Range of a typical home defense encounter inside your place

Range of a typical home defense encounter inside your place

  • Within 1 foot

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • At least 1 foot but less than 10 feet

    Votes: 15 23.8%

  • At least 10 feet but less than 20 feet

    Votes: 36 57.1%

  • At least 20 feet but less than 30 feet

    Votes: 5 7.9%

  • At least 30 feet but less than 40 feet

    Votes: 5 7.9%

  • At least 40 feet but less than 50 feet

    Votes: 1 1.6%

  • 50 feet or more

    Votes: 1 1.6%
  • Total voters
    63
  • Poll closed .
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Since I'm 72 years old and have not yet had to deal with a home invasion, I have no "typical" encounters on which to base a reply. I suspect the same is true for most people on this forum.
 
He didn't write "maximum," he wrote "typical." And "typical" can only apply in the case of multiple, similar incidents.

Can't help it -- I'm a technical writer and editor. Words have meanings, and they are the only medium we have for communication. Life's too short for me to guess what someone might have meant other than what he/she wrote.
 
I agree with Aguila...

Perhaps it should be changed to "maximum potential range of a home defense encounter in your home"

I went with 10-20.... unless I'm completely surprised, I'm not letting anyone closer than 10 ft before a response... and that's only if I'm holding them at gunpoint.

If I'm not already in "firing position", if the attack commences, I'll be shooting before they get to 10ft, hopefully.

Mainly, I hope that I never find out..
 
I am going to assume the question is at what distance do I expect to engage an attacker inside my home. I chose the 1-10' range, but I agree with cheapshooter that 5-15' might be plausible. Things happen very quickly at those distances...
 
I figure about 10 feet. If someone breaks in at night I'll be upstairs in bed. It's about 10' from our defensive position to the top of the stairs where I intend to stop anyone trying to proceed while my wife is on the phone with 911. They can root around as much as they want downstairs while law enforcement is in route. They will be loudly warned that we've called for assistance and leaving is their best option.
 
Aguila Blanca said:
He didn't write "maximum," he wrote "typical." And "typical" can only apply in the case of multiple, similar incidents.

Can't help it -- I'm a technical writer and editor. Words have meanings, and they are the only medium we have for communication. Life's too short for me to guess what someone might have meant other than what he/she wrote.
Click to expand...

I'm not an English major or technical writer but I use the word "would" for something that hasn't happened yet. I apologize for any confusion. Typical, as in normal or average range for a home defense scenario, would depend upon a lot of factors but you wouldn't necessarily have to endure multiple home invasions to get a ballpark figure of what a typical range for a home invasion of your place might be. The interior layout of your place and your tactics would probably be two big factors. Although the intruder may be a relatively unknown factor, the weaker spots in your place's security might be a good guess on where an intruder would enter.
 
Words have meanings, and they are the only medium we have for communication.
Click to expand...
It also depends on with whom one is talking and the subject.
For example, my better half is a more creative type who is sometimes less than exact with her words.
But she can write a very entertaining book, as well as very understandable operations manuals.
My background is more like Aguila, of a technical nature.
But even with my more linear thinking, I usually understand what she means.
She doesn't engage in highly technical subjects much.
ATN's question held no mystery; it was obvious enough to me as to what he meant.

As for the answers given, some of the distances mentioned are cutting it close.
For those who haven't as yet, check out the Tueller Drill and other defensive skills for the home.
 
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They will be loudly warned that we've called for assistance and leaving is their best option.
Click to expand...
Why warn them and give away your only advantage?
Let them be surprised when they hear the sirens outside
 
Sometimes you guys don’t give anyone a break. I knew what he meant and remember we don’t all have college degrees.
Average if I was in my bed room would be 10 feet. Farthest would be 30 feet, from the bedroom door to the farthest door I can see.
 
all entrances to my home are armed by a security system. Once it goes off , the perp has only 7-10 minutes to steal things( I own nothing of value but my gun collection which is locked up unless I am home.)

IF a perp enters through the front door( vs breaking into my garage(under my home )and a steel door into the house), I am upstairs(usually) and they are 15-20 feet from me. It is a straight(left handed ) shot(from cover) down the stairwell to the perp. They can leave or face the music if they come afte r me (or my wife or animals)
 
My house is required to be at least 50' from the water. My boathouse is off the boat dock which extends at least 20' out into the lake.

Many homes have open floor plans and it is not unusual to see distances of 20 to 30' of open combined rooms like kitchen, dining areas, great rooms to entrances of bedrooms.

There have been cases of gas stolen from boats. I would never shoot anyone for such, but If I caught them and shouted at them they might be armed. There are a lot of "if's " there, and I hope none of them happen.
 
At my house, the range could be anything from maybe 2 feet (a bad guy coming in a window next to the bed) to around 40 feet (I'm at one end of the living room and they are pointing a gun at me from the other end of the kitchen). The word "typical" threw me off a bit, too. We need to be talking about ranges.
 
At the Austin house the BG has about 35 feet from the door to the sofa where nature's most horrific death machine (a fat wiener dog) will be sleeping on my lap.
 
My place isn't as big, but I have a 7.5 pound Chihuahua that thinks he is a grizzly bear. He would give any intruder a very severe scolding for entering his domain.
 
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