What To Choose For Home Defense; Pepperspray, Shotguns, Pistols, or What?
IN HOME PERSONAL DEFENSE WEAPON & FIREARM CHOICES
In home weapons choices can be confusing! Individuals who do not shoot regularly and are not comfortable with guns are confronted by a number of choices when considering how to best defend their homes and families from an intruder.
There are a number of choices from big dogs to pepper spray, Tasers, and firearms. Professional crooks neutralize a large dog in under 10 seconds. And they often steal the dog as well as your other belongings.
Pepper spray is not much better, it is hard to conceal or store, goes bad, loses propellant and you just never know how much you are going to need. Tasers are great if bad guys come one to a box, if you can hit what you shoot at, they are charged up and ready to go when you need them and if you know what to do with the bad guy when you unplug him. In the cases of both of these non-lethal choices, you might just end up with one or more really mad bad guys on your hands.
Firearms are the common choice. What should you choose if you are not a range rat and you are not an expert with a firearm. There are an overwhelming number of choices, shotguns, rifles, and pistols (auto and revolver). So lets break them down;
Rifles: For the novice or moderately experienced, rifles are not necessarily a wise choice. They are too hard to handle and often too powerful. The ballistics are such that collateral damage can be severe. Even a .22 caliber rifle slug can travel close to a mile and is very fast and can be quite lethal. The sleeping child next door does not need to be a victim of your crisis.
That brings us to…
Shotguns: These are not a bad choice. There are a number of varieties available, ranging from the Saiga automatic on the AK47 frame, to the old stand by single barrel. The gauges range from .410 gauge to the .10 gauge. For the money, the Saiga 12 gauge may be the best choice. It can readily be purchased for around $500.00 and has a standard 10 shot magazine. There are a number of lethal and non-lethal munitions choices available, from Incendiary slugs, to bean bag rion-lethal slugs or rubber slugs. The second choice, gauge wise, would be the .410, because it has virtually the same range of ammo available. It should be noted that not every configuration of the semi-automatic Saiga is proper for home defense. You should get a short barrel, (16 inch is ideal). You can augment it with a folding stock for close quarters handling. My personal recommendation for the novice would be the .410 gauge due to less recoil and less power which reduces the likelihood of collateral damage. A pump gun, a semi auto or double barrel can be effective in the hands of a skilled user with the right munitions choice. The big advantage of the Saiga is the 10 shot magazine on a semi-automatic shotgun. You can layer your shells from #3 to #00 buck to slugs. Or you can layer a cocktail of exotic shells, which can be very effective. My back up choice would be a 12 gauge auto or pump with an open bore reduced barrel (18” or less based upon local laws) and a reduced pistol grip stock. This is commonly referred to as a “riot gun” configuration.
Now…since we are assuming an experience level of no better than “moderate”, I would only recommend a narrow spectrum of Pistols.
For the less than well practiced, I would not recommend a semi-automatic. Too much practice, cleaning and skill is required. They tend to be much harder to handle during times of stress. Even for the advanced shooter in the middle of the night when you are groggy, if you don’t shoot enough for the safety and slide to be instinctive, this can be a problem.
Revolvers are a pick up and shoot system that is fairly idiot proof. Caliber is important. Anything smaller than a .38 will probably not be effective. Magnum caliber guns (.357 & .44) may be too powerful for close quarters endangering your family members. .38 -.44 standard caliber guns should be fine. They should be economical and ammunition should be available in a number of types, which your local dealer can explain. One caution, is there are some super inexpensive .38 revolvers out there with floating firing pins, do not buy one of these. The pins brea
k without warning leaving you defenseless
In addition there is one particular gun that we need to cover. It is a relatively new entry into the market. It is a Taurus Judge, a .45 long colt revolver that will also chamber .410 shotgun shells. It is a very interesting choice for the novice shooter. It has revolver reliability and shotgun ballistics. It is a five shot capacity that will allow for a combination of .45 long colts and .410 shells. The disadvantages to this weapon are three fold; 1) it has very serious recoil, 2) it only has 5 shots and 3) when shotgun shells are fired in it the brass expands and makes the shells harder to extract. There is no cure for the five shots except a back up gun or a fast reload. If you can handle the recoil, the chambers can be very slightly polished or milled by a gunsmith to alleviate the sticking problem. Then it becomes a very effective choice for a close quarters crisis. I recommend anyone considering this gun, to rent it and shoot it before choosing/buying it. For around $500.00 it is an interesting option.
Summary:
My personal choice for a novice would be the Taurus Judge in the .45 & .410 configuration. Shotgun and pistol options in one package with fewer moving parts. In doing so let me say that I would not buy one for myself, but I shoot a lot. This is not a shooter’s gun, this is a specific purpose weapon that is really only suited for home defense, or novelty.
Having said that, most ranges rent guns. Your friends have guns, try before you buy and do your own research. You have to choose for your situation. I have given you a starting point.
Lastly even if it is only a lesson or two, get some basic training before you deploy a weapon in your home. You need to know how to be safe and what to expect. There is no substitute for instruction and practice.
Stay safe and be careful out there!
Doug Clabough
On rifles you state: “They are too hard to handle and often too powerful.” You say this in the same post as one advocating for a Taurus Judge. Right.
You then state that “the ballistics are such that collateral damage can be severe.” This is demonstrably wrong, as it has been shown in numerous tests that a .45 ACP will actually travel through more drywall than a 5.56 mm. Don’t believe me? Test it yourself and tell me I’m wrong. Yes, I realize it seems counter to logic, but the fact is that, when multiple house-type walls have been set up at a range and shot at with multiple calibers, a .45 ACP will penetrate more walls than (most) shotgun or rifle loads due to its stability.
Much like the episode of Mythbusters when a 9mm penetrated further into water than a .50 BMG, it doesn’t seem logical but it nonetheless is true.
These statements also come in the same breath as warning how far a .22 will travel from a rifle. Ummm, really? Did you read that on the box? Did you not realize that you are advocating more powerful weapons than a .22 while simultaneously stating how dangerous it is?
I failing greatly at seeing the logic behind a lot of the posts on this website.
Brock…As the admin. I love the comments…but there are lots of authors on this site. I’ll email Doug and ask him to respond as well….
We are all here to learn together…we just need to be “helpful” while we do it. That is the only way to really gain the proper knowledge…I hope you would agree.
Brock,
Thanks for your comments. The .45 acp is a powerful load and yes you are correct it is more powerful than many smaller caliber rifle loads. The recommendation for the Taurus Judge was for use with .410 slugs. I referred the novice to a local instructor and a local gun shop for ammo choices. The point in guiding a non shooter to look at the gun, was for them to try it and see if they could handle the recoil with a .410 shell. They could start with bird shot, # 3s, and progress up and hopefully hit a threat. I was not advocating .45 acp ammunition, that negates the advantage of the weapon for the novice. If you noted my second choice was a shotgun, either Saiga .410 or a pump .12 ga. I would not recommend slugs for the beginner in these weapons either.
Everyone’s case and level of competence is different. This article was not intended for a serious shooter. They, (you) already know your situation and how to control it. Again, I referred them to their local gun shop for ammo consultation. The ballistics of any shell is the common denominator. The weapon is just a delivery system for the slug. My point was to get the inexperienced or nominal shooter in a frame of mind to look at simple easy to handle systems to be able to defend a home. My intention on the judge was that the non-shooter would open with #3 buck or smaller, which with a short barrel loses force exponentially and scatters wildly. After 3 rounds if they got proper advice they would consider double 00 IF their environment permitted. Bird shot is available if it doesn’t. The ammo choice for the judge is the key. If they are shooting 45 long colt ammo in it, they can get the epoxy personal defense loads that won’t penetrate dry wall, but you can get that for several calibers of handguns from several suppliers but it requires that you be able to hit what you shoot at under a stressful situation. The advantage to the judge is that if you can’t shoot, or rather you can’t hit what you are shooting at, it is a very solid choice with the .410 shell in it.
My reference to the .22 was to warn off the inexperienced person who thought the smaller caliber is safer. A .22 with rat shot is by the same token not a good choice unless your intruder is a rat. The point of the article was to get a person into a gun shop, and get them to look at different options. A 7.62 x .39 with a folding stock in the hands of a capable marksman with the proper load can be the choice if a situation sets up for it. You are correct, a .556 or .223 are light loads and can be right for a serious shooter. In a pressure situation a rifle is a hard weapon to shoot if you are not well practiced. In the best of circumstances when awaken at night it takes 30 seconds to a minute to get your weapon and ready it to fire. For the novice a revolver action with no safety with shotgun ballistic properties is an advantage.
Most inexperienced and or even moderately experienced shooters are not going to understand the difference in the grain of the slug, the powder, the modulus of impact, etc. A bullet is a bullet to them. Statistically the novice buys a gun shoots it no more than twice and puts it away. Rather than load the post with ballistics, I tried to narrow the focus to simple choices which would allow them to HIT what they shot at, and referred them to local gun shop owners for advice on ammo choices based upon their ability, or lack there of, and to local instructors who would hopefully ask the right questions and give the right advice.
My last statement was to “get instruction even an hour or two by someone local” and advice from that instructor could be applied to the individual situation. I also stated as a shooter, that I would not buy the Judge, the reasons are the ones that you state in your comment.
I am of the personal opinion that a novice, in a house with a judge loaded with .410 gauge number 3 to number 6, is preferable to a novice with .556 on an AR frame with a 30 round clip and a bump fire auto burst attachment.
Homes in the country have different safety concerns that of town homes or apts. The ammo is the address point for each situation. It boils down to what am I trying to shoot at and what is just beyond my shooting zone. In my concealed carry .40 I shoot a light grained, low velocity, very open hollow point that is designed not to penetrate an adult. That slug will still penetrate several layers of non-reinforced (firewall) gypsum drywall which is the reason that I slanted the article the way I did.
Thanks again for your comments. This article was meant for the novice, to moderately experienced shooter to guide them to alternatives and to get them to think of something besides a 9MM glock that they see on all the cop shows so they don’t end up shooting the family in the dark. Also it was to get them to look consult with local instructors and shoot before they buy.
Doug
Your style is really unique in comparison to other folks I
have read stuff from. Thank you for posting when you’ve got the opportunity, Guess I’ll just bookmark this site.
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