Home Defense

The best weapon for home defense is an adult female Rat Terrier. They're jittery, YAPPY little creatures, and they make a LOT of noise when strangers approach.

Aside from a Rat Terrier, the best weapon for home defense is a motion-sensor home security alarm.

After that, I'd have to go with the alligator-filled moat.

Then, it's the razor-wire-lined 20 ft. brick wall.
 
xrocket said:
The large cast iron skillet is a good close quarter fighting tool as suggested by JoeBlackSpade.

It is the favored fighting tool of Irish women. Let me explain: Shortly after I married my Irish born wife twenty nine years ago, she told me in no uncertain terms, that If I misbehaved in anyway toward her; One, I would have to sleep sometime and Two, she would make great use of the very large cast iron skillet given to her by her mom. Needless to say it made a distinct impression upon my mind.
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Ahh... that's funny!

You'll be happy to know that the close quarters battle skills associated with the cast iron frying pan were taught to me by none other than MY Irish wife!

I'm going to tell her about this! I'm sure she'll be laughing her little 4-leafed-clover a$$ off about this!
 
1911 with a flashlight (flashlight is velcro to knightstand) is my first choice, it is nimble and I am the most comfortable with it half asleep. I also keep a rem 870 mounted with flashlight under the bed with no7. I think 00 buck is excessive indoors. I keep slugs and 00buck in a sleeve on the stock in case tshtf outdoors.
 
I have had previous problems with black bears and never human problems so I plan for the most difficult case. No close neighbors. Primary is 12 ga with first 2 rounds Brenneke slugs and the next 4 rounds 3-inch 00-buck. Backup is 44 mag with 270 gr Speer Gold Dot Jacketed soft point. The black bears up here can get up to 300 lbs.
 
I know I'm gonna get ragged about this one...

Assumptions:
1. Your plan is to barricade in the bedroom instead of searching the house.
2. If you have kids or guests, you can usher them to the bedroom relatively safely (i.e. 2nd floor or the layout provides concealment of the movement)
3. The operator may not be a well trained in firearms.

A semi-auto 20 gauge shotgun, plug removed with at least a 5 shot capacity.

The 20ga loaded with #3 buckshot is still powerful enough to do the job and reduces the problem of overpenetration through outside walls. I'm suggesting a semi-auto because it's simple to operate from the "ready" condition. Just pull the little handle back and let go, push the safety to OFF and start blastin' if you need to. No trying to remember where the slide release is or pumping the shotgun after each shot.

The 20 gauge is powerful enough without the heavy recoil of a 12 bore. It can be used by women and teen children if needed. They're lighter and quicker to use than a 12ga.

Your best defense, however, is a layered one.
a. motion sensing porch, patio and yard lights
b. A dog - any kind that will bark at strange people in your yard.
c. Medico door locks on all exterior doors (these can't be "bumped" to open the lock).
d. Perimeter alarms on windows that still allow opening the window for fresh air.
e. Remote interior illumination - switching on lights in other rooms remotely, either thru a master panel or a wireless gizmo.
f. The aforementioned 20 gauge.
g. Any decent 3" to 4" handgun of a major caliber

I'd also like to suggest that for rifle fans, an M1-Carbine makes a dandy HD gun with it's light 110 grain bullet. So does a lever gun chambering a handgun cartridge like the .357, .41, .44 or .45 caliber cartridges.

Tactical lights? How about placing night-lights in strategic locations, such as bathrooms in the main hallways, in halls near the bottom of the stairs, on the near side of the livingroom, etc. This allows you to see the BG without giving away your position, especially in dark hallways.
 
The whole idea of barricading yourself in your room and calling 911 is crazy to me. Letting someone have their way in your house while waiting several minutes for leo? Plus, having kids on all 3 floors of my house pretty much mandates I'm going through the house.

Most of the time a noise is either a raccoon or a loose dog banging around my house, leo would get pretty tired of getting calls on that.

just my opinion...
 
Our neighborhood is so lit up by yard lighting that it doesn't really get dark in the house at night. The laser is a red LED type and makes a very bright dot where ever you point it. I drive the cats crazy with it as they think it's a fast red bug. And no I don't aim at the cats, just the floor and walls.
 
AR-15 Carbine w/55 grain Remington HPs.
XD-40 w/some type of HP ammunition I forget.

But actually, having lived in Germany for a year, I have "nothing" for self defense:mad: but my wits. (and security lighting, and some hellacious locks, plus 200 year old 2 foot thick stone walls with small windows)

Not a big fan of birdshot in any gauge shotgun for self-defense: I have a buddy who took 3 shots of #7 to the chest at near contact range; BG ran away, he walked over to the phone, dialled 911 and sat down at the kitchen table to wait for the ambulance. The majority of the damage to his chest was caused by the wads.

I also don't believe in the "fight your way to a rifle" scenario. If I have a pistol in my hands, I fight to put down the BG.
 
I have a bit a of a question to challenge the OP's postulate that upon striking the BG with a rifle bullet that it would shish-kebob everything past it for a long ways. Exactly how much velocity and penetration power does a bullet at high velocity coming from a rifle have leftover once exiting a two legged target versus what it has expended upon contact and the six to whatever inches inside it? Sure it will come out, but surely not at anything near full power, right? Probably much less so upon striking a second surface. One especially considers that the projectile has a very large percentage of its initial velocity at short ranges common to self defense scenarios. Is even a bullet constructed for deer capable of withstanding its own full power at ranges of 30 yards or less? Is the best strategy for preventing overpenetration lowering the power to have less leftover or more power so that it self destructs more completely? (Not to sound too terribly armchair, but a demonstration of a .223, .30-06, and .50 BMG shot into a swimming pool comes to mind, where all 3 disintegrated within less than a foot.)
 
I believe that the best choice is a carbine such as an AR. I have seen some of the big names say that a pistol is the ideal thing to search with because of being able to move easily. HOWEVER, if you have a pistol and the intruder HAPPENS to be armed with a shotgun, WHO is more likely to back down? Get a rifle with a collapsable stock and keep it collapsed! You can manuever pretty good with the stock collapsed!

Just MY 2 cents!
 
Yellowfin,
Those are good thoughts, my initial response would be: It doesn't take much remaining energy to injure a 6 year old child on the other side of a drywall wall. Overpenetration has always scared me (I have 5 kids). But I'm not sure what to do about it.

My uncle got sued for penetrating the exterior wall of a house 1/4 mile away after ricochet off a creek rock bank. From a handgun. It had alot of energy left on it.

I load pre-fragmented rounds in the wife's revolver, but I search the house with a 45 with ball ammo. I think a shotgun is the best for not overpenetrating, but I find it unwieldy in tight quarters.

No perfect solution...
 
ND proves penetration..

I am probably the only one on this forum who will admit to having a negligent discharge. I was reloading for a bolt action .223 and sizing the rounds so the bolt was a little sticky on the close. After I had reloaded 25 rounds I decided to run them through the action to be sure they would all feed. About the 10th round or so KaboooM!

I was in an attached garage and home alone (thank God). The 55 gr SP penetrated through both panels of 2 sheet rock walls, then through a 1 1/2 inch solid core wooden door, broke up into pieces with one piece of lead imbedding itself in the ceiling and another piece penetrating a venetian blind and striking but not breaking a window. All that from a SRA 55 gr. SP. BTW the exit hole in the door was 3 inches long.

Point being over penetration can occur especially if you miss. I guard my NFA firearms with an 870 12 ga. loaded with 2 3/4" #4 buckshot. There are 24, 25 cal projos in each round. Just my $.02.
 
Had my first ND about 1.5 yrs ago. Overly confident and stupid with a Sig P226, blew a big whole in the ground about a foot from my foot.

Stupid Stupid Stupid
 
The reason I pose the question, mattro, is that my fiance's home defense gun is a .30/30 and I'm wrestling with 125 grain SP's in Remington's Managed Recoil load (I know, I wanted HP but couldn't find them here) or 150's at standard velocities. Yeah yeah yeah, should be a pistol cartridge or .223...whatever. It's what I have at the moment. Not sending her out there to her job training with a .22, she's not built for using my shotguns (short arms, large chest, small stature), and this is what she's effective with, and anything else I own is bolt action and deer caliber or larger. She's headed out to California, land of the utterly idiotic gun grabbers, so a pistol is out of the question and anything that's too short is a legal liability. Our budget at the moment can't do much else because of moving costs and the elevated rent and other expenses from being there.

----ing California. I gave her the nod to go for that residency for the sole reason it's the most prestigious one in her field, and it's only an unfortunate side effect that it happens to be in one of the most expensive and least 2nd Amendment friendly areas in the country. As soon as she's done we're out of there faster than you can say credit card bills.
 
On Rifle loads...

yellowfin said:
I have a bit a of a question to challenge the OP's postulate that upon striking the BG with a rifle bullet that it would shish-kebob everything past it for a long ways. Exactly how much velocity and penetration power does a bullet at high velocity coming from a rifle have leftover once exiting a two legged target versus what it has expended upon contact and the six to whatever inches inside it? Sure it will come out, but surely not at anything near full power, right?
Click to expand...

That will depend quite a lot on the design of the bullet. A lot of rifle bullets with FMJ ammo can penetrate an organic target (animal or person) and still whiz along another couple hundred yards with enough energy to bag another. Bullets that are spitzer or boat-tail designs penetrate well and often exit unless they are expanding tip designs.

If you're stuck with a .30-30 rifle, I'd opt for some form of lightweight expanding bullet that is more likely to expand and stop. Almost any rifle bullet (or serious handgun bullet) will penetrate sheetrock walls and/or exterior stucco walls if you miss.
 
so a pistol is out of the question
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Why would a pistol be out of the question? I'm quite sure that you can bring in handguns that you own. Plus with the population density that CA has, penetration through walls would be a big legal liability as you are legally liable for any rounds that you fire, even in self-defense.

And on being the least 2nd amendment friendly, probably. But what's up with New York's "up to 6 month" waiting period. I hope that no one there actually has to wait for the full 6 months.
 
Ideal Home Defense Set Up:

Good locks on doors, good window locks.

Mixed German Shepherd and Lab (the mix neutralizes bad physical and behavioral aspects of both breeds)

Main rooms rigged with very bright lights that are activated by sensors. This is a blinding experience for the invader(s), and will give the dog time to do some damage before they recover. Call 911 during dog event.

Phones set for autodial 911.

XD 45 ACP Tactical at beside, Mossberg 590 close by.

Double locking bedroom doors. When they start trying to break it down, a full blast of 12 Gauge 000 right through the door.

Eject shell. Listen to whimpers, sound of uncontrolled pissing, doors slamming, etc. Stay in bedroom till police arrive.

Obviously I don't have all these, but plan to. I've got two little dogs, the XD, the Mossberg. When the little dogs croak (maybe soon) I'll go for the Shepador.
 
Posts like this usually bring many different responses because not everyones living arrangements are the same. Some have children in the house, some don't. Some have neighbors nearby, some don't.

One person said that they don't buy the " barricade yourself in the bedroom and wait for the cops" idea. That was because he had kids in the house. I have no children in the house. I also do not have anything in my house outside my bedroom that is worth killing someone over, or possibly getting killed over.
My plan is very simple. I believe that everyone should have 3 things within reach at their bedside.

1- A cell phone. BGs can and will cut your phone lines if they know someone is in the house. A person who is willing to break into a home when it is known that the occupants are home is a very dangerous individual. Call 911 immediately, and leave the line open. Everything is recorded.

2. A good flashlight. I have two. A surefire, and a "bash-light" (long hard heavy tube type).

3. A firearm. XD-45 with Fed. Hydra-shoks very close, and 12ga. (first 2 in the tube are #4s, and next two are 000 buckshot, accessable if time permits.

At first sign of a break-in, I would grab XD , and call 911 with home phone on nightstand ,if dial tone is present (911 will have your address automatically). Put receiver down and say "Home invasion". If no dial tone, use cell phone, but add address to "home invasion". Mind you, this is if you have time.

I would then announce loudly that the police are on the way, and that if they (the home invader) come into view that I will be forced to defend myself. (this will also be recorded by 911, and would be very helpful to you in court should you have to defend yourself).

With light and XD in hand, and pointed in direction of where assailant would have to appear, I would wait it out. If said home invader was stupid enough to come my way, the next thing recorded on the 911 tape would be a few very loud noises. Also, I don't beleive that said perp would wait around for the cops to show up.

I was taught a long time ago to leave house clearing drills to the experts. I am not a LEO, and do not care to get myself shot trying to act like one. I have performed armed investigations of things that have gone bump in the night, but in these cases I really had no real reason to believe that a break-in was in progress.

If you have family in the house, you should have a plan, and all should know it and practice it occassionally. If you live alone, you still need to have a plan. I think that having a plan is more important than what type of weapon you keep readily available, as long as you are competant with that weapon.


Just my thoughts on the matter.
DS
 
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