Recommend me a rifle?

Question

1. I want one that is perfectly legal
2. I want it for home protection, no hunting
3. one that takes not-hard-to-find ammo
4. one that is modern (all modern safety features etc.)

Answer 1

A rifle is an OFFENSIVE weapon, not a defensive one.

It is designed to kill at range. Unless you live in a large compound surrounded by acres of land, you are a fool to use a rifle for defense.

You will be much better prepared to defend your home and family with a shotgun or large caliber pistol.

Answer 2

A rifle is the worst gun for home defense. Most over penetrate and then you have to worry about accidentally shooting a family member or neighbor.

If you still want one, there are a lot of options. When you say modern, if you mean newly designed and not based off or an improved verion of an odler model, Sig and HK offer some nice semi-auto rifles that would fit the bill. Expect to pay a lot though. If you can settle for a recent model, based off an oldered version, pick an AKM. Find one that calls out to you, tehy will be moderately priced, easy to use, has a safety, and is short enough to be useable in tight areas.

My best recommendation is either a shotgun preferably mossberg 500 or remington 870 with an 18 inch barrel and 00 buckshot. A pistol in 9mm, 40 S&W, 45 ACP, 357, or 38 special depending upon your shooting skill and what's available, would also work well.

Answer 3

For home protection you should really think about a 12 or 20 gauge pump shotgun with a 20 inch slug gun barrel. It would be shorter than a rifle for quick handling, you don't have to be a trained sniper to hit something with a shotgun, the sound of a shell being chambered chills the blood of anybody on the other side of the barrel, and, of utmost importance is the fact that you can use 5 or 6 shot; which blows a cantelope sized hole in a target ten to fifteen feet away; but will not penetrate the wall of your neighbor's house and injure an innocent child or a plasma TV. Price, too, is nice; you can get a short barrel pump shotgun for well under three hundred frogskins and shells are plintiful and not expensive.

Answer 4

Obviously the idea of a rifle is to hit things at range but there are rifles that can squeeze into the role for self defence.Although will have different plusses and minusses versus other weapon types, mostly minusses.Still If its what you want probably the main considerations are

You want something shorter than a hunting rifle and handier, with quicker repeat capability than a single shot or bolt action.

You don;t need the large powder capacity and heavy game calibres of most cartridges which are desgined for shooting game out to 450 yards etc.

the choice is a short carbine semi auto like mentioned above.

Or followed by something like the remington police pump action tactical or shortened hunting repeaters in 223, or 308 or so, since they usually are not affected by a lot of laws that might apply to semi-autos and 'assualt' types, depending what your ownersip regulations are.

most of these come in easily available ammo,(its all pretty much the same these days for common cartridges)even can get cheap military surplus, plenty of modern features so to speak or additions possible.

The main advantage of a shotgun is in 'yard ranges'(like your front yard) rather than room range.Since at 'room ranges' the pellet spread will only be a couple of inches anyway. The advantage here is the shotguns lack of over penetration with pellets.At yard range the shotguns spread becomes an advantage.
Most rifles technically will handle as well 'indoors' as a shotgun, though the drama is once again over penetration since they will blast through walls quite easily, The 308 can be loaded down with light frangible or even the old M1 carbine bullets(like the old WW2) gun if need be to cut down on this and recoil.

Lastly you could even get a lever action, cowboy style for a mere couple hundred dollars...if you know how to shoot it well.... In any pistol cartridge, that will handle and fire as well indoors as a pump action shotgun, though slower to cycle.

Answer 5

For home defense I have a Mossberg 500 8-shot, which uses a longer magazine tube instead of having a somewhat flimsy tube extension screwed to the end. I purchased it from a local Dick's sporting goods in a normal, legal transaction. 12ga shotshells are extremely common, and can be found almost anywhere, including most local Wal-Marts. One thing I really like about the Mossbergs compared to the Winchesters and Remingtons is they have a thumb safety on top of the receiver instead of one on the trigger guard. The slide release is also in a more convenient location. Barrel changes on Mossbergs are easy, remove the nut on the end of the mag tube, pull out old barrel, slide in the new one, and tighten.

While I have taken it out and shot some old computers and water jugs with it, I've never had an opportunity to test it's effectiveness in a home-defense scenario, thought I really would rather just keep shooting targets and not intruders. For home defense, might I suggest a 2.75" #4 steel, copper or nickel-plated buckshot. It's extremely lethal against human targets at ranges within 50m, and won't penetrate walls nearly as much as most other, larger shot sizes.

Answer 6

For home protection I would advice either a 20 or 12 gauge pump action shotgun or a handgun loaded with frangible bullets.
Why a pump gun? Criminals don't like the sound when they are in an unknown dark place and suddenly here the chambering of a round. That sound is quite distinctive. With buckshot you cover a larger area then with a regular bullet, so aiming is less important, it's more point and shoot.
Why frangible bullets? You don't want a bullet to go through the perpetrator and then fly through walls in your house possibly harming a family member.
Whatever solution you take, most important is get to know the gun, shoot it often and practice in home defense. First during the day with enough light then at dawn/dusk and finally during the dark night. During these training sessions I would not use life ammo, springcaps will allow you to pull the trigger without harming the gun or any family member. Most important is training the mindset. Are you really able to shoot a living human being? If the answer is no then don't even bother to buy any gun, it will get you in trouble instead of defending you. Think your decision through, do some soul searching before you buy any gun.
Take care.

Answer 7

Alright, um, I think you mean rifle when you mean rifle, but are you looking for a shotgun instead? Statistically a shotgun will work much more efficiently. But since you said rifle, here's my idea: go with a .223 caliber. Perhaps an AR-15 style. Rock River Arms makes the best, then there's Bushwackers, Colts, Ruger's etc. A .223 is one of the most versatile cartridges ever produced. Cheap Cheap Cheap ammo too. As low as $3.80/50! That is about as cheap as it gets. You definitely need a semi-auto, like the AR-15 or Mini-30. 30 round magazine will do just fine as well. Get yourself a laser sight, not the cheap ones that don't adjust. I'm talking about the ones that you can physically adjust to point wherever you're hitting at whatever distance you need. So in the dark, you don't need to put your eye to the sight, all you need is the laser mark and you're ready to nail that criminal. i hope this helps. Take care and God Bless.

Answer 8

I would recomend a shot gun for you.Get a Mossberg 500 or 590 12 gauge.These weapons are 100% legal in most areas.You have a way better chance of hitting your target with a shotgun rater than a rifle/pistol.The ammo is cheap and can be found easily.(You can buy it at Walmart or K-mart).If you think the 12 guage is too much gun for you.They also make the Mossberg 500 in 410 wich is a smaller shell casing.These weapons are good because If you are shooting at an intruder in your home at nite with a rifle/pistol there is a good chance the bullets can pass through walls and harm inocent bystandards.Where with a shotgun that chance is way less.Dont get me wrong these accidents can still happen but it is less likely with a shot gun.
If you have your mind set on a rifle.I would recomed getting somthing chambered in a pistol cartrage like 9mm.Pistol rounds are less likley to pass through walls than a rifle round like 223 or 308.

Answer 9

Go to a gunshop and check out a Rossi M-92 SRC in .357 Magnum.

You can get them in blue or stainless steel and 20" barrels are the most common.

The advantage of the .357 Magnum chambering is that you can use .38 SPL ammo.

The extra barrel length will boost .38 SPL effectiveness and the short barrel length will be fairly handy indoors.

If you can find one with a 16 1/2" barrel, even better.

The M-92 SRC also has the added advantage of being seen as less threatening by the general public. Folks see a lever-action carbine, they think "Cowboy Gun!" Not, EVIL BLACK RIFLE.

Doc

Answer 10

Well, if you must have a home defense rifle let me recommend a carbine instead (a bit shorter than a true rifle). How about the Ruger Mini 14? It is short n compact and shoots the easy to find .223/5.56mm ammo.

This will shoot through a lot of dry wall so consider instead a good shotgun or a pistol/revolver loaded with pre-fragmented slugs.

Best.

H

Answer 11

If you want it for home defense you need a shotgun. There are several that are sold at sporting goods stores with 18" barrels (short) some have pistol grips etc. You want the short barrel so the pellets spread out quickly (so you don't miss at close range)

My personal favorite is the Mossberg 590

Remington 870 is also very good.

Why is everyone saying rifle for home protection???
If someone enters your house in the middle of the night for example. You fire off a few rounds...those rounds will not only go through your walls into your kids rooms and out the outer walls and into the neighbors house. A shotgun with buckshot will do far less collateral damage, than any rifle.