What Is the Best Weapon for Home Defense? - A Serious Discus

[CC Italian]

I think a lot depends on who lives in your house besides yourself! If you have no children or others and you have a bunker in situation where you are only on the defensive I would 190% go with a shotgun followed by a close second with a high capacity semi auto rifle. Both rifle and shotguns are great stoppers but IME rifles FTF more often then shotguns! If your moving about the house and making your way to another loved ones room and around corners a long barrel firearm is not the best.

If you have a safe area in your home and element of surprise don't leave that area unless you have to! I personally have no children and would bunker in place and take up a defensive position. If they want to come through a locked bedroom door they will have two home owners both armed with 20 gauge buckshot at close range with 9mm and 10mm on stand by.

Like I said it depends on your situation but don't kid yourself and think that a handgun is as a good stopper on an attacker as buckshot or a rifle round. Never put yourself in jeopardy unless you have loved ones to protect! I don't own anything that I can't replace and don't go out to your car if someone is breaking in! Call 911 and wait for help if all possible.

Just my 2 cents!

[OldCannon]

If they want to come through a locked bedroom door they will have two home owners both armed with 20 gauge buckshot at close range with 9mm and 10mm on stand by.

Which reminds me of the best anti-home invasion scene ever (NSFW language at the end): [youtube][/youtube]

Michael Gross and Reba McEntire play this one to the hilt

[CC Italian]

OMG! I saw this on tv about 2 months ago and all I could think about was my future father in law! He has just about as many guns and he would be just like that!
He could arm at least 2 platoons or a small company by himself!

Love Tremors!

[texasmusic]

My only fear of a semiauto is a hand or finger in the wrong place and you get a FTF. Then it's pucker time.

But I have to admit, my LCP resides next to my revolver in the nightstand at night.

And if someone gets a grip around the cylinder of your wheelgun it's going to be the same story. Pump shotgun cant be put out of battery without the trigger being pulled. It seems it would be easier for the guy to maneuver the barrel away from himself though. Perhaps easier to disarm. Any gun is going to have it's downfall. Indoors lots of people will say shotgun is king. Seems like a lot of hair splitting IMO. Have a gun, know how to use the gun you choose, beyond that, training is what's going to give you the edge.

[Scott in Houston]

If it wasn't for splitting hairs, message boards would be BORING!

[mr surveyor]

If it wasn't for splitting hairs, message boards would be BORING!

agreed

[stroguy]

Guess my biggest concern is the bg sticking his finger in the end of my barrel when I am pointing it at them and it going BOOM. Lordy. Guess I should go shotgun, they would need something bigger in the barrel.

[JALLEN]

What about penetration through the walls and on to the neighbors? Isn't an AR or similar going to have that potential problem? Even handguns penetrate through ordinary walls pretty well.

I have a GP100 that I load with .38 for HD in the close quarters of our small lots here. Maybe out in the country with wide open spaces it might be different. We can have only ten round magazines so the extra fire power of autos doesn't loom as large.

[OldCannon]

What about penetration through the walls and on to the neighbors? Isn't an AR or similar going to have that potential problem? Even handguns penetrate through ordinary walls pretty well.

I have a GP100 that I load with .38 for HD in the close quarters of our small lots here. Maybe out in the country with wide open spaces it might be different. We can have only ten round magazines so the extra fire power of autos doesn't loom as large.

http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot14.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[CC Italian]

JAllen-That is what the box of truth link showed and I can personally confirm to you that .223 hp ammo will consitatly penetrate less then many handgun rounds.FMJ might be a different story but check out the HPs. The bigger bore hps are a different story.

Here is another link from Olympic Arms that confirms their findings!http://www.olyarms.com/index.php?option ... &Itemid=26

I am sure if you keep looking online you will find more to back it up!

Edit: Bigger bore rounds do not fragment as easy!

[CC Italian]

Many LEOs are using those Hornady TAP rounds. I personally load my rifle with hps for personal defense. Box of truth used JSP and FMJ, I only use jsp and FMJ for target practice.

[CC Italian]

That was one of the big advertised benefits of the 6.8 rem spc when it first came out in hp ammo. It penetrated front car windows while not fragmenting like many .223 hp rounds and still has a lot less recoil to me at least then a 7.62X39 or .308.

[SRH78]

The ideal home defense weapon for one person isn't necessarily the best for another. Like everything else in life, it is all about compromise. High powered rifles will be the best stoppers and where legal can use very high capacity magazines but the downside is the size of the weapon and the amount of penetration. Shotguns also perform great and generally with less overpenetration but again, the size of the weapon can be an issue. As for 223, penetration depends GREATLY on the type of ammo used. Remember, some loads for these things are designed to open violently inside a prarie dog. Handguns have less power but are much easier to manuever with and can be used with one hand.

Like I said it depends on your situation but don't kid yourself and think that a handgun is as a good stopper on an attacker as buckshot or a rifle round.

I absolutely agree with this. The effectiveness of handguns is nothing at all like what you see in the movies. Anyone who thinks otherwise should take it to the woods and be humbled.

[gigag04]

While we 're using terms like best, I'll say my firs choice (this month) would be a 8" Noveske 300
blackout with a can. I think an m203 would be nice but select fire is mandatory.

[Wes]

I have my 12 gauge under the bed for me and the 9mm in the bed stand for the lady, a colt 556 in the closet would be a nice addition but I'm not quite set on which ar I want. Either way, I think we have it covered, and I think anyone should simply make sure they are comfortable with whatever they use. Us for instance, she would never grab the 12 as she knows it's not best for her, she has shot it maybe 2 dozen times while she has put hundreds of rounds through the 9. She will take it every time and put all 20 rounds in the air if she must as she grabs for another mag, but I guess that's easy to say when it is only us to worry about in the house and we know each others capabilities.