Home defense: my WWII fathers advice

[milprileb]

Just want to pass on what my father did once he got to his mid 80s and was not as mobile as he once was and was living independently alone out on the farm.

Yes, he had dogs and two inside the house for eyes & ears .

He deduced that he could no longer move rapidly to where ever he had a weapon stashed and came up with his solution:

a. He must be armed and with handgun that is not a burden to have at hand
b. He will shoot as many rounds as he can get off.

That said (agree or not), this old war horse with a 1911 in every room and shot guns as well, decided to carry a Colt Pony light weight 380 on his hip all the time
and had one of those NAA stainless steel 22 Mag derringers hanging around his neck (inside his shirt) as a back up just in case.

As he said: " At least I can shoot whenever and wherever I am at in the house
and at least I mark up the bad guys will a lot of holes".

That was his approach as he was on a crutch and had to develop a strategy.

If he was sitting some place in the house , there was a 1911 within hand grasp but he was concerned when he was moving around and it was not comfortable any longer to be packing a 1911 on his belt around the house.

Anyhow, I saw the defensive thread and thought my fathers approach would get too buried there and posted this here. Having a pistol always within grasp was the old mans bottom line.

[milprileb]

Actually, I mis stated something. The old man was a WWII, Korea and Viet Nam vet so he was no stranger to situational awareness. Helluva pistol shot.

[Hawker man]

God love him, at that age it shows he was still a thinking man, a man only a fool would cross.

[lbaize3]

Now that's a thinking man! All of us are going to be old at some point in the future and could learn from his example. If there were more people like this fine veteran there would be fewer home invasions and older folks would cease to the targeted by criminals.

[ku4hx]

Too young to have made WW2 and Korea, but Nam is a part of my past. Gotta love a man who thinks for himself and comes up with a personalized solution.

Please thank him for his service when you get the chance. I have my freedoms because of him and his peers. I say "I" because it's very personal to me, but we all have our freedoms because of him and his peers.

[Pertsev]

Better a 380 on your person than a .45 you cannot reach ! Your Dad thought this out and came to a logical conclusion.He sounds like the salt of the Earth.
I used to carry a Colt Commader,but it became too much to tote.Had some surgery and long recuperation,could not even wear a belt ! Switched to a Kel Tec 32 auto for a time.
Now the pistol of choice is a Colt Cobra or S&W Airweight. Aluminum frame,both have bobbed hammers. No +P use,but they work OK for me.
Keep a couple larger bore pieces handy around the house,but the pocket cannons are always with me.

[milprileb]

If the Kel Tec or Ruger LCP type pistols had been around, I am sure
he would go that route. However, at the time, he chose what was on
the market and suited his mobility requirements.

He lived to 93. He would at times head out the back door (we lived on a farm)
and practice with these pistols while on his crutch for keeping a keen edge on
how to use them. The pistols gave me a great deal of peace of mind since he
felt that being elderly, he was a target but he was not going to be a victim.

I only mention this about him as I am now 64 and looking at what weapons make sense
now and in the future for my own strategy of self defense.

Of course, the dogs run the first ring of defense

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
GOT TO ADMIRE HIM.
WE ARE ALL TARGETS NOW, BUT WE DO NOT HAVE TO BE VICTIMS.


"If yea are prepared, ye shall not fear."
:Fire::Fire:

[Charlie Two Tracks]

Very good thinking! There are a lot of dead people from a .22 and I would not want to stand in front of a .380.

[Canuck Bob]

A TRIPLE theater vet. I suspect anything he has to say about tactics I should just listen to and learn.

In my own way cancer and its complications have changed my abilities forever and I have had to adapt. I recently saw a DEA reality program and they disarmed a punk with a 32. Two officers stated clearly they are always concerned about 32s because they enter and bounce around in the body cavity doing a lot of damage. I wouldn't want your Dad pumping holes in me with a 22 short while he made it to his 45!!

Let him know a Canadian says thanks for his service for a free world.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

my only thought is , that while having all those guns is great , and a loaded gun is the only one that is ready when you need it. leaving them all out , if i can't use it i don't want anyone else to have it either that's why the only loaded gun in the house is the one in my holster

i would be thinking a drivers holster or a vest with all my use full stuff in it

i can just see me now a vest with my pistol , extra mag mags for the mini-14 that sits next to my chair , the tv remote so i stop loosing it , my glasses so i stop loosing them, the cordless phone and cell so i don't have to go looking for them , and a few other things like my wallet keys and such perhaps with a nice cardigan sweater over the top.

come to think about it that vest is sounding fairly good right now , if i kept the tv remote in my vest pocket the kids would stop loosing it

glad your dad did well , we lost Grandpa this last july WWII USN , he and most of his friends died starting in april with Hank , then Dick , and he was last about a month later they were all WWII USN he did well right up to the last week we had him over for my sons birthday the evening before he crashed then it was just days to the end

as for preditors of the elderly , grandma got a call from a phone scammer pretending to be her grand son , she is still smart as a whip at 82 , she let him do his hole plea to send money before she told him he wasn't fooling anybody here , the guy actually said well your one of the few then hung up , is the family that messed up in this world that a grandmother doesn't talk to her grandsons often enough to know what they sound like and where they are

[Crawdaddy]

What's the best gun to have in a gun fight? The one you have on you. Sounds like he had it all together. Inspiration ion for all of us.

[mpmarty]

Scammers of the elderly. A lower life form.

[fredj338]

Certainly can't argue w/ the thought. The best place to have a handgun is on your person, the primary point of using a handgun in the first point. I would opt for a light wt Glock or 1911 Comm. They weigh almost nothing & are easy to shoot. In the case of the Glock, lots of rounds on hand as well. Cherish the time you have left with that old war horse. There are so few of the great generation left.

[gray wolf]

God bless him and all he did.
I have nothing to change about his tactics.
They seemed to have worked fine for him, and he still had the forethought
to step out and hone his skills once in a while.
All the guns around make me think of that game we played as kids
you know the one where the music played and you walked around the chairs
You had to find a chair when the music stopped.
Think about it,

[x101airborne]

My grandfather was wounded in the battle to take back the Illutian Islands from the Japs. The only time the US has been invaded by a foreign power, to my knowledge. Even into his 80's that was one man you did not have to fear to respect. And if you did not respect him, that sawed off double 20 full of buckshot at his chair would convince you otherwise.

Come to think of it, the only pistol he owned (my father has it now) was a mauser pistol he got in trade from another service-member. not a gun nut but lived to Teddy Rosevelt's saying..... "I may speak softly... But I carry A BIG STICK!!!!"

[ColColt]

Cherish the time you have left with that old war horse. There are so few of the great generation left.

Amen-My Dad died in '93 at 76 and I use to listen to him talk about his time at the CCC camp and the WPA and how he would have to haul wheel barrels of rocks to fill the cut roads through the mountains of western NC. Times must have been pretty rough back then. He became a foreman in the spooler room at the cotton mill right before WWII and that's probably the only thing that kept him out of the war...helping to keep the machinery running so the gals could make clothes for the boys.

Too many kids today don't want to take the time to listen to old timers anymore and I find that sad indeed.

[fredj338]

Amen-My Dad died in '93 at 76 and I use to listen to him talk about his time at the CCC camp and the WPA and how he would have to haul wheel barrels of rocks to fill the cut roads through the mountains of western NC. Times must have been pretty rough back then. He became a foreman in the spooler room at the cotton mill right before WWII and that's probably the only thing that kept him out of the war...helping to keep the machinery running so the gals could make clothes for the boys.

Too many kids today don't want to take the time to listen to old timers anymore and I find that sad indeed.

My dad passed 4yrs ago @ 85, he certainly didn't get cheated in life. The things he exp & places he had been, truely amazing. He was 11th Airborn in the Phillippenes, helped run the occupation in Germany after the war, Lebenon in 57/58, @ the first nuclear test in Nevada in the slit trenches & survived 20yrs in LE, a great man in my eyes, I miss him every day.

[GLynn41]

my late uncle was WW2, Korea, Vie Nam too gunnie in the marines--bless you dad and all of his kind-my father was a WW2 vet-- that was enough for him

[Sgt Petro]

God bless your Dad. A wise man indeed.

[dverna]

My grandfather was wounded in the battle to take back the Illutian Islands from the Japs. The only time the US has been invaded by a foreign power, to my knowledge. Even into his 80's that was one man you did not have to fear to respect. And if you did not respect him, that sawed off double 20 full of buckshot at his chair would convince you otherwise.

Come to think of it, the only pistol he owned (my father has it now) was a mauser pistol he got in trade from another service-member. not a gun nut but lived to Teddy Rosevelt's saying..... "I may speak softly... But I carry A BIG STICK!!!!"

The Canadians/British burned down the White House during the War of 1812. Both sides figured the other side lost - naturally.

Don

[1Shirt]

God bless people like your Dad. Some would think him paranoid, but I am not one of them.
1Shirt!:coffeecom