Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Handguns for Home Defence

A few nights ago, a friends wife got "house crashed". Thugs came in, duct taped her, and ransacked the house. I never worried about that stuff before, being out here in the "sticks".<P>Anyway, I got my single six in .22 magnum loaded and ready, but been thinking of a semi pistol in .40 or .45 (I really don't trust 9s). I don't like a loaded gun in the house, but I doubt anyones gonna stand there while I load it. No young kids here, so that's not a concern. I want something Wifey could rack into battery quick, if need be. and stick in a waisband to answer the door. I'm on a budget, so I want something easy to learn and dependable with minimum outlay. Any suggestions?<BR>7mmbuster

Scary stuff for your friends wife, hope shes OK.<BR>1, 9mm loaded with +p hollow points gets the job done just fine, and are easy to shoot.<P>2, a glock in any of the above cal.s is light weight, reliable, but will cost you $475 or so<P>3, an airweight .38 special will not only do the job, but is light enought to carry around if nessesery, only costs under $300, and is very easy to shoot under stress.<BR>Simi-autos are great for people who practice all the time, but when the chips are down, a double action revolver is mistake proof, just point and pull the trigger.

My wife likes the Taurus 85 and on a good day can put five shots into a paperplate at 25 feet in the time you can say "Hello, how are you? How can I help you on this fine summer day?

Hey 7mm, My weapon of choice next to our bed is the beretta 9mm loaded with 15 Glasier safety slugs. I know, I know its like a 45 on "stun". But it has no recoil, its easy to take apart and clean, and very reliable (no jamming). Those bullets were designed for anti terrorist measures on an airplane. They won't penetrate the fuselage (or bedroom walls) so you don't have to worry about anyone in the other room should a fight break out inside the home. The caseing is partitioned to seperate and inside are gell and bb's I think anyway. (never fired them yet). Whatever you buy, shoot it often and get real comfortable with it. Good luck!

A 9mm will be adequate for the purpose stated, A "rebuilt" model may be had or a good used one. I also think a revolver in 357 such as ruger or taurus. Use 38 specials. The use of a revolver may better suit you and your wife so there is no need to rack a slide and less chance of problems. I though ultimately believe that you should go with a semi-auto. I use a glock and love it, but one needs to keep in mind not to place finger on trigger until ready which should be observed anyhow. Good luck post any more questions and I will attempt to help.

That is sort of hitting close to home ani't it 7mm. There are several questions that need to be answered before you make a decision. How familiar is your wife and who ever else is in the house with pistols? Are you dead set on an auto and why? How much time can you all spend becoming a proficient shot if you are not already?<BR>My standard advice to anyone who is thinking about a pistol for home defense and is not already a pretty fair hand with a short gun is a double action revolver, three or four inch barrel in 357 mag. Use 38 specials in it to learn how to shoot.<BR>I say this because a da revolver is about as simple a gun as you can get. There isn't any thing to rack, or flip, or push or diddle with in the heat of the moment. Just point and pull. If you don't like to keep it loaded, and personally I think that is a bad idea to have an unloaded personal defense gun around, then a speed loader is just as fast and simple as inserting a magazine and racking a slide. A double action revolver is more reliable than any auto made. I know boys and girls your 1911 or Sig or Berreta runs like a sewing machine and all the cops use autos now days. BUT for home use day in day out where the ammo might live in the gun and get a bit grungy over time a quality revolver is just more reliable especially with some of the war loads that you might want to use. Some of the personal defense rounds have trouble in some autos. Stick any thing that will fit in the cylinder of a revolver and you are in business.<BR>BCR

I agree with BCR on this one. I would suggest a 4" barrel with adjustable sights. It is just hard to beat the dependability of a 357 revolver in this setting.<P>Wall

My uncle ahd a great gun that even my little brotehr could rack into battery, it was a springfield arms special edition 1911. the reason i think that it was so easy to rack the slide was because of a 3 inch comp on it. look into some 1911's everyone that ive shot i liked. I'm not an expert but but htas what i know.

i suggest a revolver there is less chance of problems arising. Lke Esox357 first pointed out i myself use a ruger 357 with a 4and 5/8 inch barrel i also use a ruger 44. the one i always keep on my headboard is the 357. loaded.

7mmbuster, the model 10 S&W is about as good a home defence revolver going, 4 inch barrel, fixed sights, will take a beating and still work. loaded with +P's will ruin a bad guys day real quick. and the best thing is, they are cheap, you can pick one up used anywhere from 135 bucks up to around 200...gut

Hello all,<P>I'm new here and this is my first post so I guess I'll jump on in with my comment.<P>I agree with what Boggy Creek Ranger said. One important thing I'd like to add is your wife's hand size. Some ladies hands just don't fit well around some guns, especially auto frames. If you can, I'd suggest taking her with you when you make your purchase. <P>If you have something in your area like an NRA shooting class, that would be a good place for her to maybe try and shoot several pistols. That way she and you can see how well she handles both the caliber and weapon. And with someone else teaching her, you might avoid the frying pan against the head thing [img]images/icons/wink.gif" border="0[/img] , or at least a cold shoulder--anyway, she might respond better than with you (depends on your wife of course!). If not a class, do you have any friends that would let her try out their handguns?<P>Hope this helps--Wallace [img]images/icons/smile.gif" border="0[/img]

I live way out in the boondocks and have a wife and 2 daughters.Of the three,my wife learned to shoot a little "ladysmith" 38.The problem is that she could never remember exactly where it was.She is alwaysc moving things.<P>I got them to shoot a little breakopen 410 shotgun.I told them it is for snakes.It stays above the backporch door without a round in the chamber but with 3 in a cartridge holder on the stock.<P>There are half a dozen handguns in the house,all loaded,all revolvers,but the 410 is imprinted in their mind.It's not the solution I would prefer,but it is the best I can do.The 14 yr old is good enough with her little 22 rifle that hopefully she would turn it into a defense weapon if the need arose but I never mention it to her.<P>There is also a 12 ga pump loaded and above the door in our bedroom walkin closet.I've told the 3 of them that is the "retreat to place".We have dogs which I believe to be a good deterrant.At least they give ample warning of strangers.<P>The home invasion is the scariest scenario imaginable.Thank God it's not more common out here in the country.

I agree with BCR and some of the others, a decent revolver is the way to go for economy as well as reliability issues for starters.<P>Yes I have a .45 but I have been shooting this one for almost 30 years and am very comfortable with it. For "new" to handguns my advice has always been to start with a revolver as I did with my wife and kids, it is safer and they are mostly reliable out of the box.<P>There are a lot of really decent S&W (pre takeover) .38 and .357's out there at affordable prices. A 3" or 4" will be easy to handle and shoot in close quarters and is inherently safe under most conditions and you have the option of pulling the trigger again should you have a failure to fire, with the plus of no bells and whistles to worry about. K.I.S.S. I also would go with fixed sights as this is defensive not target shooting, inside a dwelling sights are mostly a moot point at those ranges.<P>IMHO a good revolver is the best option for a home defensive handgun. A short shotgun would be my second choice for obvious reasons but is tougher to maneuver in tight places.<P>Good luck and I hope your friend is OK.

Hmmm, scratching Gene off the possible robbery list. LOL<P>Seriously, I started a dissertation on this the other night and aol dumped me so those words of wisdom are lost forever. Pause, while the world mourns. LOL<P>First, 7mm, I hope your friend is getting over her invasion, without knowing more, sounds to me like she was lucky that it was not much worse. <P>Second, Gene touched on several valuable points above, many of which are common to urban as well as rural areas. You don't have to do all of them, but take the general ideas and do what seems best for your situation. Safety for your family members and others is a real issue with loaded guns, be absolutely sure they know the rules of safe gun handling. Just as in the common advice about home burglaries, unless you are being specifically targeted for valuables(another lesson, the less unrelated people know about any valuables, including guns, you might have the better off you are), burglars or robbers will skip the hard targets, since there are so many easy ones out there.<P>If you situation allows it, have a locked gate on your driveway. A dog, any kind of dog, but a barker is better, bigger is better, is a big plus. Always lock the gate at night, and consider leaving it locked in the daytime, if you are not around.<P>Never let your wife or kids(or you, for that matter) answer the door alone at home, especially at night, unless they can see and know well the person at the door. If you are there, check the area surrounding the door before you open it, use discretion. Sounds paranoid, but unless you know the person personally, don't let appearances matter, don't open the door without one hand on a weapon, and block the door with your foot or a heavy duty chain. The heavy duty chains like in motel rooms are a good idea, but don't take the place of common sense. Which brings us to another point, it is very valuable to have a way to observe the door and the area beside it without your presence being detected. A peephole is better than nothing, but a window where you can see beside the door is better than that. Obviously if you don't have that situation at your house, a peephole will have to suffice and are easy to install. Motion detector lights near the front door and other areas of ingress are a good idea and are pretty cheap these days.<P>Since you don't have medium age kids it is probably a non issue, but if you did, you must teach them either to not anwer the phone or to say that Daddy will be here in a second. Not that Dad is not here, and mommy is outside. The dreaded answering machine is a good device, keeps them from calling to find out if you are gone.<P>Having a loaded gun in more than one location, is a good idea, but you have to consider if any other people(kid's friends, visitors with children, dumb visitors, etc.) are going to be in your house and you must religiously unload and store them for those occasions, which means you can't just load them all and leave them in different places from time to time, you and your family members must know how many there are and where they are.<P>Gene brought up another excellent point, that is a fall back, or retreat to position, with a loaded shotgun or rifle in that area. If the robbers are good, they will cut your phone wires and a cell phone is nice to have to call 911 with, but mostly you and your family are going to have to handle it on your own. By the time help arrives it is usually all over but the reporting of details. At any rate, you wife and kids should know that if anyone is attempting unauthorized entry into the house they should evaluate the situation and decide if it is better to challenge or fall back. In general, a scream that I am armed and will shoot and am calling the police is a good idea, but if they continue to attempt entry, then shooting time is near. It is imperative that if you elect to arm you wife and teach her how to shoot that you impress on her and your kid, that once someone is insider your home, then the time for threats is over, and the time for shooting is there. In general, you cannot shoot until they are threatening you or another person with bodily harm, in most jurisdictions, being inside the house is evidence enough of that intent, however you will have to know your state's laws. Doesn't mean you can shoot a guy going out the window with you television, he has to be inside and have the possibility of doing harm. Like the line in the movie, if a family member has a robber in the house it it time to Shoot, Don't Talk. It is imperative that all family members know that entering the house by any unusual means is a strict no-no and must not be allowed, obviously assuming someone is inside to start with. If a child comes home late at night, he should have some protocol, but loudly announcing that it is him or her is a good idea. If the challenge does not work in deterring their aggressive actions, they are stoned or crazy, so you must assume the worse, family members should know to retreat to one spot if possible, pick one,and let every family member know that is the fall back goal if the home is invaded, but your bedroom is usually the best since you can keep a loaded rifle or shotgun there fairly easily. If you had very young children, then that room might be best, with a shotgun in a closet on the way or whatever. Once in that spot, with, hopefully all family members, lock the door and prepare to shoot anyone forcing entry, with a loud warning that you are going to do so. Remember, things are not the important issue, your family's safety is most important and if you are safe in one room, unless you are very sure of your abilities, I would let them have the stuff in the rest of the house. I might try to take them out, but I know what I can do and it is much better to understimate your abilities in the dark with possible multiple opponents and your family's safety on the line, than to overestimate them. If you have called the police or sheriff's dept then they will not be there long, hopefully.<P>Finally, guns, since you are not planning on being in a shootout and you have a limited budget, the poster above's suggestion of a used mod 10 Smith or the equivalent in a Taurus or Rossi is an excellent one. I think the reliability issue is a toss up, but there is little question that a double action revolver is the easiest to shoot for someone who is not well trained or under stress and not well trained.<P>Depending on your house, that is where the kids and others bedrooms are located, for a fall back weapon I favor a shotgun loaded with small buckshot, BBs, 2s, or 4s for close up work, less penetration and does the job, may not kill but will stop aggression almost all the time. If penetration is a real concern, use 6s. Rifles work, but there is a real concern about shooting through walls, but if that is all you have or can afford, shoot them with that, it works too.<P>I apologize for this being somewhat disjointed, I kept thinking of things and going back and inserting them but I hope some of these ideas are helpful. REMEMBER, THERE IS A HUGE RESPONSIBILITY WITH LOADED GUNS IN THE HOUSE, BE CAREFUL.

OH yeah, I personally think the S&W mod 13 or 65 bull barrel .357 is the best especially if you can find ond with a round butt, they fit almost any hand and exhibit very good recoil control.<BR>My .02 on that!

T Lee:<P>I agree, but think they would be harder to find at a bargain price and are a little heavier, etc. But if I had to buy one for my wife that is the way I would go and teach her with .38 wadcutters.

CAT,<P>Thats why I like them, the weight makes them soo easy to control yet not cumbersom. A lot of PD's put them on the secondary market about 10-15 years ago and they show up frequently at gun shows here at $200.00 to $250.00 a lot.<BR>Different prices and availability in different parts of the country I imagine, was just a thought. I also like to use the semi-wadcutter hollowpoints in the revolver as well as practice with, I think you should practice with what you carry just for familiarity and confidence with that load and gun.<P>All your other comments on home security and so forth were also very important to any one with even the most remote chance of faceing such a situation, glad you thought to include them as I was focussing on the firearm as I take the rest for granted and often forget all of us are not aware of these things as well. [img]images/icons/shocked.gif" border="0[/img]

Don't worry, I'm the only kid in the house, and he don't have to worry about me or mom messing around. Please continue with the suggestions, as this is an important matter.

7m/m and Big Hunter,<BR>Every one that has posted is trying to do you good. There isn't one piece of advice that I have seen that could be considered hogwash. I have already stated my thoghts on armament so let me give you a few more thoughts on home defense.<BR>1 The best way to win a gunfight is to stay out of one. With that in mind there is nothing in the house that is worth your life or the life of a family member. If you have a break in/burglary don't go hunting them in the dark. Gather the family or at least know where they are and make the intruder come to you. I am not saying you should run screaming from the house just don't be macho and go hunting inside. Take cover and wait if you can. Get low so you can shoot up. There is a lot less chance of winging some one you don't want to that way unless of course the bed rooms are upstairs.<BR>2 I have no problems with a shot gun for home defense. There are two shortcomings with them however. They take two hands to operate so it is hard to hold a flashlight or open a door while holding them. Also they are not as manuverable as a pistol in a tight spot. Try sliding around a door frame with a shot gun in ready position and then with a pistol and you will see what I mean.<BR>Also shot will go through interior walls like a knife through butter. It does not matter the shot size at across the room distances. If you don't believe it go down to the dump and get a couple of pieces of sheet rock, nail them to 2X4s and stuff some insulation between them. Shoot them and see what happens. At normal interior house distances (twenty feet or less mostly less) the pattern will only be about four inches no matter what shot size. Go ahead and use buck shot if you want.<BR>3 On a home invasion your goose is cooked unless you are carrying, there is no time. About the best you can hope for is every body scatter (just the opposite of a burgularly)and hope you have enough stuff loaded and ready around so that one of you can get to something.<BR>BCR

Thankyou Gentlemen. This is the reason I posted here. I value your opinions, as I know that you fellows, like myself, (at least I try [img]images/icons/laugh.gif" border="0[/img] ) are thinking men. After reading your advice, and considering I think a DA revolver is the way to go. Rest assured that all of us will seek training. I've had my Single Six for years, and am experienced with it, but I want to be sure I can use it under duress. I want to look around with Wifey, and make sure she's comfortable with whatever I get. Big Hunter will learn with enthusiasm [img]images/icons/laugh.gif" border="0[/img] .Thanks again.<BR>7mmbuster