Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Self Defense

AR for me, for the reasons mentioned above.

For day to day CC, I carry a glock 19 when I can dress to hide it, when it's hot, it's a S&W shield 9mm or j frame 38

There is an 870 loaded with buckshot propped up in the basement though

I keep an H&R Partner pump 12 gauge by the bed. It's outfitted with a Magpul stock and loaded with military 00.

But mostly, my self defense preparation consists of moving out of schittbird territory. Living in an area that's devoid of Negroes pretty much eliminates the need for defense against 2 legged predators.

Shotgun is ok HD weapon. The #1 Buck is best choice, using birdshot for HD should be left for use by retarded people.

A close friend was shot at 20 yds with a load of #6 shot from a 12 gauge (pheasant hunting accident). He survived, but it was touch and go for awhile, and not pretty.

'Home' defense was the topic... outside I want a rifle, then shotgun, then handgun, different scenario.

Kent

Distinct difference between home defense and offense.

I keep an AR handy at home. No close neighbors, not worried about a round leaving the house. Appliances and furniture it will shoot through, no place for a perp to hide. Handgun outside of home.

Excellent choice!

If I grab my shotgun for home defense, it's loaded with #4 Buck 3"...

41 pellets is mo betta!

I don't limit myself to just one gun for home defense either.

I have an array to choose the best tool for the job.

But as Dan said, it doesn't include an unsuppressed short barreled rifle cartridge. The concussion alone with those will be horrendous indoors.

I've never had to shoot anyone and I hope that continues, but I'm with those who prefer an AR-15 to a shotgun for most defensive purposes. I shoot both regularly, and shotguns are slow to reload and cumbersome, especially inside a house. A relatively compact AR-15 holds lots of rounds and is fast shooting, low recoiling, quick to reload and plenty powerful with 77 grain OTM bullets. It also is much less likely to penetrate walls than buckshot or 9mm.

But it's true that you need hearing protection if you're going to touch off a rifle round indoors.

Yes, the AR or AKM type guns make much better offensive weapons. Some people that have lot of enemies or live in extremely bad areas might benefit from large capacity magazines semi-automatic rifles. One can choose Bull pup type gun like ones from Izrael, France or Croatia to get more compact package.

I'm handier with a pistol than I am a rifle so my first choice is my .45, if I need more rounds or more firepower I'll grab the AR sitting next to it.

"Inside-the-house" range means 20 feet, or less. The "rat hole" wound will be about 1 1/2 inches diameter. This man was shot at 30 to 40 yards. At 40 yards bird shot will not kill a human.

I’m with the shotgun in the house, especially in the case of an urban environment. Ordinary stick frame houses don’t slow down projectiles that miss or that penetrate completely through bad actors.

Yeah it can kill a human at that range. It's happened.

Mostly won't. But it certainly can, for sure.

Birdshot TSS?

I keep a shotgun handy with 3" #4 buck I've seen what it does to a coyote at 40-50 yards so know what it can do to a person at 15 to 25 feet.

If a vest is worn by the intruder, you will want an AR. Otherwise, the shotgun should be fine.

The only problem with shotguns is that, unless you live on a farm or ranch, you will not likely have many opportunities to shoot them in a defensive practice kind of way, since while our gun clubs usually allow shotguns, they tend to only allow them on the skeet and trap range. So for those of us who don't live on a farm or ranch, we will likely have had a lot more trigger time with our rifles than our shotguns, at least defensive shooting type practice.

#1 leaving a defensive position and searching a home at zero dark thirty, in your underwear, cause you thought you heard something.... Half awake and possibly against multiple burglars, high, awake, prepared.... All the while attempting to transition door ways with a long gun off any type is a recipe for disaster.
#2 in the all chance you are being invaded and eliminate your aggressors do you possibly want a prosecutor walking in front of 12 peers with a tricked out black rifle?

Defense?
Stay put, call the police, point the shotgun at the door.
Offence? Large caliber handgun and powerful flashlight.

There is no possibility of a shot INSIDE my house of more than 50 feet.

A shotgun w/ birdshot would do anything necessary.

On the one night, I thought it likely I would need to repel boarders, I spent the night in the easy chair in a corner of the living room with a 12 ga Mossberg 500 28 inch barrel, modified choke across my lap loaded with #4 birdshot.

The Marlin 1894 was leaning against the wall beside me loaded with 11 210 gr XTP, over about 21 gr H110 in 41 mag cases.

Fortunately, the likely perp knew me well enough to stay away.

If I think there might be a need for a self defense weapon in the car, I bought a Ruger LCRx in 327 Fed specifically for console carry. I feed it home grown 120 gr powder coated hard cast over as much H110 as I can get in the case behind the bullet.

I sure hope I never need to pull the trigger without ear muffs. Especially inside a vehicle.

Well, I grew up using shotguns and with passing of time note that a great many folks that have them are clueless about how to unleash their destruction. Started with a single shot H&R .410 back in the late '50s. It did not fit me at all and I was too young to understand that. It worked well on squirrel and bunnies, not so good with quail and dove. Then in the very early '60s dad too me up to Kansas to chase pheasant. Borrowed a Win Model 12 for me and though I was a bit leery of potential recoil it turned out to not be a problem. More significantly, it fit like a glove and I missed very few birds in the course of three trips. It was my first clue about functional use of a shotgun.

Not long after I wound up in Nam and I've blathered about that at some length here on the 'Fire. Short version, the M16A1 was a lethal weapon in my hands and those of my compatriots. I never shot anything/anyone that survived. 14" twist, 50 grain FMJ and a 20" barrel. So yeah, it was a great tool for the application. Virtually all of my shots were from about 20-100 yards however and I never had cause to use it at longer range for a variety of reasons. During my second tour I was issued a CAR15 which was a 10" barreled M16 and in my humble opinion was a totally useless POS. Never managed to kill anything with it, never figured out why. Maybe the lower velocity? Poor balance? I dunno.

Handguns came into my life during Nam, but I never used one in combat. I wound up with a RSB upon return from the first tour and it was quite functional....and deadly....and quick to change scumbag minds. I had occasion to travel a fair bit between tours, usually at night, and was not the least askeerd of hitchhikers, white, brown or black. I wore the holster in a crossdraw configuration and oddly enough those I gave a lift to were perfectly polite after they saw the row of cartridges in the belt loops. On other occasions I found that the simple display of a handgun would deter much inappropriate behavior. Maybe all the scum in south Florida is of the same mind? I dunno, but they were model citizens after they got my version of the "Do ya feel lucky?" spiel. So, I never had to pop a cap on anyone here in America.

I did however pop a lot of caps on other critters and my observations follow.

If you can hit a hog with a pistol, .357 or .44 they will pretty much fold up on the spot. I say "If" only because it takes some focus, especially at longer ranges. Having said that, I discovered quite by accident that one can kill hogs and deer with pretty much anything, circumstances being the guiding light. I killed a rather large boar in Ga years ago with a load of #5 birdshot. One boom and done. I was turkey hunting and he walked up on me. Distance was about 12-15 yards. Inbound hole was about 4" in diameter with scattered shot extending to a radius of about 6-8". On another day I had the old SS .410 with me and a fist full of slug loads, when I came upon a pack of pigs. I ran out of ammo before they totally vacated the premises, killed 3 and administered a severe wound on a 4th. So yeah, the little .410 did the trick, and having shot it for many years I was not challenged to reload quickly. In the same locale I killed one hog with a .257 Roberts, another with a 12 ga using 00 Buck (2 shots) at about 20 yards, and another with a .30-30 Mod 94. The remaining 74 hogs killed there over the course of 2.5 years fell to an Ithaca 37 with #3 buck. On three occasions the gun killed 3 hogs with one shot in nearly identical fashion. Momma got popped, a couple of her punk kids were behind her and fell to shot that went thru momma first. Sows in each case were in the 200# range and the shoats were ballpark 40-60#. It surprised me that #3 buck would do that, but I obviously had a bit to learn.

I'll be back.........