what should one do? swat 'em dead or.what?.

[Knarley]

Am lookin for a house gun. Lookin' at a Kimber .45 ACP with laser and a tactical light. The other option is a 12ga Model 94 with buck shot.
Any other ideas?
Knarley

[Lloyd Smale]

i know ive got the bug for a .50 Beowulf ar

[dubber123]

i know ive got the bug for a .50 beowolf ar

Me too Lloyd, betcha beat me to it.

[shooting on a shoestring]

I'd offer my 2 cents worth but I'm tried right now. So my 1 cents worth is:

If you live in an apartment building or where there's a high density of people very near, use a shotgun, less likely to kill the innocent (which you will not be should you hit one) due to less penetration via buck or bird shot.

Otherwise, I'd go with a handgun. One you can operate in the dark, startled awake from a deep sleep, no bells and whistles, or anything that needs a thought to operate, you'll need all available thoughts to decide shoot or no shoot in that situation. Leave a light on in your living room or kitchen. That way you'll be able to see the bad guy good enough to recognize he's not a good guy, and give you visiblity to briefly use the sights, while you will be in the shadows and can't be seen until your muzzle flash, then it shouldn't matter.

Use a .45 1911 if you're good at it, use a revolver if you're not, a Glock if you must.

That's my thoughts.

[Ricochet]

I've got my choice between the .45, 12 gauge riot gun with buckshot, or Mini 14, all pretty handy.

[leftiye]

Ricochet, I guess great minds think alike. Plus a few more in other places (nah, I'm not paranoid!). Guess that's what 20 years working in a prison does to ya (or, what happens when you really understand the bad guys)

[218bee]

My .02 would be a .38 revolver. Don't need to load real hot, and would probably put 125gr hollowpoints in it. I guess factory loads in case you actually had to kill some criminal with it you would look like less of a gun nut than using "specially concocted handloads".

[Geraldo]

When I was with SWAT we were obviously concerned with overpenetration. There was work done at the time which showed that .223 JHP was less likely to overpentrate than handgun rounds or buckshot. The high velocity and fragile bullets tended to break apart quicker in building materials while working very well on opponents. That said, firing an unsuppressed .223 indoors without hearing protection is not fun.

If you feel good about 8-9 rounds of .45, get the Kimber. If you think you might need more ammo, get a 9mm. Make sure either works with the ammo you want to use, and make sure it works with that ammo with the light mounted. The Kimber shouldn't be a problem, but there have been issues with polymer framed pistol and mounted lights. If you get the CTC laser grips, try some night fire, you will be very pleasantly surprised.

[wonderwolf]

I keep a 12ga shooty close by and out of sight loaded with #1 buck one thing every bad guy understands is that slide working back and forth. And time to take out the trash

[shooting on a shoestring]

I don't put any stock in the bad guys being scared of a racking shot gun. That would scare a rational person, but a rational person would not be in my house uninvited. An irrational person should be expected to exhibit an irrational response to that noise, e.g. ignore it or attack it.

In my opinion, using noise as a defense, or hoping its a defense is bad business. An intruder your house should hear only a final boom.

[Knarley]

Is there anything that can be done to improve the sights on a S&W Sigma? I have one in S&W .40 But in the dark the sights suck, and there doesn't seem to be anyway to mount anything, heck they don't even make a laser for the spring loaded do-hickie under the barrel. My Model 29 in .44mag's sights are worthless in the dark also, wonder if I should tape a flashlight to the 12 and have at it. It's a lever action with no choke, 18.5" bbl.
Knarley

Was at the S&W web site, they have Trijicon night sights for the S&W 40 @ $173.00 + S&H. Called my favorite gun shop, got them ordered for a tad less minus the S&H.
Knarley

[Ricochet]

I'm with Shoestring. My Mossy 500 has 8 3" Remington 00 loads in it (yep, it holds just as many 3" as 2 3/4"), and is "cocked and locked" just like the .45 and Mini-14. Silently slipping off the safety is all I've got to do to make it ready to go. Oh yeah, I left out the .44 Special Bulldog.

[leftiye]

Rick, me too old .44 Bulldog. Me too on extended 12 ga. magazine. But , my chamber is empty, I don't care if he hears it or not when I chamber a round, I don't depend upon it scaring anybody, but it might not be wise to ignore it or attack it! They (the slime balls) are only minimally rational, but nobody cares. They're about like barbarians mentally (though not so impressive), so do what you have to.

[9.3X62AL]

Ricochet--

The Gauge, 45 ACP, and Mini-14. Sounds like my house.

I'm not firm on either Condition 1 or Condition 4 for the 870. They were carried in Condition 4 by policy on my old agency, and on 2 occasions I saw suspects involuntarily urinate when an 870 got racked behind them on high risk contacts. More recently, I had a nerfball mistakenly believe his old road dog/meth connect was still living at my new address, and when he rushed toward and through the front yard gate I operated the slide on The Gauge. He stopped abruptly, and said, "Sir, please don't shoot." I didn't--he left post haste--and no further issues.

I would vote Condition 4 in Condition Yellow, Condition 1 as Condition Orange became present.

[Ricochet]

I certainly wouldn't attack someone who just racked a pump. But I figure the need for a gun in the house is to use it and use it fast when called for, not to hold someone at bay.

[leftiye]

I once missed a rackjabbit (not the only time it has happened unfortunately) with my "gauge" - Rem 870 3" goose gun (I'm just daring you to call me on that!). Rabbit got about let's say 10 yards before the follow up wasted him, and he was in a hurry. Any guess how long that was? Probly way less than 1/2 second.

[carpetman]

Before you go believing that shot---bird shot or whatever wont penetrate far--do a little testing. Interior walls usually dont consist of much more than sheetrock or something similar. You'll penetrate several walls. Oh the original post was looking for a house gun. For mobile homes you can get by with the smaller cals but for brick you need a magnum.

[billyb]

is what you get with buckshot. watched a video a few days back showing a shooting test on sheet rock walls and how many layers of sheet rock ,45acp ,223,357,buck. and the buck went threw several walls. think other family members in bed rooms. or paartment houses. the one that stopped with the least penetration was bird shot. a single dweling no one else inthe house but your spouse and the bad guy no close neighbors use what you have close by .a house full of family go with the bird shot Bill

[Ricochet]

A Remington .44 Special 246 grain factory load I once tested on an abandoned old farmhouse/country store went through it from one end to the other, including 4 interior walls of lath and plaster and wooden clapboard siding on each side. Pretty much anything you can shoot will shoot through interior walls, including birdshot. And birdshot's not a reliable stopper once you get much past muzzle contact range. It can make a hole you can put your hand all the way through, or just a stinging spray.

[9.3X62AL]

I certainly wouldn't attack someone who just racked a pump. But I figure the need for a gun in the house is to use it and use it fast when called for, not to hold someone at bay.

No argument with that assertion. I'm glad the fool stopped--I have no wish to hurt anyone, and don't want them hurting me or my loved ones. I don't want to foreclose any reasonable options, either. No two situations are EVER "alike", so setting hard/fast rules can be counter-productive.

Penetration of various ballistic ejecta is only slightly predictable--I would call them "tendencies", and even that may be too strong a descriptor. The best we can do is generalize--while internal ballistics and external ballistics are hard science, terminal ballistics is at best a dimly understood art form--whether the medium struck is animated or structural. One should not try to over-think factors that are largely outside our control, and concentrate on target acquisition/accurate delivery--and pray fervently that said preparations need never be deployed.