Home defense handgun?

[fredj338]

Would you want to be shot with a shotgun? Don't think so if one shot won't do it the other one will! Looks like a waste of good ribs to me. No, but if I ever have to face BG w/ a SG, I hope he loads his w/ birdshot. Then I know I win that fight beyond 5 step w/ a brief visit to the ER for bandaids & antiseptic after.

Well, you are welcome to your opinion, at least be informed. $5 for the ribs was worth the test to prove to me birdshot is only marginal for SD/HD unless you like shooting them off the muzzle end. Pics don't lie, the birdshot does exactly what anyone that hunts w/ it knows it will FROM A RIOT/CYL CHOKE. While I do not want to be shot by anything, I hope if I have to face a SG armed attacker, he is foolish enough to use birdshot. I then know I win that fight at hallway distance..

[vanilla_gorilla]

Would you want to be shot with a shotgun? Don't think so if one shot won't do it the other one will! Looks like a waste of good ribs to me.

I don't want to be shot by a BB gun, either. That doesn't make a BB gun an adequate home defense weapon.

This one has been doing night (day time, since I work nights) duty for me most of the time.



When it's actually dark outside, I usually switch to something with a mounted light.

[dogbert41]

30 rounds of 50 gr Vmax bullets behind 26 gr TAC.

[jim4065]

35 years ago I was shot (in the back) by a 12 gauge at 30 feet while wearing a light cotton jacket. Weighed about 200 at the time. None of the #4 pellets (not buck) penetrated far enough to be life threatening. I still carry a couple of dozen in my back without any great inconvenience.

My ex-wifes "boyfriend" was shot by another of his "girlfriends". The #6 shot from a 12 gauge hit his ribs and tore a "rat hole" through his lung before entering his heart. He turned and ran 50 yards back into the woods before dieing. This was at a range of about 10 feet.

You have to break 'em down - I'll stick with buckshot or bullets.

[fredj338]

35 years ago I was shot (in the back) by a 12 gauge at 30 feet while wearing a light cotton jacket. Weighed about 200 at the time. None of the #4 pellets (not buck) penetrated far enough to be life threatening. I still carry a couple of dozen in my back without any great inconvenience.

My ex-wifes "boyfriend" was shot by another of his "girlfriends". The #6 shot from a 12 gauge hit his ribs and tore a "rat hole" through his lung before entering his heart. He turned and ran 50 yards back into the woods before dieing. This was at a range of about 10 feet.

You have to break 'em down - I'll stick with buckshot or bullets.

Glad you survived that & thanks for proving my point. Had you been wearing a leather jacket, you might not even have those pellets in you. Birdshot is for those that have rarley killed anything bigger than, well a bird. If your point of going armed is to survive an attack, then why limit your chances by using the worst ammo choice? #4 buck will slow down enough after going through drywall to not cause a life threatening injury in most cases, yet is does penetrate enough in tissue to insure vitals are hit & that is the entire point isn't it?

[felix]

#4 Buck has been the standard for years. So, also the baseball bat. I actually used one once on something trying to enter a window. It works, and they don't bring their friends back for retribution, that is, if you DON'T call the cops. ... felix

[swallytrip]

4" Ruger GP100 and 135 grain Gold Dot short barrel factory ammo.

Same here except for some 125 grain hydrashock .38 +P+
And the glock 19 next to it stuffed with 16 Aguia IQ's, if anyone remembers what IQ's are

[swallytrip]

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.

Not to mention the states that will basically hang you for defending yourself with your own handloads

[sundog]

ya know, I'm getting really freakin' pizzed at this idear that using your own handloads to defend yourself will land you in prison. Talk about an internet fantasy. Who is that guy that started this c#$p? Moassayood Ayyooob and some name like that? I have YET to see anything that supports this crazy notion.

[Centaur 1]

My bedroom handgun is a S&W model19 .357 Mag, but no cast bullets for home defense though. At the range it does shoot tl-158-swc really well with 3.6 grains of Bullseye. In all reality if something bad happened, I'd hand the revolver to my wife and use my 870 12 gauge that I keep full of buckshot.

[Gohon]

Brian Pearce has a article in the latest Handloader edition about Handloads and Self-Defense where he also states, of course in politer terms, the wives tale about not using handloads for defense is a bunch of BS. Every time I ask someone to show me documentation of such a incident they never can. Personally I put that notion along with a shotgun loaded with bird shot as a great defense and the tooth fairy in the same category.

I think I might also add to that the notion that racking the slide on a shotgun scares the beejeebers out of the bad guy. For one thing most pot heads never heard that sound and secondly it just gave your position away to the bad guy.

Only reason I don't choose handloads for personal defense is reliability. I trust my handloads but I trust factory loads even more for self defense though I would not hesitate to use them if needed..

[beaker]

Used to have a sledge hammer, graduated to a baseball bat, then it's a 45 auto. Figured at 6'3 I can hit anything in my bedroom with that bat. Unless they're armored I'm going to hear crunching too. Got a lot of guns but dropping a mag into a 45 is pretty damn easy and quick when your adrenalin is going. Want something easy to use and big enough to wrap my paws around, plus a stiff trigger as well.

[Thumbcocker]

"He smartened right up when the action on the 870 got worked--from meth-cranked trailer trash to Rhodes Scholar in an elapsed 2.4 seconds. A highly educational device, on many levels--one that instills wisdom and teaches respect like few other mechanisms."

A LEO friend once explaned that to me as "EVERYBODY speaks shotgun."

[82nd airborne]

Be VERY careful. Do not load a defense weapon with hand loads. it is very hard to get the case ruled as self defense in the court room if you use hand loads. shotguns are good. i use a mossberg 500 with an improved cylinder choke, #4 turkey loads. I have seen men trained to use handguns miss at rediculously close ranges when the stress level was at its max.

[jim4065]

Why crank the action? Just shoot the idiot. I don't understand warnings. If you really think his life is worth saving, then I suppose you could tell him to back away - maybe it sounds good in court, anyway. I never have thought that human life was particularly "precious". What have we got - 5 Billion people on this world? Selective skimming of the gene pool ain't gonna hurt a thing.

Edit: And please don't tell me that means I'm not a Christian. We're not authorized to judge.

[XWrench3]

my favorite is the old tried and true 45acp, but i do not use cast boolits in it for home/personal defense. i use premium jacketed hollow points, either remington golden sabres, hornady xtp's, or winchester silvvertips. i want to be reasonably sure they open up inside a person, to help prevent over penatration. transfering energy, knocking a person off their feet, hydraulic shock, and/or stopping the treat has absoloutly NOTHING to do with my choice!

[Gohon]

Be VERY careful. Do not load a defense weapon with hand loads. it is very hard to get the case ruled as self defense in the court room if you use hand loads.

Prove it.............you can't. That's the whole point. That notion is just a wives tale. There are no known court cases supporting such a thing but if you can show a link to such a case I'll certainly eat crow. A friend of a friend to your cousin doesn't count. As Pearce points out, if that were a problem then a lawyer would also say because you used a 44 magnum instead of a 22 rimfire then you must have intended to do excessive bodily harm. It's simply absurd.

[felix]

You'se guys are soooo tough! I've known two folks who have relevant stories
appropriate to tell here.

One was my next door neighbor in Houston. He was a very private person,
typically not saying a word when we met during a pass-by, drive-by. Often
he would not even provide a gesture to Pat (my wife) and/or me. His wife came
over at least three/four times a week to trade stuff like prepared food,
recipies, or just plain conversation. I brought up the idea about the
stand-offishness one time, and she indicated his "attitude" adjustment happened
after coming home from VietNam and that it was not personal to us in the least.
Knowing this, I started taking the initiative to meet him on his terms whenever
he mowed the lawn, repaired the house, etc. He very gradually opened up by
stating he was the mini-gun operator on a copter. He began to love the "job"
so much that it became an obsession in that he would order the pilots to take
obsene chances in getting him the view he "needed". He was involved in several
crashes that his survivors blamed his antics as the cause. Most all of his
associates during those eight (8) years got purple hearts, including himself.
He could care less; he loved his job so much and nobody but nobody was going to
take it away from him. Keep in mind the ground bosses enjoyed this show because
nobody around (ground troops) was taking the initiative at that time to do their
"job" with any enthusiasm whatsoever. One time, across the street, he was
digging out a willow tree by hand...no power tools in sight. I suggested I
could call a friend who had a personal backhoe that was big enough so he could
have the tree out by the end of the day, plus having it all chopped up by
enlisting neighbors using their chainsaws. He began CRYING and went into the
house. No excuse me-s, no nothin', just gone without a trace. His wife came
over about an hour later and explained the truth about the termoil within. He
was simple doing retribution for all the termoil and death he caused. There is
no need to repeat the statistics, but I can tell you here that it is beyond
comprehension. As a hint, can you spell Hitler's gas chambers?

The next guy's experience will be discussed later, should that be necessary to
get further the "drift" of what I am suggesting. ... felix

[tuckerdog]

Ditch the handgun and get a 12 ga shotgun. Pump, autoloader,or side by side. Load the thing with 6,7 or 8 shot, that way you won't penatrate your walls and your nieghbors walls, He'll thank you for that. Trust me bird shot at 10 to 12 feet will be all you ever need.

agree 100% I usually put inexpensive whatever is on sale in a mossberg 500 and figure at room distance its still basicly a slug (smooth bore slug bbl)

[archmaker]

I want a weapon big enough to do the job, and one I can operate without having to think about it. Right now I am more sure of myself with a SBH in 44Mag, working with the 1911 right now, and getting close where I can use it without thinking. (Practice and IDPA matches)

But the SBH, I have shot for decades in IHMSA, Bowling Pin Matches, and just plinking. Really if you think about it I have been shooting that style since I played on a ranch as a kid with a cap gun.

Not an expert, but when you point a gun at a person you want to know that you have something in your hand (no 12 oz 22LR), and that everything else you know will leave you. I say one thing to myself when shooting under stress "Front sight!!". Under stress it is surprising how dumb you can become.