skin290

Very good point, I think the terms under what I was describing was whether you could shoot a guy that was threatening you with a knife or anything that is NOT a gun or projectile launcher...obviously, if he was across the yard (assuming yard is 100 feet or so), and he just presents a knife in a threatening manner, a jury may not do so well on you. Imagine if your jury was made up of people that are trying to get the guy in TX that shot those 2 robbers! that is one thing scary about jury trials...

bigbulls

This threadiswhy you should never ask about home defense on the internet.

Heavy turkey loads; slugs; "intimidation factors"; Shoot first ask questions later, If you need to shoot through a wall; mixed loads of ball, hollow point and CCI rat shot??????
ARE YOU KIDDING ME????????

Shotguns make excelent home protection weapons provided you use some common sense. A shotgun is not a "shoot in the general direction" firearm. At the distances you would be shooting inside your house it is like shooting any other firearm. You MUST aim a shotgun when you are in a home defensive situation.Hope for about a 4-6 inch "pattern at best. Even with an 18 inch barrel with a cylinder choke. You certanly don't want to use a turkey load. The recoil is far too excessive for you to get back on target quickly for a second shot if needed. You should be looking a light recoiling buck shot loads specifically designed for home defense.And by all means don't rely on the "sound" of the gun to scare the intruder. All that is going to do is alert him to your presense.

Your choice of hand gun should be one that any adult member or responsible minor can easily use with out needing to "remember" what to do while they are under stess and one that any responsible member of the family can fire multiple shots and remain in control of the firearm. Just because you can handle a full house 45acp doesn't mean that your wife can. If she can only handle the recoil of a 9mm then by all means a 9mm should be your home defense firearm.

As far as ammo goes there are multiple choices available that are specifically designed to fragment when the bullet strikes a wall or other hardobject yet still providemore than adequate penetration is soft human tissue.

And the number one thing is to have all responsible members of the familypractice with what ever firearm you choose until they are comfortable and familiar with the gun.

Buffinator

Handgun, Glaser Blue loads. Won't over-penetrate once they go through the intruder.

Javey

OK...guess I should clarify my "shoot through walls" comment....
I was being a smart a** trying to make the point that with the Judge you had the option
to shoot 45 LC rounds if you needed more penatration.....If you read my post you would see that I
talked about using the 410 shot shells to avoid over penatration.....
Living in South Texas the Judge also makes a GREAT snake gun to carry while on the ranch.......where again you can shoot 45 LC if you need more penatration

1SHOT_1KILL

Skin290,
There seems to be plenty of evidence, if you choose to do a little research and I suggest you do, to support the factthat #4-#6 shot can be very effective at ranges out to 20 FEET. #1 or #4 buckshot seems to be the preferred load for home defense in a shotgun. As far the 14-21 FEET,ther is also plenty of evidence out there to support that as well, if you choose to the research. After all, we are talking about home defense here and you don't need a sniper rifle to shoot across the room or down the hall. Allsomeone, with somecommon sense has to do, is walk thru their own home and look at the ranges. 14-21 FEET isa reality,not a fairytale. I live in a 2,300 sqaure foot home and th3 14-21 FEETis totally within the realm of reality within my home.

As far as you are concered, you can use whatever you want for home defense. I just hope you never have to use it, because I beleive you will put your family and neighbors in as much danger, as the perp. No, I am notscared of MY guns at all, but I am terrified of YOUR guns. Maybe, just maybe, I am far enough down range, down here in NC, to be out of your line of fire.


http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a37b5daa50a0f.htm
http://www.chuckhawks.com/ammo_by_anonymous.htm
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/pic...p;blobtype=pdf
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/forensicmedi...es/gunshot.pdf
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...RVAbstractPlus
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...indexed=google
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...RVAbstractPlus
http://www.ballistics-experts.com/Fo...s/Overview.htm
http://www.tacticalshotgun.ca/ballistics_shotgun.html
http://arxiv.org/ftp/physics/papers/0701/0701267.pdf
http://library.med.utah.edu/WebPath/...S/GUNOTHR.html
http://library.med.utah.edu/WebPath/TUTORIAL/GUNS/GUNINTRO.html

Mr. Longbeard

I've got aSIG GSR1911 45 sweet piece of gear

XPatriot

In some states, shooting an intruder will get you locked up anyway. If you shoot an intruder in your house, it will be your story versus his. Wait, it will be just your story, the intruder won't be talking. So, if you find yourself in San Francisco, with a dead burglar an your living room floor, a throwdown piece might come in pretty handy.

I live in Louisiana, so it's not really an issue for me, but that's just how we roll in the dirty south.

adam11082

This will clear up any questions about what shot to use in a shotgun

12ga WOUND PROFILES

http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=109958

speyrjb

Do the math on how much energy a 3" mag 12 ga max load with 2x4 shot traveling at 1500 fps will have at 15 feet.

I swear, people on this site are so quick to call you wrong if your opinion does not match thier opinion.

But this is not opinion...this is fact a turkey load will transfer more energy than a slug because a slug will exit, thus not transfer all of it's energy to the target. A turkey load on the other hand would probably not exit completely therefore transfering more energy to the target. Plus the energy transfer is over a larger surface.

bigtim6656

i think alot of use over think weather it is legal to take a shot the2 amendmentsays you are allowed to defend yourself your property and your county to me that includes the shop owner getting robbed your your neighbor if some pulls a weapon i ant going to think is it legal. just how many shots to let off

and if it comes down to me or the bad guys i wont be thinking about what if that one bckshot or 9mm round or .223 goes though the walls if it is you or the bad guy who would say hey can you move over here so i do not go through the wall and kill some one.

also if you have stairs try and get the guy coming up them so that there is a down angle

i also question how deep into wood a hollowpoint pistol or rifle round will go or a shotgun round will