Home defense handgun?

[Maximilian225]

I personally look at the 45 auto for self defense and with that I have a 45 ACP Springfield XD. As for a bullet if it were to be cast then I would either use a bullet with a large meplat such as the Lee 200 grain round nose flat point or the Lyman Devastator 185g hollow point.

+1, Exact same setup
This gun will not feed semi-wadcutters though. The extracted rounds rim hangs on the next round in the magazines case mouth. It reguires a HP, RN, or RNF profile. The Mihec 452-200 with the 5 sided HP pin is another good choice in this caliber.

-Max

[warf73]

40s&w is on the night stand for the wife, she practices with it alot and is a very good shot just hope she never has to use it.

[nouseforaname1246]

i got a XDM in .40 s&w sittin on the night stand with a 870 full of #4 buck on the side of the bed.

[Hitman]

Glock 22 .40S&W by the bed loaded with Hornady critical defense.
Glock 19 9mm loaded with Cor-Bon Powr' Ball in wifes office.
Mossberg 500 Tactical in the basement loaded with 2 bean bags, 1 bird shot, 3 00 buck and 1 slug, with a 5 slot side saddle with 1 of each and and a breeching round.
870 Tactical loaded the same in the garage.

Practice till perfect with cast bullets.

[dangerranger]

Im shure my home situation is very differant than most. but my go to home defender is a 22 rifle. I mostly have to defend from skunks , snakes, and stray dogs.[ the four leggid kind]. to get to my house their are gates then a long driveway, another gate, and the dogs, all before you get to our door. we have plenty of warning before anyone gets here. DR

[lwknight]

I keep a P-95 9mm in the nitestand with 124 grain golden sabers because I can't fine some 147 grain gold dots or HSTs
BTW Black Talons are old technology but still get the job done.

With 100s of thousands of dollars research being done to build the most effective man stopper bullets , it seems backward to want to use cast boolits in SD or HD siruations.

I have worked up a great 44mag boolit and load to down a large animal like a 600 pound bore hog but, doubt that it would be any more effective as a man stopper than a 357 mag with some HSTs or Gold Dots or a 9mm +P+ load with proper bullets.

[missionary5155]

Good morning
Here in Peru I have several 38 or 357 revolvers placed about the house to buy enough time to get to the REAL HOME DEFENSE items... a short barreled Mossberg 12 guage or the 1892 44-40 Winny. The revolvers all carry a load of 4 grains Unique with 162 gr SWC from a Lyman 357446 mold. The Mossburg is loaded with #4 shot and the Winny with a 220 grain from a Saeco mold #443 with 9 grains Unique.
When up NORTH there in the U.S. of A. there is a 38 revolver close to my wife and other revolvers in 41 mag loaded to 41 Special power dispersed about the house. The 38 holds 4 grains Unique with 170 grainers from a Lyman 358429 mold. The 41´s are loaded with 7.5 grains Unique with a 220 swc from a Lee mold. Again these are for time to get to semi-auto rifles that are close by.

[jdgabbard]

This again....

But seriously. You're going to have you're die hard 45 guys that are going to tell you there is no substitute for caliber. This is the say thing as the car guys used to say. Remember that old saying "There is no replacement for displacement" ??? Yeah, they pretty much stopped saying that when they started seeing the twin turbo rice burners running 8s in the quarter mile....

As mentioned before. The BEST one is one that you'll KEEP on you. A very smart man once told me that if its not in arms reach it doesn't matter what you have. Dependent on mood, and attire, I'll carry anything from a USP 40 to a .380 Bersa. Tho, I mostly carry a J-Frame .38spl. Which in my opinion is one of the best you can choose. Its small, ballistics are (I don't care what you say) comparable to the 9mm, and its filled more body bags then probably any other caliber. A 125g HP at 1100fps is going to do the job, and a 158g SWC at 950fps will do so too.

Bottom like, make sure whatever you get is reliable, and handy. Otherwise it doesn't matter how many rounds you have in your Wonder-9, Super 40 or 1911...

But if you want the perfect caliber for the night stand, just do what I do. Get you a trusty .357 Smith. It sings too! "Anything you can do I can do better..."

[WHITETAIL]

For the house gun we have a SP101 in 357.
I load it with Winchester 38special +P
130gr. STX.
I have shot these at wet news print at
15 feet. and they will almost turn in side out!

[ebg3]

Saw a show where the hosts shot simulated sheet rock walls with various guns to see what kind of penetration they got. Birdshot loads in a shotgun looked really good for not going through multiple walls but still delivering a heck of a load on target. If you hit a bad guy with a load of # 8's at a room distance, he will have a BAD day. The buck shot loads went through several "walls" and could present a problem for other family members in the house if you had to shoot. As for the handguns, it seems the 9mm penetrated more "walls" than the 45 they tested. All that said, I keep a 4" M29 beside my bed with full power 240gr jhps. I guess I'll get a lot of penetration! The way I see it, something is better than nothing.
EG

[Village Idiot]

For concealed carry I use either a Ruger Security Six with 158 gr JHP or S&W M&P compact 9 with 125 gr JHP. Wife carries S&W 38 with +P 125 gr JHP.
For home defense - 1st line are the 2 pictured in the avatar, male and female boxers. They are the wife’s protectors. She says as soon as I leave their attitude changes to a much more protective mode.
We don't have any kids, just her and I in the house. On my side of the bed is a 12 Ga. Mossberg 500 pump with 00 buck, and the possibility of any of the following. Ruger security six 2 3/4 or 4", GP100 6", Redhawk 44mag 5", S&W 9mm, Ruger 9mm P85, Springfield 1911, Glock 21 45ACP. Wife’s side has a 20 Ga. Rem 870 pump with #2 buck and the possibility of any 38 or 357 D/A revolvers with the 125 gr +p.
Wife has been taught to never confront anyone, the bedroom is her sanctuary. Bedroom set up so her side of the bed is the furthest from the door. Once on her side of the bed anyone entering has to navigate around or over the bed to get to her. At hand she has at least one if not more firearms and a phone set up with auto dial for 911. She's also been taught to fire at center of mass and stop when the threat has ended. If they are in your bedroom and facing you they are a threat. If they are down or retreating the threat is over.
I believe any of the above firearms are good for personal defense. Whatever you are comfortable with that function without issue is better than throwing a lamp. It is more important you are completely intimate with the firearm and shooting it is second nature. I have shot all the above so much that grabbing the grip in the dark I know what gun it is. That is also why the wife sticks with the D/A revolvers, they all function the same. Once you are settled on the firearms of choice, have a plan. If you have a situation what would you do, how would you handle it? Waking up out of a sound sleep is not the time to be trying to figure out what to do.
V.I.

[philthephlier]

Most popular so far by far. Very Interesting. Keep it coming. I think this a valuable thread for many others like me who haven't settled completely. I have been keeping a NM Blackhawk in 45 Colt close by but the single action is not a fast second shot piece, not a fast first shot piece either. Lot of responders using autos. I have a Walther P1 9MM but think like many others that the power is a bit anemic but I don't have a closed mind about it yet.

A reliable one has a great many advantages. A double action model with one in the chamber? Is that how most of you keep it ready?

[Village Idiot]

Most, if not all, modern name brand D/A revolvers have either a hammer block or transfer bar that do not allow the hammer to contact the firing pin without the trigger bring pulled. Most have very light firing pins that will not generate enough impact to set the round off even when dropped on the muzzle from normal heights on a hard surface. SAAMI has a required drop tests that production guns must pass during the design stage. I carry one under the hammer with minimal concern. However, that being said, the only certain thing in life is nothing is certain. For complete confidence carry with the chamber under the hammer empty.
V.I.

[Shiloh]

40s&w is on the night stand for the wife, she practices with it alot and is a very good shot just hope she never has to use it.

So do I.

Practice, familiarity and self confidence is important. It would be great if there were no scumbags, but that never has been nor will ever be the case.

Shiloh

[indymadcaster]

well baby UZI eagle in 9mm with nightsights and 124 gr xtp shoots in to 1.5 in @25 yrds by bed when we are home sks with federal 125 gr softpoints match AR scoped with a trijicon and most of the family can hit 8 inch gong @ 300 yards and a 500 mossberg first 2 rounds #4 shot next 2 are #4 buck and last 2 are slugs with ghost ring sights got couple different 38/357 stashed around with 148 hollowbased pure lead cast wadcutters loaded inverted over max charge of unique and everyone in the house has qualified with all and we have a hand sign language between us and have practiced responding to different intruder/home invasion so I BET we give WAY better than we get

[wiljen]

I was taught that handguns are used to fight your way to a better arm. If given the option, a Long gun (either carbine or shotgun) is a much better choice than any handgun. Since you asked about a home gun, not a carry gun that limits you to handguns, I'd recommend either a carbine or shotgun. Practice with either, not only shooting, but moving through your home so you know what corners give problems etc.., There is no point in limiting yourself to a less capable device when you have better options. I think even the die hard 45 guys will agree that a 12ga with buckshot, or a 7.62x39 carbine with its longer sight radius and 20 round mags beats a 1911 at reasonable in home ranges everytime. Even a pistol caliber carbine is going to add 300 - 400 fps over the average pistol and extend the sight radius making it far easier to shoot well which is after all the first rule of shooting. *Ya gots to hit what you aims at*

[timkelley]

I'm with RobS.

[sundog]

Ah, close quarters combat handgun. Mine is a well used 1911 or Beretta Cougar, both in 45 acp. I am comfortable with either. For this use feed and function is more important than accuracy, in fact after cleaning and reassembly I fire a mag full and leave it in that condition. I know it works. Even in low light conditions with illuminated sights, all the illumination does is tell you where the sights are. Learning point and shoot can be quite helpful (still need to verify your target). My carry piece is the only loaded firearm in the house during condition green. I can easily get others and ammo if need be if for some reason things should prompt condition yellow at which point a trusted pump shotgun is standing by. People who live in condition yellow seriously need to seek a life style change.

[Char-Gar]

My home defense weapon is a 12 ga. shotgun. Either an old Ithica Police Special pump or a 20" bbl. double. There is always a handgun or two and they are some kind of 45. If a cast bullet is used it is a Keith type SWC.

If I can get to it, the shotgun will see action first. The pistol is so I can fight my way to the scattergun.

[Kraschenbirn]

3" S&W M24 loaded with 200 gr. Speer Gold Dots in the nightstand and a short-barreled Rem. 870 (#2 "Express" loads) behind the bookcase in my office/den right around the corner.

Shoot mostly 246 gr Lee RNs loaded to duplicate factory .44 Spl for practice/plinking.

Bill