Is the CZ 805 Bren S1 Pistol good for home defense?

[armoredman]

Rock 185, thank you for your service, sir. I would have to say that I would not want to search an unfamiliar tightly enclosed area with my BREN carbine as my only firearm, but I wouldn't feel too badly about it, provided I could keep the barrel from being grabbed.
Now from a defensive standpoint, a long gun/semi-long gun works well for me, in an area I know well, and the intruder does not. This is the current CZoice;



With a 30 round mag I think it is optimal for what I want, flashlight easy to use for me, red dot and cheek rest to stabilize. I find most 9mm loads pick up about 100-150 FPS in the 7.5 inch barrel, and the 124 gr XTP loads seem to work just fine. I know that when I roll out of bed I would not have time to grab my pants with spare mag pouches, etc, so I "gotta run with what i brung" and 30 rounds is a lot of "brung". Also, home invasions do tend to be more than one person, so I don't consider it excessive to have that much ammo on tap. This MIGHT be the one time I could be tempted to get the "+20" Scorpion baseplate from CZ Custom...yes, +20, not +2.
Would the BREN 805 pistol work? Sure, with the same basic setup and TAP or other top quality ammo, I'd be perfectly confident with it. Short, handy, and yes, it might not be a bad idea at all for ANYONE shooting indoors to have some sort of electronic earmuffs ready to go, as any gunshot inside with no hearing protection is going to cause permanent damage.If I have THAT much time I'm slipping on the armor, too.



Well, I have the plate carrier and plates, might as well have it laying around set up like I could possibly actually use it for something!

 

[Walt Sherrill]

Walt, it seems you haven't enjoyed the "pleasure" of shooting rifles on indoor ranges. When I still lived in the Chicago Suburbs, I took my 16 inch barrel 308 FAL to and indoor range. Plugs and muffs with that one!

I shoot almost exclusively at indoor ranges, some of which allow long-guns -- and the others I use allow pistol-caliber long guns.

I appreciate the need for plugs and muffs! That said, most indoor ranges are more OPEN than a house, and likely to be less painful/harmful to the shooter or bystanders than if you're firing in a hallway or small room.

At one of the ranges I go to, one guy shoots a .50 AE Desert Eagle handgun from time to time, and that one is a real attention-getter! I shoot my Kel-Tec PMR-30 at an indoor range, and it's about as loud as some rifles. (And then there's that marvelous fire-ball or, more correctly, that marvelous "ring of fire"!

 

[rock185]

armoredman, That is a pretty neat set up you've got there. Were I using something similar, I would prefer the 9MM rather than a rifle caliber too. The velocity increase you report with the 7.5" barrel is consistent with what I've seen. With some ammo I see up to 200 fps or so increase in my Marlin carbine with 16" barrel over a 5" pistol barrel. The 9 is an efficient little cartridge that soon reaches a point of diminishing returns in barrels longer than about 16" I think.

 

[Onward Allusion]

I personally wouldn't want one as my first line of defense. It's a little unwieldy and a lot of flash & bang. I'd feel the same way about using an AR or AK for HD indoors. With all the guns I have, my go to for HD is a 5906TSW with a Streamlight TLR2. My bedroom barricade gun is a 12 ga.

Now if I had outdoors to defend, the CZ would be a fine choice.