What's the better bump in the night gun? Long gun or Pistol???

[Mudpupp]

I have the house wired to turn on set of emergency lights in each room of the house, with on push of a button. The silenced AR pistol in 300 Blackout, then comes off the bedside mount to begin the walk with me and the dog.

Good luck bad guys!

 

[ArmedUrbanArtist]

I have both an 870 Marine Mag with Inforce WML, stoked with OO Buck and a Sig M400 pistol w/ Surefire M300B stoked with federal fusion locked in shot-locks in our our closet. Wife knows how to run both like she does her sewing machine. There is a gun vault on my night stand that is opened every night when I retire to the room. It has my S&W Shield carry piece and a Surefire in it.

I am not really a shotgun guy anymore. There was a time when you could buy a Remington or Mossberg with a short barrel and full length tube everyday for under $250. At that price point it was a great home defense weapon because ARs were going for $800-$1000. Now you can build an AR for $500-$600, and those same shotguns are $350-$400, it seems silly not to spend a little more and get a far more capable and versatile weapon.

 

[bbbass]

it seems silly not to spend a little more and get a far more capable and versatile weapon.

You're right of course. With the ability to change uppers and stocks, the AR is a good fighting platform from CQB to 200yds (some will say 400, or even 600, but that's just not me... too much wind variation, drop, bad vision, etc).

I have a plan that has different distances and situations. And different weapons for each. Nightstand pistol, combat shotgun loaded with PDX1 and reflex optic that is sighted in dead on at 100 yds. AR pistol for room clearing. AR carbine for out to 200yds. And .308 for sniping. .22lr for survival and sneaky stuff.

 

[Joe13]

I own a Judge and shoot Win PDX loads with it. The first thing to understand is that the Judge comes with two barrel inserts... one rifled for .45LC and the other smoothbore for .410 shotshell.

The next is that PDX is not birdshot. You probably know that it is copper discs in front of copper plated bb shot. When used with the proper insert, the copper plating reduces deformation of the discs and shot, therefore reducing shot spread.

I have grouped my Judge (2" barrel) at 12' and the PDX is entirely within a man sized target at that range. Three devastating hit's from dime-sized discs and 12 hits of bb. The 3" shells have even more.

The final skinny is that IMO it is a bedroom gun and NOT a house clearing gun. I don't plan on leaving the room, but if I have to an AR pistol will be in my hands. Handheld light for the Judge and mounted light on the AR.

Come on over and we'll shoot a watermelon with it... it's a hoot!!!! This is 12ga but the effect is similar.

Well now...

I was under the understanding that they only had rifled barrels so that brings me back to being interested in one of those someday now. Thanks for the info!!!

 

[bbbass]

Yup! I own a Public Defender Judge pistol, and my wife has the long gun Circuit Judge with barrel inserts, 3" revolver action and fiberoptic sights... really nice stuff. We keep the long gun in her office because the distance is longer than I'd want for her little pocket gun. I'd like to purchase another for her side of the bed but... gotta finish a few projects first.

 

[Skier]

I'm curious if anyone has considered using a pistol caliber carbine, such as the Marlin Camp 9 or Camp 45, or the more up-to-date Kel-tec sub 2000 in 9mm or .40 cal? Advantages: much less muzzle flash, much greater accuracy, much greater magazine capacity and far less over penetration than with a center-fired rifle, plus you get a slightly greater punch on the target.

For now, I normally keep my Glock 19 with JHPs in my nightstand for bumps in the night, and though I've thought about having my Sub2k ready for use in such situations, I just never have left it sitting near the bed at the ready (though fairly easy access in the closet).

While my wife has a hand-gun in her nightstand as well, I've told her that unless I'm confident there's a pretty credible threat downstairs (in which case, I might take the Sub2k or AR), I'll probably take the G19 and my flashlight, and that she should grab the Sub2k to cover the stairs and/or back me up, should I run into trouble. She really likes the Sub2k; Very accurate, low recoil, fairly compact, light, and easy to shoot, 30 round mags with 9mm JHPs that hit like a 357Mag in the 16" barrel, plus has a sling and mounted light. If I'm just going to investigate "something that's probably nothing," I'll take the Glock, but if I hear something downstairs that actually concerns me, I'll probably take the Sub2k and have her grab the AR to cover the top of stairs that gates access to the rest of the family.

Regarding light and sound, I have shot a night a little (should do more), and I do occasionally shoot a couple mags of 9mm without hearing protection just to get a feel for just how loud it is so I'm not as surprised by it.

 

[Skier]

not sure that a 9mm penetrates less than a soft tip 223 ... I believe the opposite is true, the 223s start tumbling the moment they hit something.

Ya think? I'd be pretty confident that the shear velocity of a 223 at close range will send even a hollow point in one side and right out the other. I have a hard time believing that at close range there would be many body shots where a 223 wouldn't go all the way through.

 

[etrain16]

From all I have heard, including some previous posts by knowledgeable people, the 9mm is more penetrating. I don't worry about either - although I sport both a CX4 and several 9mm hand guns - for home defense .22 stingers out of a 9" barrel are my choice. Here is an interesting youtube vid on said caliber:

I've seen that video, and others, before. While I certainly agree that .22 can be a potentially effective defensive round, it would never be my first choice if I could use something else. One of my biggest issues is that I don't trust .22lr to be reliable in most guns - I've just seen far too many failures, whether it was a complete failure to fire or in a semi-auto, FTE or double-feed.

That said, for someone who is very recoil sensitive or someone with arthritis, it may be all they can handle. And any gun is better than no gun. I do believe that most bad guys will turn tail and run at either the sight of a gun pointed at them, or the sound of the first shot, so you may not need much more. But for those times where you have a drugged-up moron or maybe some overly macho street thug, you may need something substantially more convincing.

 

[JedB]

Sig229 in 9mm with light on the bottom.
147gr subsonic
Flashlight in off hand.

It's a gun that I feel most comfortable with out of my choices.

No kids, no girlfriend, and the cats are well under any line of fire.

 

[Brutus57]

Surefire x300U-B mated to my 12ga w/trigger hand activation. 9-shot 00buck. Five rounds as fast as I hit the switch.
In my surrounding, the best "in house" extinguisher.
G21 w/surefire x300u-B as back-up

Similar to this

View attachment 288943

You are a BAD man!

Brutus Out

 

[70cyclone]

SR22, 9Shield, FNS9C, FNX45T, Mossberg 12G, and 300 AR pistol all with easy access if needed.
Oh and the wife has a SR22, shield, and bodyguard with easy access as well.
now if the stamps would clear so I can put mufflers on the 45 and 300...

 

[bbbass]

This just came today. Will be installed on my Polymer80 lower and then once I can afford the pistol buffer tube and Shockwave stabilizer (still building the AR for my daughter), it will be on the wall next to the bed.

 

[cowgirlkaboom]

It really depends on where I am. I am going to catch some flack for this but.. If I'm in a hotel room or apartment I generally use a 10/22 .22. Light easy handling and hopefully won't kill a neighbor if I miss. Yes its a liability, but I also keep my glock next to it. I need to pickup one of those 9 shot .22 revolvers at some point or maybe some flangable ammo.

Now when I lived out at the ranch I assumed that in most cases I'd have to end up going outside or shots would likely be in a safe direction due to lack of neighbors. I used an ar-15 or .45-70 lever rifle. Generally it was four legged critters not two. =)

 

[Joe13]

It really depends on where I am. I am going to catch some flack for this but.. If I'm in a hotel room or apartment I generally use a 10/22 .22. Light easy handling and hopefully won't kill a neighbor if I miss. Yes its a liability, but I also keep my glock next to it. I need to pickup one of those 9 shot .22 revolvers at some point or maybe some flangable ammo.

Now when I lived out at the ranch I assumed that in most cases I'd have to end up going outside or shots would likely be in a safe direction due to lack of neighbors. I used an ar-15 or .45-70 lever rifle. Generally it was four legged critters not two. =)

No flak here

One of my carry guns is a .22; just have to train for possible failures but most of us do that with very reliable gun/ammo combos also anyway.

 

[bbbass]

Now when I lived out at the ranch I assumed that in most cases I'd have to end up going outside or shots would likely be in a safe direction due to lack of neighbors. I used an ar-15 or .45-70 lever rifle. Generally it was four legged critters not two. =)

How many did you bag?

 

[boogerhook]

It really depends on where I am. I am going to catch some flack for this but.. If I'm in a hotel room or apartment I generally use a 10/22 .22. Light easy handling and hopefully won't kill a neighbor if I miss. Yes its a liability, but I also keep my glock next to it. I need to pickup one of those 9 shot .22 revolvers at some point or maybe some flangable ammo.

Now when I lived out at the ranch I assumed that in most cases I'd have to end up going outside or shots would likely be in a safe direction due to lack of neighbors. I used an ar-15 or .45-70 lever rifle. Generally it was four legged critters not two. =)

No flak here either. For comfort I carry a 43C. My HD gun is a .22 as well. There is an interesting article and an interesting ballistic gel test on youtube on the subject (moved from a previous post). My backups are larger cals as well.

http://graywolfsurvival.com/1869/why-22-best-home-defense-weapon/

 

[Skier]

No flak here either. For comfort I carry a 43C. My HD gun is a .22 as well. There is an interesting article and an interesting ballistic gel test on youtube on the subject (moved from a previous post). My backups are larger cals as well.

http://graywolfsurvival.com/1869/why-22-best-home-defense-weapon/

I just watched that video the other day, which also lead me to look at another video or two that compared the Stingers to Mini-mags to Velocitors, and though I don't CC a 22 (usually a 9mm, or possibly 380), I came out feeling like I would probably opt for the Velocitors if I did. I'd not heard of Velocitors until recently when I saw them at Bi-Mart, so I picked up a couple boxes to play with. Might be worth looking up those videos and other info if you carry a 22.

 

[boogerhook]

I just watched that video the other day, which also lead me to look at another video or two that compared the Stingers to Mini-mags to Velocitors, and though I don't CC a 22 (usually a 9mm, or possibly 380), I came out feeling like I would probably opt for the Velocitors if I did. I'd not heard of Velocitors until recently when I saw them at Bi-Mart, so I picked up a couple boxes to play with. Might be worth looking up those videos and other info if you carry a 22.

The performance profile is not that different from a stinger (http://www.ballisticsbytheinch.com/2011graphs+/22ME.html) and they are hard to find in my neck of the woods. Main reason I don't use them is that the brass is a little softer than the stinger, there is enough deformation after the hammer falls to get the wheel of the 43C stuck. Same with Mini-Mags. The tolerances are just too tight on that revolver.

 

[nammac]

This might work for things that go bump in the night... New Pocket/BUG... Darn thing followed me home from the store... I just had to adopt it... Could see it being left out in the cold and the rain...

 

[Ura-Ki]

One could also point out the shear number of people AND critters that have met there end because of the little .22! The face is, any hit from any bullet is going to cause some damage! It doesn't even have to kill to be effective at stopping some one! Still not MY ideal, but I have an Old Colt Woodsman Target and an old HighStandard HD that both feed every thing well and have no problems as long as you feed them well! For you guys wondering about noise and flash, just about every thing that goes bang is going to cause temp hearing loss and is going to have some flash to it! When you are amped up on adrenaline and fear, your body sort of goes into lock down and you don't really notice these things!