Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Semi vs pump for defense

Reliable ones of both sorts would suit me fine, but pumps require less maintenance, which might make a difference with a gun that mostly sits in a corner waiting for trouble.

For home defense there are a few things you should consider......First and foremost is do you have a family that lives with you? If you do a shotgun is a terrible defense weapon since an intruder could very easily get a family member of yours in between them and you. In this case I'd much prefer an AR with a laser sight.

There is something frightening about the sound of a pump shotgun being cycled.

Jim

I couldn't agree more.

Pump for me. Why pay 1500-2000 dollars for reliability when you can get it for 400 bucks.

I'm in the semi crowd.

A properly maintained semi, with quality ammo is a very reliable weapon.

I've taken 2 defensive shotgun classes, and in both the only issues I saw guys have with guns was with short stroked pump guns when shooting in odd positions. My Benelli M1S90:



Personally now, I use a carbine. Less chance of over-penetration, less recoil, higher capacity, more modular for the rest of the family, more precise if needed. Way easier to find training classes for.

My LE6920 set up for HD:



The carbine is also a lot easier for me to train/practice with:

In .22LR:



In 9mm:
l]



I really like my 9mm carbine as it recoils more than 5.56 and doesn't screw up my AR500 tgts at CQB distances. I get a lot of use out of it for PCC matches also.

Yup, my experience and conclusions are similar.

So you think it would be safer to use an AR which will go through a bad guy and then a wall hitting God knows what on the other side of the wall? Ever stop to think about that?

A load of birdshot in a full choke will not have much spread in the distances found in the average house and won't have much energy left to shoot through a wall if the pellets get through the bad guy. And if you think a load of #4 or #6 shot won't be devastating at 10 yards then You've never really played with it. Nobody is walking away from a chest shot of #4 or #6 shot at 30 feet and it is a whole lot easier to really smack someone with 200+ pellets than the 9 or 12 pellets found in a 00 Buck load. Remember this is self defense, not deer hunting.

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So you think it would be safer to use an AR which will go through a bad guy and then a wall hitting God knows what on the other side of the wall? Ever stop to think about that?

A load of birdshot in a full choke will not have much spread in the distances found in the average house and won't have much energy left to shoot through a wall if the pellets get through the bad guy. And if you think a load of #4 or #6 shot won't be devastating at 10 yards then You've never really played with it. Nobody is walking away from a chest shot of #4 or #6 shot at 30 feet and it is a whole lot easier to really smack someone with 200+ pellets than the 9 or 12 pellets found in a 00 Buck load. Remember this is self defense, not deer hunting.

In short, no. In fact, every Hornady® 223 Rem and 5.56 NATO load is designed to penetrate less than most service pistol cartridges. Total penetration varies from as little as 5.5 inches from the 40 grain load to 15 inches from the 62 grain barrier load. All of these are equal to or less than the FBI’s maximum recommended penetration of 15 inches.

FBI and Independent Testing Has Consistently Shown .223/5.56 NATO Fired From AR-15’s Do Not Over Penetrate More Than Pistol/Shotgun
First up is this older article by R.K. Taubert, a retired FBI agent with over 20 years experience who conducted extensive counter-terrorism and weapons research while with the Bureau.

To quote Mr Taubert, (emphasis mine) ” … As a result of renewed law enforcement interest in the .223 round and in the newer weapons systems developed around it, the FBI recently subjected several various .223 caliber projectiles to 13 different ballistic tests and compared their performance to that of SMG-fired hollow point pistol bullets in 9mm, 10mm, and .40 S&W calibers.

“Bottom Line: In every test, with the exception of soft body armor, which none of the SMG fired rounds defeated, the .223 penetrated less on average than any of the pistol bullets.”

As hard as it may be to believe, the .223 Rem/5.56mm light varmint loads (like the 55­grain V-­Max) will penetrate LESS drywall than a bonded jacketed hollow point fired from a 9mm handgun or a load of 12 gauge 00 buckshot utilizing a flight controlled wad. One may ask how, but it is simple physics and understanding on how various ammunition types act. A defensive handgun projectile is designed to penetrate to vital organs and also defeat various light barriers (such as heavy clothing). Due to this, there is a high likelihood of the hollow cavity clogging with drywall dust. Once this occurs, the relatively heavy but slow projectile will act much like a full metal jacket, passing through several layers of drywall before stopping. A shotgun is much like a handgun, in that it fires its payload at relatively low velocities and is reliant on penetration to vitals (or, simply removing vitals). With this, the flight-controlled wad will keep a tighter pattern at extended distances. This means, a missed shot at 10 to 15 feet will result in almost a solid mass of lead. This pattern of buckshot pellets, when launched at 1,200 feet per second, is difficult to slow down and will continue through several layers before stopping.

Semi auto- Browning A 5. IMO Most robust reliable semi auto around. A Benelli youth model is good too. I like the 870 Special Field and the model 12. Saw a SPAS I really liked but choked at the price! All that being said, I have a 97 Repro riot gun close by. Too old to fight, too fat to run, 70% disabled. Just hope I am not first.

For home defense there are a few things you should consider......First and foremost is do you have a family that lives with you? If you do a shotgun is a terrible defense weapon since an intruder could very easily get a family member of yours in between them and you. In this case I'd much prefer an AR with a laser sight.

If it's the shotgun I prefer the pump

9mm with the proper load doesn't have this problem you are describing IME. You have your own conclusions and there's nothing wrong with that. Just attempting to add some friendly ideas here