Tactically speaking, which is better for home defense, a pistol or a shotgun?

[onearmedswordsman]

My rule-o-thumb:

- if out of city boundaries, a clean (no tactical accs.) shotgun, whatever ga. u and wife or kids can handle.

- if urban, favor a handgun, and possibly a revolver, a Glock, or whatever you or wife can shoot well in a bind.

 

[johnboy]

Shotgun in defensive position in chosen room of house ......

 

[onearmedswordsman]

Shotgun in defensive position in chosen room of house ......

Ideal, but sometimes you just can't stay in a defensive position. Like, what if you wake up in the middle of the night to your child's screams?

 

[johnboy]

Ideal, but sometimes you just can't stay in a defensive position. Like, what if you wake up in the middle of the night to your child's screams?

I knew this would happen.......our kids are out of the house so It's just the 2 of us and I have heard instructors say that if its just you and you can get out a back door etc, better do it and avoid the fight(a jury might agree) If no way out you have your sights on the doorway and you are behind a bed or other barrier.........

 

[onearmedswordsman]

I knew this would happen...

If you knew, then, why not say you are empty nesters in first place?

As I said "sometimes you can't". In your case, you can. I'd do exactly the same; yessir.

 

[Autonomous]

I have a Glock 19 by my bed every night...(Trilijon night sights on it)
I also usually have a long arm as well...Depends on what my finances are. If I have money to shoot the 12 gauge (good ol mossy with the "around the house" 18.5 inch barrel) with buck and slugs regularly I have that out. If I am on the top of a case of 7.62x39 I will use the WASR 10 or Chinese SKS. If I am broke as a joke then I use the G19 and a Ruger 10/22 (Butler Creak steel lips 25 round mag)...
I believe in practicing with the bed side arms as often as possible. This will only help in the operation of said firearm. Muscle memory is important. In an ideal world I would have hit the lotto already and be able to practice with fragmenting 7.26x39 by the case....but if we are playing the ideal world no one would ever break into my house (or any other person for that matter) and try to kill me or a family member....
I do not worry about what could happen to me in terms of legal repercussions. If I am ever presented with a person or persons in my house trying to kill me or a family member I hope that I will only be concerned with stopping the threat. Try not to fill up my head with more doubts (there is limited capacity up there already ) I do however worry about situational awareness and proper target acquisition. I practice those things every day while going about my routine. Great thing about the G19 (as well as many other modern pistols) is that you can dry fire I practice target acquisition in my room every night and around the house when my housemates are gone.
Good luck with your decision and may you never have a need to use your firearms to stop a threat.
-A
BTW this is a great thread filled with good info...nice to see in this type of discussion...

 

[MilitaryMan84]

I would say Shotgun period. With a shotgun unless you are using slugs it wont go threw your walls and hit your neighbors.

 

[hm1ing]

I've always had my Glock 19 nearby, but I'm thinking of adopting my Remington 870 Police instead. I live in a large house but there are quite a few tight corners. If the shotgun is the best choice, which load would you guys suggest? I'm a bit worried about over-penetration. I'd especially like to hear from some of our training experts around here such as Steve and Dan.

How about the old Thunder Five?

 

[injun51]

Springfield XD in 45. ACP Handloads for about 600-800 fps with about a 185 gr bullet. Very little over penitration. Bullet will go in and most likely not come out, provided you're not point blank with target. FNH Police shotgun with, (again) handloads with fletchettes. Load light as they do'nt need much force to do their job and once again not too much of a problem with colateral damage. And last an LMT AR 15. with (once again)---hand loaded 55 grain softpoints. If they come out the barrel inside the house your going to have problems with over penitration. However, with the softpoints you have a better chance of them breaking apart inside of the target. These are my personal choices. Just my 2 cents.

 

[crosse]

i always thought about buildling an gas pistoned AR15 pistol (8.5 or 11") with a suppressor can for HD.

anybody else have this kind of setup?

 

[Frog]

My question is do you keep your Shotgun or Hand gun loaded? Because i have my shells about 5' above my bed on some shelves in the boxes. and my Shotgun about 3 feet away. I'm just curious as to what other people do.

In my mind it is a no-brainer. But then I do not have children living at home.

An un-loaded gun is no more than a hammer or a bat.

For home protection, I'd rather use a gun than a hammer or a bat.

Hope this answers your question.

One other thing you could try, which might help you answer the question for yourself:

Find your gun; Find your box of bullets; Get the bullets out of the box; and then load your gun. All in the dark, half-way through doing the horizontal rock. And see how long it takes to 'ready' your firearm.

Please Note: Horizontal Rock can be substituted with some other adrenalin increasing exercise if 'significant other' objects to drill.