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Daily Bulletin: Shotgun VS Handgun for home defense

I have both..bedside.. other handguns thru out the house, you won't see them or find them, No Children in the house..ever!

The shot gun is a pistol grip.
 
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More of the average person, especially ladies, would be better served with the shotgun over a pistol/revolver since they don't have to be so calm and steady to hit the criminal, and a load of double OO buck will take down any criminal very fast.
 
I always thought the shotguns reason for existence was (1) to make scary sounds (i.e. racking the pump action shotty) that are universally understood even by crackheads and that will send all but the Devil hisself running for cover, so that you never hafta fire a shot, and (2) that if the devil hisself shows up at your door looking to do harm, and the fear of losing your life takes over your nervous system making aiming a pistol hard ( it does and it will, for all but Navy Seals) you have a reasonable chance of hitting your target.

All I can say personally is.... I been there. And getting woke up in the middle of the night by the alarm and negotiating stairs with a handgun is unspeakably hard. I'm no Navy Seal.
 
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More of the average person, especially ladies, would be better served with the shotgun over a pistol/revolver since they don't have to be so calm and steady to hit the criminal, and a load of double OO buck will take down any criminal very fast.
I agree with you completely with the exception of 00 buck. 00 buck will sail through sheetrock and endanger any innocents in the next room. A load of #4 shot still delivers 1 1/4 or more ounces of devastating shock with much less danger of over-penetration.
 
I have both. I've come up with the handgun is gonna be the fastest to get into action if times are abrupt.
The shotgun will be the "clear the house" choice.
The rifles will be to stop the onslaught outside.
 
A Judge loaded with 3" PDX1 rounds or if no close neighboring houses, 3" OOO buck.
Exactly what the wife has in the night stand
Loaded with hornady home defense, if that don't get the job done shes got a couple 380's keeping the judge company.
But none of that matters as somebody would pay hell getting past her puppy, a120lb rottweiler that loves her mama.
 
Shotgun with birdshot in the house from a modified camo turkey gun. For a home defense or carry handgun I choose the caliber and bullet/ammo the local LEO carries. God forbid you ever find yourself in a situation where you have to use either to defend yourself or others.......But when the smoke clears and you find yourself in court trying not to go to jail for doing the right thing, appearances are everything when it comes to how dead you made the bad guy in the eyes of the law......;)

Regards
Rick
 
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I have been training civilians in CC since the law went into effect in Ohio in 2004. Without fail a student will ask "what my preferred choice of HDW was". I tell them a Browning A5 12 gauge. Then I'll always hear, I prefer a pump action shotgun so the bad guy hears it. I'll answer that with "I have home field advantage, why would I give up my location by making an unnecessary noise? If they can hear the safety click off, they deserve at least a sporting chance".
Then comes the question of what I use for loads. In the pipe is a #7 1/2 trap load, followed by three nickel plated #00 buckshot. The final load is a slug. By this time the students are all ears. I'm ask why a trap load? It's to prove that I'm really serious about protecting me and my loved ones. It probably won't kill the intruder, but when it is reviewed by the grand jury, my attorney will paint the picture that I didn't want to kill him if I didn't absolutely have to. Beside it's easier to repair the drywall! If it goes past the first shot, it's game over with the remaining 4 shots.
Sorry for the long winded response,

Lloyd
 
@1shot ... cuz I d rather not shoot another human being. The cycling of the pump action is a universally known sound that will send 99.9% of crims running. ( I actually recommend pairing that sound with screaming… " I am going to blow your MF ing head off you MF er! " ) They already know yer present. Its not giving anything away.

I taught CWP classes also. And from both a legal and safety perspective, never firing a shot is the best alternative. Not to mention a mental health perspective of not having killed another human, or having to clean his brain matter off your wall, or having to think about the spot in your home where he bled out every time you walk past it.

And given our anti gun (ONLY for self defense) and overly litigious society that favors criminals rights... Id prefer not to put my fate in its fickle hands.
 
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Shotgun with birdshot in the house from a modified camo turkey gun. For a home defense or carry handgun I choose the caliber and bullet/ammo the local LEO carries. God forbid you ever find yourself in a situation where you have to use either to defend yourself or others.......But when the smoke clears and you find yourself in court trying not to go to jail for doing the right thing, appearances are everything when it comes to how dead you made the bad guy in the eyes of the law......;)

Regards
Rick
In Texas, dead is dead. If the perp is in your house, how they got that way doesn't make a squirt one way or another. My County Sheriff made a comment once that has stuck with me, "dead men don't testify".
 
Not a fan of shotgun for home defense. At home defense range, the shotgun pattern is about the size of an orange so the thought that you don't have to aim is a myth. In a stressful situation, you may miss so I want as many rounds as possible, thus a pistol with a high capacity mag and a spare mag is the right tool for the job.

--Jerry
 
Not a fan of shotgun for home defense. At home defense range, the shotgun pattern is about the size of an orange so the thought that you don't have to aim is a myth. In a stressful situation, you may miss so I want as many rounds as possible, thus a pistol with a high capacity mag and a spare mag is the right tool for the job.

--Jerry

Fair assessment. (Granted, 5" is roughly 10 times as large as 9 millimeters, and both my HD shottys are sawed off registered SBS that pattern about 10" at 25 feet, but I'll forego all that discussiuon for another..... ) We all talk about how stressful it will be, but I don't think we really understand that till we've experienced it.

It was false alarm, but at 3 a.m., with my Sig P226, trying to negotiate a flight of stairs in the dark with the alarm blaring ....well...I'll describe it this way... I was as scared of falling down the stairs as I was getting attacked by the bad guy, simply for how bad my legs were shaking. Not to mention my hands. This is what makes a shoulder fired, suppressed, hi capacity 9mm SBR with a red dot sight and weapons mounted light my HD of choice.

Evo 3.jpg
 
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Heck, the only reason handguns were invented was that shotguns became too awkward and unfashionable to carry in civilized society.

If I've gotta kill a certain portion of uncivilized society, I'd rather go back to basics, and use my shotgun. jd
 

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