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The AR with 16" barrel is at least 2-3" shorter than a pump shotgun, so it is a bit handier in close quarters, and has a higher cap magazine. Granted, you have to place the shots, but wild firing with a shotgun may not be effective, either.

The Kel-tec KSG looks interesting but I'm not eager to pay $1000 to be their Beta tester

I'm too superior to be arrogant.

Another point to be made for the shotgun is it will not overpenetrate through walls with 00 Buck. The last thing I would want are rounds zipping through the house.

I think 00 buck would handily penetrate the interior walls of my house, but then I have good reason to know how flimsy they are.

BTW, and just for folks' reading pleasure, a LEO of my acquaintence recently examined several interior walls of an apartment building after a drug dealer let off a single round of 7.62x39 FMJ at another drug dealer. The bullet missed the intended miscreant, penetrated a wall, entered the apartment across the hallway, passed harmlessly over the recumbant form of a baby sleeping in its crib, exited through a window pane and then he lost track of it after that.

We can construct scenarios 'til the cows come home (where did room clearing come into the picture?) but the OP was pretty clear. Bad guys coming up the stairs, you're alerted and have had time to arm yourself.

In the military when in a defensive position, you use your wire, mines and other obstacles to funnel the enemy into your killing zones so your WMD can take them out. What the bad buys have done is funnel themselves right into your killing zone, giving you just about the perfect defensive advantage.

They're coming up the stairs so it's highly likely they're in single file. Unless you live in Rhett and Scarlet's mansion, they have a wall on one side and a bannister on the other, so they can only go forward, backward (difficult for anyone but the last in line) or over the bannister. You're alert, they don't know you're alert. You know your target will appear in about a 3-4 foot wide area. You live here and walk those stairs every day so you know where they are even if you had your eyes closed.

The first guy will appear before the others have cleared the top of the steps to be able to see you. As soon as the first guy's torso clears the top step - BOOM - he's now a slippery obstacle for the others. If you're a hard core sort, you exploded his head to add a little psy-ops effect to the next in line. The remaining bad guys can either go forward one at a time over that obstacle, still not knowing your exact position except that you're in front of them while you know exactly where they will be, or they can retreat. They can try to come forward two at a time but that's going to be difficult on the average home stairs, plus if they're shoulder to shoulder they don't have any room to maneuver at all. And they still have to step on or over the inert form of the first guy in line. If they come forward one at time, they instantly have two obstacles to walk over, then three, so on.

Unless there are more than eight, (7+1 in that Mossberg) they are basically committing suicide to continue to attack.


In this scenario basically any of the three choices would work, I'll still choose a shotgun since I don't want to see if I can acheive a "one shot stop" or try for a CNS hit with a handgun, especially in the dark - I want to f***ing blow the sh*t out of their heads and insides. I don't want to give them one teeny tiny chance to return fire, I want them DRT. I'll worry about the mess later, when I'm still alive and they aren't.

Very well thought out and said, Jim.

In my house, with its particular layout, any intruder(s) coming up my stairs has already foiled the Rottweiler outside and just committed suicide by coming in.

In the scenario laid out by the OP, I will be shooting coarse shot (Win 1300 instead of a Mossy, but details....) down into the intruder's head/neck/back at 12 feet. Additionally, there will be a 10mm Glock in my waistband.

I too will chime in for the shotgun. I have been shooting pistols for 45 years, and after uncountable ten's of thousands of rounds I like to think I'm fairly proficient with one. The one time I had to deal with an intruder that I 'heard' upstairs, I was shaking like a leaf by the time I got to the second floor with Beretta in hand. I seriously doubt I could have hit 'him' I was shaking so bad. It turned out to be the wind blowing a screen door on the 2nd floor porch. Then and there I stashed the Stevens 520 12 gauge riot gun in the dining room in place of the pistol.

Those of us not combat trained, or inured to violence, tend to be a shaky lot when confronted by an armed threat. A two-handed weapon is just the ticket for us, and I for one am not ashamed to admit it!

My thinking, and the more trained individuals like KG and Sagebrush can correct me, is that handguns are primarily offensive weapons - concealable, easily transported, and used quickly.
This is not to say a handgun can't be used for defensive purposes, We all know it can.

The shotgun is a primarily a defensive weapon, able to toss out a lot of lead from a fixed position into short range targets. This isn't to say it can't be used in an offensive way, as we all know it can.

I also like the shotgun because I can protect the girls in my chicken ranch without shooting up the houses across the way.

The thing that confuses me about the whole scenario is that the gun is to be placed next to the bed hours before the bump in the night occurs. Therefore, the entire scenario is about the gun one selects without knowing the encounter to be faced. Therefore, the selection should not be scenario specific. Because most of us already have a gun or guns by the bed, the choice already has been made.

Same here. I am a really good shot with a handgun by any objective standard. Always have been. AAA in Hunter Pistol silhouette. I was out this morning shooting at and hitting an old welding oxygen tank at 200 yards with my little SR22. The 6" ringer at 25 yards was a goner every shot.

The one time I had to use a handgun in an emergency situation was when a Florida razorback charged me. I missed him three out of four times at a distance of 6-8 feet with a S&W revolver and the one shot I did hit was in his foot. Thank God he was dead on his feet already or I would have some neat scars to show.

Anyway - that was in my twenties and it taught me two things that have stayed with me over the next 30 years. 1 - a defensive handgun has to hit where your wide open eyes are staring 'cause you probably won't be calmly reciting your mantra of "sight alignment - sight picture - breathe - aim - squeeze". If you're mentally prepared and ready to fight, okay, maybe, but if the SHTF and yells "Surprise!" - you probably won't. 2 - if you have a chance to use something besides a handgun, use it.

Hits are what count, and hits are hard to come by with a a handgun when you're excited and scared sh*tless. Use something you can hit with, everything else is secondary.

...Respectfully Rancho....I suggest that it's just the opposite. The handgun is by nature a defensive weapon. It's very design and purpose is to be convenient and utilized in a reactionary mode until you can get to more suitable weaponry. There's nothing that it will do that a long gun won't do better except for being handy. If you have a long gun in your hands that indicates that the element of surprise and reaction is compromised---you know that there's a threat and have prepared yourself for it's impending occurance. There's a fine line in supposed "defensive scenarios" (i.e. house clearings) where the prey becomes the predator and go from defensive to offensive.

Those who have actually cleared houses for a living, at least those whose names I recognize to be cops, go with semiautos.

About 25% of cops murdered in the line of duty were murdered with their own guns.

To answer your question, Jeffery, sure a handgun can be taken away from its user. However, when clearing a house by one's self, I sure as hell wouldn't want to do it with a shotgun. Were I able to remain in my room thus forcing the bad guys to come to me, I'd take an 870 with slugs or 000 buck.


R

I would be interested to hear an example of anyone who used a handgun to "fight his way to a long gun".

Why do I need a gun?
I sleep naked, just the sight of me rushing down stairs nude would scare the life out of anyone.

Jim:

I hope you repost this the next time somebody brings up the subject of shooting a charging grizzly with a handgun.

I'm taking the Mossy and a case of 00 and grabbing my Glock 19 just because it's there.

Then wait quietly and patiently in the room at the end of the hall as far away from where the stairs come up as possible.

Then when they get into the hallway I'm hitting the clicker and then sending up a star burst, sending a couple of belts through the pig.
Now why did I bring the shotgun...

revolver with ctc lasergrip. left hand for flashlight or cell phone.

could also be in close quarters and need to be ready to shoot in multiple directions.

Multiple intruders coming up the stairway, they may be packing heavy duty goodies themselves. The shotgun with 00 buck shot gives me the upper hand.

I've owned a 590, and I can't say anything bad about that one.

1998, I ran a Sports Authority. Got a case of 5 Mossberg 500's in, wooden stocked.

3 buttstocks were split, 2 wooden forearms were cracked, not from shipping damage but from improperly seasoned wood. Of the 5 shotguns, 4 of them had sling swivel studs that did not have a hole drilled through them for the sling.

Needless to say I was shocked at the numerous issues and total lack of QC.

That's a shame; you're quite the entertaining fellow.