 
There is some good and bad advice here, just like there always is.

BarryLee, I commend you for taking the time to help and for getting advice.

My personal answer (to which less than 10% of the people I answer take me up on it) the last ten years has been.

"Let's go to the range and you can shoot some of my guns and then we will go from there."

Sure, some just go buy a gun, load it and put it in a drawer. The ones who tell me, I try to again get them to the range. But, when I get a call from LE or a prosecutor about what I taught someone, I have no fear for them or myself.

You can get married, have a kid, drink alcohol, and buy a gun (in most places) with no training. A responsible person on all of these things will seek education, guidance, best practices, and keep priorities in line. While I am not a fan of laws telling Americans they are now "good" enough to engage in any of those activities, I make it a point to avoid those, or enabling those, who do not take those responsibilities very seriously.

Best of luck with your friend.
 
A 20-gauge shotgun with a pistol grip!

Mossberg SA-20 Tactical. Semi-auto, 20-gauge.

GAG_75780-72935.jpg_2.jpg
 
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I need to say that folks who recommend a shotgun for inexperienced folks really don't know what they are talking about.

It is not a trivial to use a shotgun under stress.

I like the idea of telling them that they need to get some experience before buying even if it is you taking them to the range. I can understand an emergency buy because of a threat but if it is on a longer time scale then they need at least some experience.
 
Glenn, just today I had an opportunity to echo your sentiments that a shotgun is not a wonder weapon. The man with whom I was talking made a claim that with a shotgun, "you don't even have to aim it". I find far too often that opinion persists regardless of what we so often state here.

While I do believe that a short shotgun is the best HD platform there is, mainly due to decreased risk of overpenetration and because it IS in fact more forgiving of a less than perfect shot placement. But, it is no magic solution... And I do not believe the sound of a pump shotgun will cause a BG to turn and run away. But, for a person who absolutely not take the time and effort to practice at the range...and have resolved to the mindset which will permit that person to fire on an attacker when pushed to that limit... Then the shotgun represents the best choice of firearm for HD.
 
I need to say folks who recommend ANY firearm to inexperienced folks really shouldn't.

However, a shotgun doesn't require a lot of accuracy at 10 to 15 feet. One shot usually works. Shot placement isn't as critical. Follow-up shots are probably unnecessary.

A semi-auto shotgun doesn't require pumping, either.
 
Home defense

I don't know what I am talking about most of the time, but I have a pretty deeply engrained bias against using handguns for home defense and self defense. There are a lot of other topics on here debating that kind of thing, and some pretty persuasive ones. But to save some arguments, if a shotgun is able to meet the needs of someone who needs home defense, I will probably always go that route. I agree that spending some time at the range and getting familiar with the weapon is a must. I thought that was a given. You know what they say about assumptions, though.

Maybe the sound wouldn't scare anyone off, but I was hoping that the main purpose of the firearm would be a deterrent and hopefully not used. Some of the other topics show articles where felons in prison said that the main thing that stopped them from committing a crime was fear of a gun in the house or on the person. Seeing or hearing the gun might be enough to make them turn around. The only "home invasions" I have been a part of were drunk guys at the wrong door and I would hate to shoot someone for stupidity. Other people are obviously in a different situation and have different opinions. I am probably on the wrong forum.
 
"Racking" a pump gun in the middle of the night does 3 things. First, it tells the intruder where you are. Second it comes with the risk of a new shooter (or even experienced) "short shucking" and that creates a club for home defense. Third, a shotgun or rifle is clumsy to use indoors, and limits mobility, has unbelievable report and flash indoors. Additionally, most women will not want to use a shotty.

The military arms with rifles because the action is almost always outdoors and at much longer range than a homeowner can use.

If you must "rack" a round into the chamber, then you are basically starting with an unloaded gun at a time when it needs to be loaded. Your opponent already has a round in his firearm.

A simple DA revolver in a vanilla caliber is much easier for a new shooter to use.
 
A DA revolver is certainly easier to use, but is it effective? FWIW, I do have a .38 special (wife), a 9mm (me), and a 20-gauge semi-auto shotgun (me) for home defense--but I'm not a new shooter. I also couple my firearms with an early warning system comprised of two nervous and yappy dogs.

The semi-auto shotgun doesn't suffer from "short shucking".

Seriously home defense shouldn't be single layered.
 
I might suggest that it is possible to miss with a shotgun at close range.

Navigating a critical incident with a long arm and NO experience is not fun. How to use the phone, round up the kids, deal with the lights, hold the darn thing up for along time, recoil for second shots, comparative penetration, jams, blah, blah.

This has all been stated before. Yep - blasting a square range target close up is cool. More fun is moving dynamically, make a hostage shot, etc.

I always wonder how your loved one will like getting hit by the wadding even if you manage the buckshot pattern successfully. I'm no shotty wonder guy but have taken various shotty courses and compete once in awhile with them. I'm not recommending it for someone who just picks up the gun.

A standard 38 SPL revolver with some loads designed for manageable recoil and good SD qualities works for the untrained (although I choke on saying that). Really get training.

Here's a nice take on shotguns vs. rifles for the home by my buddy, Karl Rehn:

http://www.krtraining.com/KRTraining/Classes/deflonggun.html

Note that his outfit does teach shotgun and I took a Givens shotty class there.

At the NTI years ago, we did a house clearing with a double barrel coach gun in our PJs, manipulating an unfamiliar gun and a box of ammo in simulated PJs with no pockets and with a light. Multiple surprise targets. That was a hoot. I ended up butt stroking a surprise humanoid target after using the two rounds on another.

I recall another hoot of a co-worker who was annoyed at his elderly wife as she didn't want to use a pistol grip only 12 gauge. He knew it was the wonder weapon!
 
Shotgun, a simple one like a break open single shot is a typical first gun for a kid. How could that possible be a bad choice for a first gun?

In my opinion there is no best self defense gun choice possible until a person can decide for himself what that choice should be. So, start at the begining and let them progress in knowledge until they tell you which is the best choice.
Start with plinking guns and an NRA membership some magizines and some trips to the range and gun stores. It's a culture change to go from 911 to self defense. A gun, any gun, will not change much of anything.
 
My nightstand 9mm is a Ruger P95. SA/DA hammer fired. Reliable. I do have a light (not laser) mounted to the picatinny rail.
 
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