Since we have “Castle Doctrine” in my state - Increasing the Survivability of the Perp will Not be High on my list of things I must and Can do.
While I Do NOT “WANT” to Kill anyone - I Will - “If forced too”.
1st DO NOT Open your door to Anyone - “YOU Dont KNOW”.
Mount and Maintain outer Perimeter Lights, Motion Sensors, etc
If someone “Gets In”:
A Primary, “For Me” - 1st Task : Find “Cover” then POSITIVELY ID "Who/What " “It Is”.
“I” have “Mounted Lights” on “All” My House Guns. You MUST ID WHO it is.
If it IS a “THREAT” then “HE” put Himself in “Mortal Danger” and should know that. IMHO - AR Platform - Short Barrel, with mounted light is Best Home Defense gun. Especially for the Untrained with a Pistol.
ps “Flat Range Bulls Eys Shooting” “Only” is “NOT” “TRAINING”.
Me - State and DHS Certified Pistol and Defense of the Home Instr., Weekly Combat Competition Shooter. 10+yr
“Real Life” Experience.
So why not stop him before he gets in?
Simpli safe with a 120 db alarm and a German Shepard
But like anything else if you don’t practice drills so everyone knows what to do
Your defeating the purpose of being prepared
If they get by that everything is fair game
Every situation has its own difficulties. In your home you best think of others first a regular ar 5.56/ 223 will penetrate a houses wall and a miss could cost a family member or neighbor their life. So if the ar is in your thoughts on this please do research and buy proper ammo. And as for the shotgun i love the sound of a pump getting racked and i bet your intruder will also recognize it as well. Could very well put mr bad guy on the run before he ends up in a puddle of his own blood. I personally keep my sevice model 45 on my night table bed side, loaded. I have 15 feet to my ar which is not loaded but a full mag in different places and my shotgun is located by the ar with bird shot in the tube so i can have fermentationed sound effects keep in mind in home defense don’t shoot your family hiding in next room through your wall your neighbors didn’t wear their body Armour to go pee so buy ammo for home defense that takes these thing for consideration
Everybody is fixated on the 12 gauge when shotguns are mentioned. Inside a house you don’t need a 12 gauge. I keep a 410 pump loaded with 9 pellet #4 buck. Backup is 4 pellet 000 buck. In a pinch my small wife could handle it. It is lighter, faster, less recoil and not as loud as a 12 or 20. I have 12 and 20 gauge and can choose what I want. I chose the 410. I also keep a 9mm PCC handy.
5" 9mm pistol 160db Shorter barrel will be louder.
18" 12 gauge 162 db
18" 20 gauge 160 db
18" 410 bore 156db
16" AR 5.56 164db
16" 9mm PCC estimate 154 db.
As it happens I attended a tactical shotgun match last week (finished 3rd/18 shooting all magnum buck and slugs, no birdshot)(lost a position to inability to count, fired an extra shell last stage)
Which is to say, I don’t lack knowledge of the platform either academic research or hands on
The biggest takeaway for most? Their AR will continue to be their go to for home defense
This is true of any and every firearm that will reliably stop an attacker, including a handgun or a shotgun with buckshot.
My go-to is a pistol after that the AR. All my shotguns are for hunting, and the shortest barrel is 24". My AR with a 14.5" barrel is a lot lighter, faster, more maneuverable, and has a higher capacity. Not that I’d think to use them in the moment, but I have practiced with my walker razor slim earmuffs… you can hear a fly fart in the house with those on.
I like the 12 ga. semi. tac-shotty simply because I like the close cadence of a 5 round shot string, plus the surprises that can be brought to bear. 1st round “Frechette’s,” 2nd round “00.” 3d round “Slug,” 4th round “Dragon’s breath,” and then sting’em again the 5th round of “00.” while working toward the 11.5 .300 AAC Blk Out for a more sustained CQB. Oh, I already know … the clean-up will cost a mint.
Of course, I’m jesting. I would stay put, call 911 and ready my EDC that’s close by.
I’ve struggled with this debate myself forever. Ultimately I decided that the AR platform is a better option for me. There were several major factors that put me in this camp and may or may not apply to you but hopefully it helps.
A smaller and more compact gun for use in a confined space. I don’t live in a large house (1100 sq ft 3 bedroom SF home). I don’t plan on trying to be an operator and clear my home of a potential threat but I do have a 5-year-old daughter whose room is at the opposite end from my own. If I have to leave my room to get to her, I want something smaller, lighter and easier to manage in that environment.
Easy of Use - I am not the only parent in the home and my wife is not as proficient with firearms. She also has some physical factors that make managing a shotgun more of a detractor. The lighter weight, lighter recoil, and configuration of my AR is very conducive to a novice user and don’t require the physical strength to muscle through using heavy recoiling self-defense loads.
Capacity - Our home defense plan is based on sheltering in place. Get our daughter to the master bedroom, lock the door and call the police. The AR is staged accordingly and having 30 rounds on tap without having to reload reduces the number of “moving parts” to our defense. However, I do keep a spare 30 round magazine in the drawer with hearing protection and a flashlight. Putting all of the tools next to the bed and easily accessible.
Realistically?
Select whatever you have the most confidence in your ability to use to stop whomever or whatever needs stopping. Confidence is critical.
Or select what you already have available. A bird in the hand…
It’s always interesting to come back and read this thread. I had bought a Beretta 1301 semi-auto with extended mag tube a while back and can get 7 in there. It’s very manageable and the recoil is similar to a rifle. However I find myself being more comfortable with the AR platform and I think as soon as my can is out of jail I’m going to get a 300 blk AR. Haven’t decided quite yet but that’s what I’m leaning towards.
For me it is about what I was trained and proficient with. First would be my 9 mm pistol 147 grain HST. Second pump shotgun number 4 buck short barrel. Last would be a toss-up between my Henry lever action 357 Magnum for my cmmg mutant 762x39
First off I would hope my outside cameras and home security system as well as my 80 lb black mouth cur would deter most Intruders. Hopefully that would be all it took.
I run a 10.5" suppressed AR loaded with federal XM556FBIT3. It’s an extremely expensive (and hard to find) load, but it’s one of the best short barrel 556 loadings out there. My wife shoots an AR pattern gun better than anything and it gives either her or myself an advantage of outgunning any assailant entering our home. There’s a massive amount of misconceptions on scatter guns; I constantly hear the stereotypical fudd one liners like “you don’t have to aim a shotgun”, “just racking the pump will scare em off”, or “shotguns don’t overpenetrate”. All if which are fuddlore that aren’t backed (or even disproven through) science and/or scientific research. Any effective weight shot is going to penetrate household barriers just as much as handgun and small bore-high velocity rifke cartridges like 556. I choose 556 because it offers outstanding terminal ballistics and doesn’t penetrate barriers any more than other choices out there. What it offers greatly outweighs any of it’s drawbacks in a home defense scenario.
