My bedside gun is a Charles Daily…Honcho 20 ga…at 74 my aim ain’t so good anymore
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Damn fun little rifle, I waited about three years to find the one I wanted.
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I looked at the options and made choices most don’t consider. Long guns are easier to shoot accurately.
My house is alarmed. I have a G17 with a light and laser in my night stand and an 18.5" 410 pump shotgun with a light in the closet. Shotguns have to be aimed! I pattern my shotguns and know how small the pattern is at close range and it is small. It is loaded with 9 pellet #4 buckshot. The shells in the saddle are 4 pellet 000 buck.
How many have ever fired a firearm in a room without ear protection? Not something you want to repeat. A 12 gauge shotgun will cause permanent hearing damage. The AR is not far behind. The 410 is not as loud, lighter and faster to handle. Smaller or weaker shooters can handle it. I have heavier weapons in the safe in case there is a riot.
My wife is restricted to 22lr as it is what she can handle. She has a G44 with light and laser in her nightstand. Her long gun is a S&W 15-22 which she is very good with. Isn’t bad with the pistol either. She practices a couple times a month with at least a couple hundred rounds a session.
I am becoming more impressed with the handling speed of the 22lr. Unless you are extremely skilled you can get more aimed rounds on target faster and more accurately. I would not feel poorly armed with a 22lr. Also you can afford to practice with it.
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I have a 10-22 set up for my wife also, 25rnd mag with CCI Stingers or CCI Velocitor. 
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I would say that even if you are extremely skilled you will still be faster with a .22 than you can be with a heavier caliber. .22 has its limitations but it is likely better for those who can’t confidently handle a heavier caliber and a heck of a lot better than nothing.
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I have not fired anything indoors without hearing protection. I would rank them differently though. 12 gauge as least painful for hearing. Then 410 and ar as the worst. This order also coincides with the burn rate of the gunpowder typically used in each one. 12 gauge uses some of the fastest powder available and has a long large bore so that the pressure is lower at the muzzle. 410 uses “magnum pistol powder” and has a smaller bore. The ar uses even slower rifle powder and is a bottle neck cartridge operating at about five times the chamber pressure as the 12 gauge with the smallest bore volume and least pressure drop.
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A 410 = 150db
A12 gauge = 156db
The decibel scale is logarithmic not linear. +3db=2X energy. Add in the larger volume of gasses and you have a bad situation. A 22lr pistol is louder than a 410 shotgun.
https://www.m1911.org//loudness.htm
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That is true regarding energy. 10db is 10x more. But in terms of perceived loudness, 3db is considered just barely perceptible and 10 db sounds twice (or half) as loud
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Do you really think at the time of a break-in, I’m going to worry about the noise my Honcho is going to make?
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Now isn’t a bad time to think about it. Why wait until the last second to make gear considerations?
And you may decide that it’s not a factor in your decision on what to buy, or what to keep staged, or where, but…it also might be a factor. Thinking ahead is the way to go, so you aren’t thinking about it at the time
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I ran down after a perceived threat in the middle of the night, and I couldn’t help but think “I hope this doesn’t wake up the kids.”
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I keep a G17 which is loud in the night stand so I keep ear protection on hand in case I have time to use it. I would rather use the 410. I won’t have my hearing aids on but I don’t need to lose any more hearing.
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I will agree with you there.
Thanks for posting the link. I wish more details were given on the way the readings were recorded. Were they taken at the shooters face? Off to the side? Down range or behind the shooter? Was one type of ammunition tested, or are the numbers an average of multiple kinds? Also, what kind of sound testing equipment was used? An app for a smart phone or real purpose built equipment?
And lastly I’ll continue to argue that there’s no way a normal 12 gauge with a 24” or longer barrel is louder than an ar carbine with a direct impengement gas system and an average muzzle device from the shooters position. And a muzzle brake is way worse!
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The noise level of an AR varies from 155db to 164db depending on the configuration. The noise levels will vary because of many factors and the ones listed may well be an average. I have had to double up on ear protection when someone at the range had an AR pistol. An AR pistol is much worse. Flash cans or linear compensators would help direct the sound down range. I have several of them and they do work outdoors. I don’t know what they would do in a closed area.
As far as muzzle brakes go, I had to see the ophthalmologist after someone moved in next to me and touched off a 300 Win mag with a side vented muzzle brake. Blast went behind my glasses.
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I have read in many places that 3db doubles the sound and several other places that it is 10db. Not sure which is right but am sure that all guns are load enough to harm your hearing without protection. Especially indoors where the sound will be reflected back at you.
That is one of the reasons I would really like a suppressor. They just cost so much more than they should due to the reduced market created by the licensing requirement. And Murphy’s law being what it is I would want to get a written agreement from the criminals that they won’t break into my home during the year long wait for my application to be approved. Sorta joking but it’s not really funny at all.
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It takes twice as much energy to raise the db by 3 (get into stereo/audio/HT and you will know this quite well when you start talking amplifiers)
But, the way our ears/brains perceive sound, it takes 10 db to sound twice as loud.
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I tried this with an improvised rest and 3” slugs to help my cousin get his setup sighted in. I’ll buy somebody a cheap rifle before I go through that again…
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I had a close friend that had a 12 gauge ported and he said it made a very big difference. This shotgun thing came up in another topic and on top of everything was “ the way spousetts run all over the house like a fart in a skillet doing a bunch of stuff a shot gun is impractical and you’d have to lock it up or take it with you if you went out, it might be easier for hear gust to put her EDC in hear jammies you think “ 
PS: good excuse to pat hear down.
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Me personally I would have an AR for home defense over a shotgun just for me it’s easier to shoot an AR mor accurate and controlled.
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My wife is fine us getting any type of weapon, except an AR 
That being said when we first started gearing up this year I picked up a Mossberg 500 Retrograde. Love that thing and it looks fantastic IMHO.
For some reason, shottys and I have gotten along since I fired my first shot with one back in my Coast Guard days.
The plain bead sight works just fine, and I do aim, but can aim very well just looking at the barrel end.
This works for me.
However it is not practical to carry around the house and will be carrying my pistol when in the other rooms.
My wife has tried and she just plain won’t use it. She has her 9mm.
For the shotgun I have bought Federal with Flight Wad. Leaves a nice tight pattern at the distances a house encounter would be.
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