home defense gun
 

what loads do you all use for your home defense shotgun? im thinknig about putting a light on mine to none of the special grips or nothin tho also have yo uever acutally ahd to use your gun?

RE: home defense gun
 

I'll tell you what I keep for my home defense. A single shot (wish it was a pump) .410 shotgun with 00 buck or a slug, with a pistol grip and a home made laser sight. Hopefully that will buy me enough time to get across the room to my SKS, with 30 rnd mag, bayonet, and folding synthetic stock. Don't worry, though, these guns are very unaccessible or unfireable if you're not me, or know a whole lot about my guns. REMEMBER, IF YOU'RE GOING TO SHOOT AN INTRUDER, MAKE SURE HE IS IN YOUR HOUSE, OTHERWISE IT'S CONSIDERED MURDER!!!!!

RE: home defense gun
 

Well said, Nomercy...

You might add that if an intruder is in your house, you can't even fire the weapon if the intruder's back is turned. The law looks at that as if the intruder was leaving. Therefore, it can also viewed as murder.

My home defense:
Two barking black labs. Now, if an intruder gets past my dogs, he'll be confronted with:

a) Taurus .38 special snubnose with Federal Hydra-shock hollowpoints.
b) Remington 870 Express 12GA with 00 buckshot.
c) Marlin Model 60 .22 rifle with CCI Stingers.

(a) is the primary choice, as (b) and (c) are not that accessable as they are locked in their cases and ammo is stored in a separate location. The Taurus is also kept unloaded (obviously), but has a speedloader close by.

RE: home defense gun
 

My equipment almost duplicates Butch's,and there are many legalities to consider in home defence.That said,for your shotgun consider using a heavy game load of #2 or #4 shot.This is even more important if you have a family in seperate rooms.Slugs or buckshot are great outdoors,but inside a house will penetrate walls easily.A load of shot at close range is just as lethal,but with far less danger to people in adjacent rooms.Just remember,your VCR or stereo does not warrent the use of deadly force and in most states/provinces you WILL be charged unless the intruder is armed and attacking you or a family member.

RE: home defense gun
 

12ga loaded with rubber 00 buck nocks the he** out of a person up close but there is no intent of killing ;) (for LEGAL resons) and if that dosnt get them to rethink there plan .45ACP with 240gr hydr shock is the back up. did I mention the 6 pitbulls in the yard. (and Im not kidding)

RE: home defense gun
 

If it was a single level home, I would agree with #4 shot because of penetration issues with family members. However, if it was 2 story with all the bedrooms upstairs, I would probably use 00 buckshot because most breakins will be at night, downstairs, while everyone is in bed upstairs.

For what it's worth, I'd shoot the intruder back turned or not, obviously armed or not. I wouldn't yell freeze and wouldn't stop shooting until the gun was empty or until I knew he was dead. I wouldn't take chances with the lives of my family.

As long as the intruder was in my house, I'd probably be OK legally with the above scenario. I've never heard of anyone ever being successfully prosecuted for shooting an unarmed home invader. If it has happened, then show me proof. Better to be safe than sorry.

RE: home defense gun
 

I've asked local authorities (school puts on a thing once a month where a cop comes to our school, then we ask stuff, then if he doesn't know, he finds out for us and comes back and explains.) According to him, in Kansas at least, you can shoot any person that has entered your home without concent, but the way the law is written, you'd better kill them, otherwise they might be able to press charges. I know that it doesn't make a difference to me if someone is there to steal my toilet paper or kill my family or I, they ain't leaving my house alive.

GOTTA LOVE THAT MARLIN MAGIC!!!!

RE: home defense gun
 

12 ga with #1 buck. Ruger Redhawk

RE: home defense gun
 

two bulldogs andthen Scater gun tenolingy 12ga 3in mag riot shot gun. Win. 3in 000 buck

RE: home defense gun
 

Federal makes a special home defense shotgun load. It's a reduced load to lower recoil and lessen the risk of penetrating through walls. You might check them out.

RE: home defense gun
 

I use a heavy 12 Ga. load of #2 birdshot. It is very deadly at indoor distances, but lacks the wall-penetrating power of buckshot or slugs, so doesn't endanger people in other rooms or next door (as much!!).

Larry

RE: home defense gun
 

Greets,
home defense: 9mm auto, 9 round of 147gr federal hydra shoks. As for legalities, in Oregon it is simple, intruder INSIDE home... fire away!! just be real sure of these 3 things: 1) you dont know this person from adam.. 2) you kill him / her so they cant sue or press charges otherwise... 3) you are prepared to lose a lot in civil court, because his survivors will probably sue you, and though you cant go to jail for it anyone can win a civil suit with a good enuff lawyer! ( this was said by an instructor for Oregons requirements for conceiled carry permits )

Just my uneducated opinion!
Terry
Oh and most importantly, you are prepared for your life to change dramatically, because in all likely hood it will, whether from any civil liabilities or from your own feelings at killing another person.

Edited by - Adui13 on 03/02/2002 22:47:01

RE: home defense gun
 

Walther P99 9mm with 2 full clips of 124 grain hollow points

Winchester 1500 20ga.

I'm pretty sure those should do the trick, but if not then I break out the big stuff.

RE: home defense gun
 

With a shotgun shooting someone inside your house which will usually be very close range, measured in feet, it really doesn't matter what size shot you shoot a man with. You will put one massive hole in his body.

RE: home defense gun
 

A 9mm beretta with a 15 round clip and one in the chamber. Let the fireworks begin.

RE: home defense gun
 

40 S&W with 135 grain Corbons. I keep mine in the magazine though. It would take to long to load a magazine with a clip if the stuff hit the fan.

RE: home defense gun
 

Smokepoledoug--you're right; at distances inside a home, anything hit with a shotgun is going to be in serious trouble. However, the point that the posters who are advocating birdshot are trying to make, is that you don't want whatever is on the other side of the miscreant to get hit with a slug, or buckshot, that has completely passed through the 'target.'

I've got #2s right now, though I may change that, based on where my wife and I move to.

RE: home defense gun
 

Colt 45ACP. With full 10 and 7 round magazines.

RE: home defense gun
 

Taurus loaded with federal hydra-shocks in 40 S&W will do for now. I'd eventually like to get a easy to manuever pistol grip shotgun, just have too many guns to buy and not enough money to go around.

RE: home defense gun
 

For me my ruger 22 and for my wife sig p232 380 then my 3 dogs so we are good.

Brian

RE: home defense gun
 

12 ga with 3in. #4 turkey loads like nomercy said if your going to shoot make darn sure you kill them at that point it's your word versus a dead mans he cannot state his intent

RE: home defense gun
 

Greets again,
Well, I seem to have missedthe mark in my first post, you asked about SHOTGUN LOADS..
I personnally would recommend fairly light (extremely light if you reload your own ) 7 1/2 or 8 shot loads, at home defens ranges penetration isnt going to be a prob.. BUT the lighter shot will be slowed much more by your wallis if you miss, so you likely as not wont hurt anyone on the otherside too bad. Add to that, my light loads with 1 1/8th ounces of #7 1/2 shot will cut a 2"-3" branch clean in half at 5'-10' in one or two shots. Which tells me its going to blow a GARGANTUAN hole in the poor sucker who invades my home!! ( Actually as posted earlier I use a 9mm for home defense, but if I was to use the shotgun I know it would do the job with that load. )


Just my uneducated opinion!
Terry

RE: home defense gun
 

Bird shot at close range, no matter what size the shot is, acts like a slug on drywall inside the home! You guys that are using that, be careful you don't miss the intruder and have your simple "bird shot" go through your walls and hit your family members. Try some drywall out at a range some time. You'll see what I'm refering to. It might change your mind about using it inside the home.

Secondly, whether a suspect is outside your home, or inside your home, if you can articulate the fact that you were defending your life OR the life of someone else, it's NOT murder!!!!

However, don't lie about the facts. Crime lab folk and Homicide detectives have a keen knack for looking at the evidence, physics & other dynamic things at a shooting scene and can tell if you're lying about the shooting.

For example, stating that the suspect was 3' away from you when you shot him, when actually he was 30 feet away. The crime lab folks can tell by microscopic powder burns on the suspect how close/far away you were from the intruder.

Another example is when a person has his/her arms extended and you shoot him/her. If you say the suspect was pointing a gun at you, so you shot him, a coroner can tell the position of the dead suspects arms at the time he was shot. They can say if your statement is true or a lie. Coroners can tell if a suspect had his arms raised, lowered, if they were over his head in a "surrender" type position etc...

Another example is blood splatter patterns. Many things can be told about the patterns of blood splatter.

Don't ever ever lie about the facts of a shooting. However remember this too....Nobody can ever tell what your state of mind was at the time of a shooting.

Example. If I heard an intruder outside my front door, kicking it in, and I saw that he was holding a weapon, I could articulate that he was going to come in and kill me and my family. I would put a lot of emphasis into it, such as "I was afraid for my life, my families life..." etc.... "I thought there was more than one suspect"..."I yelled at the suspect I'm calling police and he continued to kick down the door....even when I told him I had a gun too..." etc...

Get my point??? Another example, you look out the window and see a suspect trying to light a molotov cocktail and through it at your house: "I thought he was going to torch my family with that bomb fire bomb"...I thought I had to stop the torch weilding suspect before he burned down my sleeping kids and home".... etc...

Just articulate with verifyable facts that your state of mind was that your were in fear of your life, or the life of someone else. And that without immediate intervention, you thought you or somebody else was gonna die or face serious bodily injury.

I'll admit that if a suspect is seen running out your back door with a VCR, trying to get away from you, you better not use deadly force on him/her. It's different if the suspect is running out of your house and he just tried to kill you or someone else. You can shoot him/her as long as you articulate that he/she just killed a family member or tired to; and you believed that unless the suspect was immediately stopped, due to the seriousness of the crime he just comitted, was going to kill someone else again. (whew, what a run on sentence.)