JianxiDad on October 5, 2007 at 7:46 AM

My first question would be; How familiar with firearms are you?

Not in the technical sense (you obviously know your shotguns!) but in the practical sense? Are you a shooter? Were you raised with guns? In short, do you have previous experience with the arms you’re considering?

Next, are you going to be the only user? Are you married? If so, will your spouse be using it if you’re not home when the balloon goes up? Can she handle the weapon you have in mind?

Then, where do you live? Not specifically, of course, but are you a city dweller or in the countryside? How far away are you anticipating having to engage a target? Will it be primarily indoors or possibly outdoors? If the latter, will you be mainly concerned with what Col. Cooper referred to as “goblins”, or are four-footed interlopers a potential problem? If so, how big might they be? (And are some of them, like bears or cougars, a nominally protected species?)

As a general rule, I tend to recommend that those unfamiliar with firearms begin with a .22 rifle or pistol, and work up. A 12-gauge shotgun is possibly the most effective close-quarters weapon around, next to a flamethrower (ask any Marine), but the small-statured or recoil-sensitive are probably better served with the lighter-recoiling but still effective 20-gauge. Either one can be loaded with buckshot, slugs, or small shot (No. 6 or 7), as the need arises.

Inside the house, a good double-action revolver in .357 Magnum is probably more practical than the shotgun, in that there’s less length out front for an intruder to try to grab. (A wrestling match with a housebreaker is emphatically not funny.) While the .357 is “famed” for blast, flash and recoil, I have found that most motivated people can be taught to hit with it consistently with less training than most other centerfire calibers. For those who just can’t handle the .357 loads, any .357 can also chamber and fire .38 Special, which is still a serious defensive caliber with the right loads.

Automatics in 9mm, .40, and .45 are good choices as well (my personal sidearm is a 9mm P-35 High Power), but they do require more concentrated and focused training. The DA revolver is as near to an “instinctive-use” defensive arm as has yet been devised.

If local regulations prohibit pistols, but the shotgun is a bit too much in the recoil department, don’t overlook the various lever-action carbines in pistol calibers like .357, .44 Magnum, or even the old .45 Colt, .44-40, or .38-40. They may have been around for a century or more, but they are both effective and relatively easy to handle. (As well as not possessing looks that alarm hoplophobic officials.)

And going back to the urban/rural question, any isolated homestead should have a centerfire rifle capable of accurate aimed fire out to 300 yards. (A decent, telescopic-sighted “deer rifle” is all you really need for that.)

For the record, yes, I used to be a police firearms instructor. A long time ago.

(Sorry for the length of this post, but this question could not be answered in a short or easy way.)

cheers

eon

eon on October 5, 2007 at 9:15 AM

Frangible or pre-fragmented rounds (like Glaser or Magsafe) would also be my choice for indoor defense precisely because they won’t overpenetrate as much as any sort of conventional projectile. they also have generally good characteristics from a wound-ballistics standpoint. I’ve never fired them, or anything else, at a person, but I’ve “killed” a lot of blocks of ballistic gelatin in testing various ammunition going back thirty years, and the Glaser/Magsafe-type loads generally outperform the conventional expanding-type bullets (hollowpoints, etc.) in the “making large, nasty holes” department.

My personal problem with frangibles is that, depending on the exact shape and size of the “bullet profile” (external shape of the projectile) they may or may not feed reliably in any sort of self-loading arm. My old trick with the Glaser in a 9mm or .45 was to have one in the chamber in Condition One carry (cocked-and-locked), backed up by a magazine of conventional hollowpoints. But I don’t really like Condition One for a “house gun”, especially with children in the home.

Of course, in a double-action revolver, the shape of the bullet doesn’t matter. And a 5-or-6-shot cylinder of .357 or even .38 frangible loads is virtually guaranteed to convince a would-be “home invader” of the folly of his enterprise.

cheers

eon

eon on October 5, 2007 at 6:31 PM