What Do You Take To Investigate "That Sound"?

What do you first grab to check out "That Sound"?

  • Semi Auto Pistol

    Votes: 100 61.0%

  • Revolver

    Votes: 26 15.9%

  • Hunting Shotgun

    Votes: 6 3.7%

  • Hunting Rifle

    Votes: 1 0.6%

  • HD Shotgun

    Votes: 27 16.5%

  • HD Rifle

    Votes: 2 1.2%

  • Ball Bat

    Votes: 2 1.2%
  • Total voters
    164
  • Poll closed .
For night time bumps I take my 870 HD only because it already has a flashlight mounted on it.

But like others I have a four legged early warning system an 83 lps APBT, not much good as an attack dog but I have learned his different barks and attitudes in response to what is outside.
If it's an animal he wants to go out and engage, if it's a person he comes and gets me.
But he did warn me about a boy trying to climb in the neighbor girls window last month
 
I've been a light sleeper since my military days, but lately it seems like
any little noise startles me awake.
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You're not alone.
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I wonder how many guys on this board are just like that. I'm such a light sleeper I've been awaken by the clock in the living room ticking!

I've always kept some sort of firearm within a arms reach but recently it's been my XD45. I might be keeping one of these on my nightstand soon. http://www.sigarms.com/Products/ShowCatalogProductDetails.aspx?categoryid=37&productid=148

My two 95# Labs bark at someone just walking by the house so they compliment my security system very well. Actually they are very friendly dogs but they have a very scary bark and alert me.

riverrat66...out
 


I wouldn't underestimate that 83 pound Terrier as an attack dog if someone is in his yard uninvited or poses a threat to you.

Working breeds like that are protective when the rubber hits the road (or is that the bull comes around the corner?).



-tINY

 
That's an outstanding suggestion that VirgilCaine made. I forgot to mention in my earlier post that I have outside lights and some motion lights but the deer and rabbits keeps setting them off. The police said keeping bushes and shrubs away from your windows and lighting the outside around the house is one of the best determents.

riverrat66...out
 
I wouldn't underestimate that 83 pound Terrier as an attack dog if someone is in his yard uninvited or poses a threat to you.
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He's been tested and failed on both accounts.
But he's fun to watch catching flies or barking at the wind
 


Ah well - mine only weighs 65 pounds. At 13 years, he decides if a sound is worth getting up for or not.....



-tINY

 
This is a hard one. I used to be a lighter sleeper and live in a more violent area, all bumps were checked out with my pistol and a shotgun hung on the wall next to my bed. But now I live in a very nice area which is much safer and my boys are now teenagers that get up at all times of the night so bumps in the night occur every night. A few years ago my older son was getting water in the wee hours of the morning when we startled each other (gun in hand). After that I longer (try to)check out bumps in the night with gun in hand unless I know its not my boys causing the bumps. So to answer the question the Maglite gets the call first, usually.
 
I like Ozzieman's response, my father keeps a short barrelled 870 w/ pistol grips by the bedside at his home, loaded w/ buckshot, i am in college so the glock 22 is on my night stand along w/ a surefire light, cell phone, wallet and benchmade knife. The knife isn't really there for a tactical purpose just the place where i tend to set it when its time to pass out. If i were to only have one gun for HD (Home Defense) i would definately go w/ an 870 w/ extended mag. and buckshot and slugs if i'm alone in the house.
 
I have a big house, so it depends where I am in the house. In the back (family room) is a Mossberg 7+1, loaded with 3" 15 pellet 00 buck...Front closet has 9mm carbine...Bedroom has most of my other guns, but I'd grab the SKS-M, with a 30 round mag. None may be ideal, in itself, but will let me (hopefully) get to the more appropriate one.

Have 4 German Shepherds, which will give early warning(but they are all kenneled, in the house at night, because they fight with each other)...They know the sounds of all family cars (and my sons girlfriends!) as well as all our footsteps. Kinda amazing, they may bark when a family member comes in, but not usually. But, for something out of the ordinary, they have an "alarm bark" that's totally different. I'm a very sound sleeper (insomniac, take drugs to sleep), but if I hear an "alarm bark" I'll come awake REAL quick. Funny how you can be conditioned that way.

Preferred weapon would be the shotgun. With the loads I use (Sellior and Belliot, no shot cup) they spread out fast, about a 24" pattern at 40 ft. (which would be likely in my house). So I've got 120 .32 caliber projectiles on hand.

P.S. if the noise is outside, I'll send my BIG male GSD to investigate, take the SG with me. He's trained to "search", and you REALLY don't want him to find you hiding in the bushes!
 
right next to the bed is S&W sigma in .40 with a spare mag next to it behing the door is the mossberg 88 made for HD gun then in the closet is Ar-15 with sure fire light and 2 coupled 30rnd mags
 
I too have been a very lite sleeper since my Paramedic days. I would take what I cusually cary, Ruger P345 w/ 185gr. Hydrashoks. My wife keeps the Ruger Security Six .357 revolver on her side, loaded with +P sjhp .38 spl rounds. Thats what we keep upstairs loaded. Downstairs we have 5 dogs, and a Hi-Power stratejectly placed. I feel sorry for whoever encounters the dogs first. And yes they are indoor dogs, but don't let that fool you.:D
 
I'm not a hugh fan of his, but Mas Ayoob's suggestion of carrying the family house cat in one hand and flashlight in the other is not too bad. Find burglar, toss cat. Cat does what cats do, latches on with 20 claws and climbs to the top of what (who) ever it lands on. ;)

I investigate bump in the night noises with my off duty/bedstand gun, a 70 series Colt Commander in .45 in one hand and a Surefire 6z in the other.
 
I've always felt a dog is the best first line of defense - it can alert you, help locate a threat, and depending - possibly defend you and drive the threat away. Lost my dog/friend of 14 years last year - new wife and kids have bad allergies - so that rules out a new friend. Suppose I could use the wife and kids in place of the dog ;)

I have five kids - ages 6 through 12 - there are a lot of noises at night - even in the country. I really want to shoot that blankity blank coon that keeps getting into the trash - (hasn't tried again since I put a mix of hot sauce and hot ground peppers in the trash and on the lid). But I digress. With so many noise makers in my house and outside - coons, coyotes, wandering dogs and cats. If I grabbed a gun everytime I heard a noise (being old and grumpy and mean - according to my kids) I'd be getting up purty near every night. So I usually just lie in bed and listen for a minute or two - I've lived in my old house for about a decade now and I know all the sounds it makes and can tell where someone is in the house just by listening - I also can usually tell from the footsteps which kid it is or if it's my wife. So mostly I don't get out of bed except to get up for work.

However, if I heard alarming noises - breaking glass, splintering wood, unknown footsteps in places they shouldn't be - then I would get up - put on my bathrobe - (always handy since farmhouses from the 20's don't have master bathrooms and four of my five are girls) - and then grab my one of three small flashlights I keep on a shelf on my nightstand, then I would hit the electronic combination on my nightstand gun safe and remove the 1911 45acp - rack the slide and push the safety on and grab the two extra mags - I would drop the two mags into one pocket of my robe, then I would quietly go investigate - staying in the dark and using the flashlight should I identify a potential threat while keeping my pistol pointed in a safe direction- hidden by my side. I'm not a big fan of gun mounted flashlights - primarily because I don't want to have to point a gun at something before I've been able to positively identify it. I don't use a shotgun since with young kids and their various friends,who often stay over, a shotgun is just harder to store safely.

The nightstand safe has a glock 17 and the extra flashlights for my wife. If it were a serious threat I would protect the kids first and all of them would run to mom/stepmom anyway. I do have a Savage bolt gun in 308 and a Springfield M1A NM with three loaded 20 round mags in the bedroom in a gun safe that are easily accessible to me - but they are there primarliy because I reload and my loading bench is in the bedroom - (and having been married before gentlemen - it was a condition I stipulated with the wife before we got hitched).

Also, remember to forward your home protection plans to local law enforcement or swat so they may properly plan in case they ever need to serve a no-knock warrant at your home. ;)
 
Happened to me last night

It is kind of funny that this is being discussed right now. Around 10:30 pm last night I heard a loud crash out in front of our house, followed immediately by the sound of breaking glass. I immediately grabbed my Surefire and G26 to investigate.

It ended up being a couple of the neighborhood kids riding bikes and one of them rode his bike into the recycling on the curb, causing the can to hit the glass recycling bin creating quite a commotion. He was fine, just a little shaken up. I was fine, just a little concerned. The semi-auto provided a discreet way to investigate without causing undue alarm.

-PB
 
Answer to post #60: I don't know about anyone else, but I DO carry a 10-shot 9mm in a holster all the time at home. When leaving the homestead I carry it or something else concealed.
 
My friends go with me.

P2240001.jpg


Charley & Katie

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Colt's MKIV/Series 70 Government Model 45 ACP manufactured in late 1970.

Works for me though, the thought has accurred to me I may be using the same reasoning Charley does about driving thunder away - he has proved beyoind doubt if he barks at it long enough, he drives it away!;)

:D :D
 
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