pump shotgun sound as deterrent

[casingpoint]

Well, I dunnno who said it then, but nobody could have said it better.

And while we're on the subject of shotgun sounds, nothing creates more primordial fear in a man than the mechanical thud of a double barrel shotgun being closed in the dark.

[STI Shooter]

Shaw Shank, right.

[bdsnooks]

IMHO---
If I'm in my home (probably in the dark) and someone breaks in, I'm not going to give away my location or element of surprise for the sake of a "noise deterrent".

[C-dub]

Shaw Shank, right.

Bingo! Great movie.

[CLTX11]

The last thing they will hear is the bang, I am not going to pump it, I always keep one chambered.

[Kevinf2349]

Stop or I'll shoot again works best.

A very wise man once told me to shout "Drop the weapon" as loud as you could and as soon as the last word is being shouted the finger should be squeezing the bang switch.

He said that the shouting part is to let any witnesses know that you thought they were armed. Hopefully I will never have to shout it, but ..... it makes lots on sense to me.

[smasraum]

Now I think the BG who breaks into your house is not likely to be scared off by any noise, because they probably are high on drugs

Possibly, but not definitely

or totally accustomed to having guns pointed at them all the time.

Really? You think that? No, I don't think that at all. Burglary is a non-violent crime. Burglary is much more prevalent than robbery. The number of folks sneaking around stealing things is much higher than the number of folks packin' heat and robbing a store at gunpoint. Burglary is a coward's crime. There's a reason that they target empty houses. I don't believe that at all. If more burglars had guns pointed at them (more would get shot) and there would be fewer burglars. The reason that burglary is common is that it's not resisted.

I suspect that 90-95% of burglaries would be stopped if someone showed up surprising the crooks in the process and racked a shotgun. That statistic would probably be higher than expected for a robber too. The statistic would probably be much lower (but still higher than you might expect) for a home invasion.

[KD5NRH]

I would think most robbers would carry handguns not shotguns. They don't want to bring attention to themselves and need both arms to carry the stolen property.On my Winchester Defender it's much more easy for me to just pump then find that darn little safety button on the side in the dark.

This is the other problem that I have with keeping all of the long guns chambered; all told, I have six different types of safeties on my long guns. (Assuming we count no manual safety as a type.) It's much easier to determine the action type in the dark than try to remember whether the safety is a cross bolt, lever on the side, lever on top, slide switch on top, etc.

[chabouk]

Storing a non-drop-safe gun (most long guns have none of the various drop safeties common in handguns) with a round chambered is asking for trouble. I rack the shotgun because that's what it takes to make it go boom. If it happens to scare a home invader away before I have a clean shot, so much the better.

On my Winchester Defender it's much more easy for me to just pump then find that darn little safety button on the side in the dark.

+1 to both of these.

Proper carry or storage for a pump shotgun at the ready is: action closed on an empty chamber, trigger pulled to decock, and safety off. To put it into action requires one step: rack the slide, and it's ready to fire. If you decide to not fire, it's then easy to apply the safety.

If you don't pull the trigger after closing the action on an empty chamber, you'll have to hunt around for the action bar release before you can work the slide. Bad thing to have to remember.

The only ergonomic shotgun safety that I know of is the Mossberg (above the tang, ambidextrous, "forward to fire"). It would be nice if someone made a tactical shotgun with an M16/AR-style safety, floating firing pin, and firing pin block safety. I'd trust one of those with a chambered round.

[03Lightningrocks]

For those that keep a loaded gun in the bedroom, anyone ever consider the what if of walking in on a burglar and getting blasted by your own gun? I have a monitored alarm system so I know if I get to the door and hear my alarm screaming, someone has penetrated my fortress. I have wondered what if a cop responded and my weapon was the one a bad guy used to shoot at the cops when they arrived.

An argument could be made that if a bad guy got to your gun before you did, he might get messed up by not racking a round in the chamber. It might give you a split second more to fight or flight before he figures out how to rack a round in the gun.

I dunno...just some random thoughts I have had.

PS..I don't know how scared a bad guy would get when they hear that sound but I can tell you my daughters Chihuahua runs like the wind when he hears it. We are thinking he might have been a BG in a past life. Maybe a Mexican drug smuggler or something. Knives scare him too.

[flynbenny]

For those that keep a loaded gun in the bedroom, anyone ever consider the what if of walking in on a burglar and getting blasted by your own gun?

Easy, I put it back in the safe when I leave my apartment. They'd need a torch to get it then... My rule of thumb is if it isn't within arm's reach, in hand, or in the holster on my person it should be locked in a secure container. Keeps 'em away from the three C's, Children, Criminals, and the Clueless (see Kathy Jackson's The Cornered Cat). But then again I don't have anyone else in my place that needs access to a gun, since I haven't trained my cat to shoot yet.

I do keep a round chambered as well, just makes sense to me. I've heard of a negligent discharge or two resulting from someone chambering a round in their 'decocked' empty chamber safety off pump, and forgetting the safety wasn't on, most scatterguns have a really light trigger too. One of the things I like most about my SuperNova Tactical is that the trigger is by far the heaviest I've ever seen on a shotgun, and the trigger guard is also very glove friendly.

I do however agree that the pump sound is unmistakeable, and any home invader in their right mind is going to beat a hasty retreat once they hear it. I don't think any Iphone recording could reproduce that metallic ringing 'cllicck CLACK!!' convincingly either.

It seems the more I read this forum the more I'm convinced that tactics are never 'one-size-fits-all', but that everyone has to devlop and practice them to fit their own unique situation. I get new ideas here all the time, and the civil nature of our discussions makes the sharing and learning much more fun!

[KD5NRH]

Now for the next question: is this twice as scary?

[Keith]

The dog storey had me on floor very funny. I just want to add how much I LOVE TEXAS. I just moved here in APRIL from Chicago. In that state we would all be arrested for even owning a shotgun. I respect this state and my new freedom. Even though we sometimes disagree let's never forget WE LOVE TEXAS and what it stands for. In the end what's important is that if any of us gets our house broken into there is a shotgun waiting for the SOB on the other side. In my case there's also multiple other guns if I decide to use someting else like my SASS DPMS 308 blk rifle, I LOVE it here.As you say in this state YALL take care and long live the 2nd amendment.

[The Annoyed Man]

PS..I don't know how scared a bad guy would get when they hear that sound but I can tell you my daughters Chihuahua runs like the wind when he hears it. We are thinking he might have been a BG in a past life. Maybe a Mexican drug smuggler or something. Knives scare him too.

Dude! You win this thread.

That said, I have an aging pit bull/lab mix (almost 15 years old) and she can't hear me walking up behind her anymore, and she sleeps all the time now. Great dog, and I love her very much, but not much use anymore as a watch dog. My son owns a Mossberg shotty, and he sleeps in the room next to ours, but he sleeps even harder than the dog does. The only real advanced warning we have is if our alarm goes off in the middle of the night, in which case there's going to be some fancy scrambling to grab a gun — any gun — and deal with the intrusion. Fortunately, there are several guns, on top of or in my dresser, all in calibers beginning in "4", and all loaded and chambered, cocked and locked.

One of those pistols has a matching tactical light. I just haven't made up my mind whether it is better to use it, or to operate in the dark, ninja style. An intruder may have the tactical advantage of surprise, but I have the tactical advantage of knowing the layout of my home intimately, so maybe a light might be actually giving away an advantage. I haven't decided on that one yet.

As for the sound of a shotgun being pumped, I think it is 50/50 as to whether or not it is an advantage. On the one hand, it might be terrifying to the coward. On the other hand it might simply let the bold predator know where you are. Since you don't know which it is you are being forced to deal with, how to decide?

[Keith]

Annoyed Man not to get off subject but never underestimate the love and loyalty of the Pitbull