One gun for home defense.

[Savage]

It would have to be an AR-15. The AR can do it all, long range, short range. close quarters, the whole bit! All more efficient than any handgun or shotgun, with less likelyhood of overpenetration. The shotty or handgun will get the job done, the rifle just does a lot of things better. Still, glad I don't have to use just one platform for home defense!
Savage

[phatspeed7x]

I voted shotgun, but I could use a # of guns on a unwelcome guest at my place.

-Mossberg Model 9200 12ga semi auto
-Mosin Nagant M-44 (if the 7.62x54R FMJ don't get him the bayonet will)
-Yugo M59/66A1 (again if the 7.62x39 FMJ don't get him the bayonet will)
-Hi-point 9mm carbine
-Ruger P89 9mm handgun
-NEF 20ga single shot shotgun

[countryrebel8174]

id use my 870 and my combat commander .45 ... im not big on the whole one gun thing either


country rebel

[PaulS]

I've got a few guns to choose from but the 12 ga pump is the one for inside the house. With #9 shot the exterior wall will stop the shot if I happen to miss - so the neighbors will be fine. If I do fire, I probably won't miss and the police will have to bring a bag or two with them. I load my own and 1 1/4 oz of shot at 1350 fps is going to make anyone - even with body armor - think about listening to what I say. The second shot, if its needed will be in the head.
I am not looking forward to taking a life but I will defend myself and those I love. I will also do everything in my power to keep a perp from doing the same thing to someone else - next time he might injure or kill someone and if I can prevent that I will.

[Plink]

I voted handgun, although it's the least effective of the choices listed. If your house has an open floorplan, great, but if you need to walk around corners or down hallways to find the source of "bump in the night", a longer barrel is not always the best choice.

An instructor once drove that message home as he lifted the end of the shotgun barrel with one hand, stuck a finger in my ribs and said "bang." That was an eye opener and I can see how that could happen in my own home if I had to investigate a strange noise in the night and the intruder saw/heard me coming and I didn't know where he was.

Just one more thing to consider as we try to define scenarios we might encounter.

[PaulS]

You don't hunt an intruder in your home. You hunker down next to the phone, dial 911, and shoot if he comes in the room and won't lie down and behave.

[teamnelson]

Well, if you've got a team going, one can hunker down and dial while the other goes hunting.

I taught my kids to keep shooting mr intruder until he ceases to move, then one more time in case he's faking. At least that's what Jack Bauer taught his kid. My friends 12 year old little brother ended a home invasion by a drug gang (wrong house) with a single shot out of an H&R 20 GA - one bad guy dead, family all safe.

[flash-in-the-pan]

I gotta agree with Mike -  the handgun is (I think) the most verssatile, USABLE piece when in the house.  Your 870 may get lodged crossways in a hallway or doorway.  And maybe you might need one hand to assist wifey, move Junior, or restrain Brutus until the crucial moment.
Any longgun, including the AR-15, unless it is an M-4shorty, same; likewise  the Mini-14. and as good as they are in outdoors notwithstanding , it seems to me, my ability to use or control may be compromised with a long gun.

I might opt for my .30cal. GI  M-1Carbine loaded w/ 110gr JSP, but same thing - it might be a bit unweildy in a hallway or close-quarters issue, .

I think now my most likely respons to something that went "Bump !" in the night would be with a 3-cell Maglight carried in the weak hand in the over-the-shoulder position (you know, it makes an awfully effective CLUB, that way) and the Kel-Tec P-11 strong-hand, close to the body to give a higher assurqance of retention if it got to close-quarters. Yes, a little Kel-Tec, and not the huge 1911-A1, for that same (retention) reason.  A big guy could maybe get a grip on the front end of the .45, but with the little 9mm, I have a higher likelihood of  maintaining  posession and control. Close in, from the hip.

And NO racking of the slide for me. I want  to hold for myself the element of surprise. My plan is to place my family in a secure and safe position, armed - then to cover the approach - I don't go hunting any more. Stealth.

I've only had to roll out twice in my lifetime, and once was in skivvies and barehanded.  Maintaining the element of surprise made my tactic successful and I took the guy down. (But I had the adrenaline-rush of a lifetime, for an hour afterward).

I like this thread you have started here - proper prior preparation insists on considering at least a few of the most likely scenarions one could become involved in and thinking them through, well in advance.  Maybe practicing that kind of scheme at the range sometime, to see just how you might work it or improve upon it.

Flash

[slink]

Attacks are often by stealth or assault-surprise or subterfuge. your family lets somebody in (on purpose or by neglect) or you get attacked as you take out the garbage, mow the lawn, take care of mail, pets, etc.  You don't answer the door with longarm in hand. A decent defensive pistol can have plenty of power, and there's no realistic reason why it has to stay in your home, either.  The Constitution says ALL gun laws are illegal.  

Check out the 90 gr jhp loads in the .38 Casull and the 9x25 Dillon.  1900+ fps, in 5" barrels, 800+ ft lbs of power, and no more recoil than plus P .45 ACP ammo.  They badly outperform the .30 Carbine and its fmj military load as manstoppers, yet the .30c was the pick of our greatest warriors (over the Garand, even).

90+% of the time, if you get the gun out and "on" the attacker in time, he will just leave, making the "power" of your gun irrelevant. If you have to take 5 seconds to dive and get the gun, however, he can be stabbing, clubbing or shooting you 4x per second, so you will probably never reach any gun that is not on your person at the time you are confronted with an attacker.

[slink]

Your young daughter screams:" Daddy! There's a man in my room!".  And you sheeplike just sit by the phone in your bedroom, right?

[fknipfer]

I guess I have already made that choice since everything else is in the gun safe locked up.  I keep two each SP101 357 Mags loaded and hidden one for upstairs and one for downstairs.  Loaded with 158gr Federal JHP.
Do I feel unsafe, no as the 357 is the No. 1 manstopper in all the books
fknipfer

[slink]

Instead of having to waste 5-10 seconds running to get one of them, and returning to where you were, hmm?  If you have 5 seconds to spare, why can't you just run up and twist the guy's head off?

[DEPUTY]

Slink,


Settle down keep it nice. you dont live in his house or know his situation.

[slink]

I know that he doesn't walk around with the longarm in hand.  If you don't, accessing it will take a lot more time than just drawing a pistol that you're wearing. I also know that a shotgun is a lot harder to conceal/secure/use one handed than a pistol.  I know that I don't want to point a gun at everything that I want to point a light towards. I know that using a light and a longarm make for awkward handling. Ditto holding a kid, or a phone, looking under beds, behind clothes in a closet, and so on.

[DEPUTY]

I SEE YOU KNOW NOTHING.



SLINK CONSIDER YOUR SELF ON NOTICE


ALSO MR GREAT TACTICAL MINDSET WERE DID YOU RECIVE ALL YOUR EXPERT TRAINING? IF I MIGHT ASK....

[slink]

teachers learned, hmm? Buddha gave them the info from his temple, or what?  I know what I know, and anyone who reads this knows that what I said is so. Nobody walks around their house, holding a longarm every step of the way.

[DEPUTY]

I Thought so.

[PaulS]

Your young daughter screams:" Daddy! There's a man in my room!".  And you sheeplike just sit by the phone in your bedroom, right?

My daughter, my YOUNGEST daughter would pull her own gun out and shoot the guy. And then she would scream at me to get her out of there. She's a good shot but wouldn't want to be near her target after killing it. Can't say I blame her for that - there is a difference between a target and that dead human bleeding on the floor.