what would be the best gun to have at home for defense reasons?

Question

im looking to buy a gun for my home because im very territorial and i want my family to be safe and know that ill protect them and i was wondering which gun, shot gun or handgun would be the best for my home? explain why this gun would be good and how much it would cost me. does CA have any laws against them? i was also wondering are batons illegal?

Answer 1

Since you are asking for advise here, I will assume that you don't have much firearms experience, so I will recommend simple to operate firearms.

Unless you live in a stick-built house with some little distance between you and your neighbor, I suggest you skip long guns altogether and use a revolver.

You don't want a handgun powerful enough to kill elephant or bear. There is too much risk of over penetration and injuring a family member in the next room, or a neighbor. The best compromise between adequate power and limited over penetratation worry is the .38 SPL. The .357 Magnum is considerably more powerful, but if you use 125 gr. JHP's you won't have much to worry about penetrating walls and hurting neighbors or family.

I suggest you purchase a revolver with a barrel 4" or shorter. 2" or 3" barrels are to be preferred. The reason being that if you are searching out things that go bump in the night, if an intruder grabs for your handgun, the shorter barrels will not give him a leverage advantage. Likewise, attempting to clear a house with a long barreled shotgun or rifle is just asking an intruder to disarm you since the barrel enters the room before you.

In revolvers, I'd recommend a medium or medium-large framed six-shot revolver such as: S&W M-10, S&W M-15, S&W M-66, S&W M-19, S&W M-65, or S&W M-686, Ruger GP-100, Ruger Security Six, Ruger Service Six, or any of the newer .38's and .357's from Taurus.

If you do feel the need for a long gun rather than a handgun, I strongly recommend a pistol-caliber lever-action rifle with a 16" or 20" barrel. My preference is for the M-1892 carbines made by Rossi, Navy Arms, or Browning, and caliber of choice would be .357 Magnum.

A lever-action rifle will hold seven to ten rounds of ammo in it's magazine, and the additional barrel length will add power. Loaded with .38 SPL ammo, it will have more power than a revolver but still not be a big risk to neighbors, and family members due to over penetration.

You can store your lever-action rifle either with a loaded chamber and the hammer on half-****** or with an empty chamber. With the loaded chamber, you can silently thumb back the hammer and be ready for action. Stored with an empty chamber, you will have to work the lever before being ready for action. When you hear it unexpectedly in the dark that is the second most sickening sound in the world, a pump shotgun being racked is THE most sickening sound in the world.

Another advantage to the lever-gun is that is is much more innocent looking than an AK-47, SKS, FAL, M-16, AR-15, or other such "Evil Black Rifle." Lever-guns reek of John Wayne and Roy Rogers. People do not think of them as being the gangster's weapon of choice, and the pistol caliber adds to that image.

Doc Hudson

Answer 2

Do not go with any rifles to big to be used indoors. You want a handgun but not any handgun. You have to go to the shooting range and find something that feels comfortable in your hands.You have to find something that you can control. There is no use in have a 357 or 44 magnum, if you can't handle the power and kick from these guns. Once you find something you like, it is very important that you find the best round for the gun, because this is where the difference is made. For Example. Most people would take a 38 special with a 2" barrel over a 380 (9mm short). Just looking at the bullets you would think the 38 is a better gun. Then there is this, what happens when you research all the ammunition and you find that you can load it with a -Cor-Bon 90 gr. JHP - the most powerful .380 hollow point, bar none. Now you have a 380 with more stopping power than anything you can put in that 38. CONTROL is the key if you can't control your handgun you don't need one. It is much better to hit a person with 2-3 shots from a 380 than it is to miss with one shot from a 357 magnum. No one can tell you which is the Best gun for you. Go try them out and pick what feels best. As for the best round check the source i have provided it will give you the best tested rounds available for every caliber.

Answer 3

The answer to your question is whatever gun you can shoot the best. If you are going to bet your life or your family's life, you had better pick a gun that you can practice with regularly. For someone with little experience with guns a double action revolver would probably be best, because it it easiest to use under stress. Nothing beats a good pump shotgun. The noise that it makes is very distinctive and the noise alone has prevented many fights. The shotgun will require a little more practice mainly due to the length of the barrel.

Go to a gun range and try out a few different guns and find one that feels good in your hands. Then get instruction on how to use it properly, Then practice, practice, and practice some more. Your life may depend on it.

Answer 4

If you have kids, I would recommend a semi-auto and do NOT have a round in the chamber. That way if the kids get their hands on the gun they will have to rack the slide to get one in the chamber. Most kids either do not know they have to do that or they do not have the strength to do it.

Stick a laser sight on the gun. Keep a cell phone (not a regular phone) next to the gun. If you hear a noise, you give the cell phone to the wife to call 911 while you grab the gun. Do NOT turn on any lights. Practice at night with the sight.
Sweep the hall so you can see what the beam looks like when NO ONE is in the hallway or room. See it on the far wall? Now you know what it should look like. If an intruder is in the house, as you sweep the beam, it will JUMP from the back wall to him and you will know where he is at. Keep the beam on him and YELL at him to get down on the floor. Keep the beam on him. After he is down, turn on the lights. In the mean time your wife has called 911 and their recorder gets the sound of the encounter. Specially you YELLING for him to get down on the ground BEFORE you shoot.

Another good point, teach your kids what to do if they hear something at night. IE: Get in their closet, get on the floor on the far side of their bed, etc. The last thing you want to do is encounter your kid in this kind of situation.

For the guy who said call 911, expect the police to arrive in 10-15 minutes. They then can do a crime scene investigation to catch the guy who just killed you.

Answer 5

A simple answer is a ShotGun it does not matter what brand, let your budget figure out that answer, Then if you can find them put a blank in the chamber so the noise will make the person think twice and most likey run, them have a couple rounds of light bird shot like 6, 7 1/2, or 8 shot ready next as they while not shoot threw hardy anything but will tear up soft tissue, then have a couple rounds of some form of buck shot such as 4 buck or 00 buck, as these will stop some one dead.

Answer 6

this is a good question..the answer is not a simple one though.a shot gun would make a good home defense gun but one must look at barrel length..if you are in a tight spot the lenght of the barrel could be too long and the gun could not be swung into position that is where a handgun would come into play.a case could be made either way for each gun.if you decide on a shotgun look at a youth modle.they are often shorter than standard shotguns and easier to handle

Answer 7

a shot gun - pump action. the SOUND of a shotgun getting ready for business is terrifying to start. this says to the person GET OUT OF MY HOME NOW!!!!!! then if that does not work, you have 4 to 5 more loud shouts to get your point done. first round should be scatter then slugs. a good pump gun 250 to 450 depending on maker. i prefer an 870 Remington. not a lot of parts, and cops use them, how bad can that be. don't know anything about ca., but baton/bat??? 25 inch Louisville slugger works.

Answer 8

Shotgun my friend but you must practice, practice and practice. In a life and death situation you need to be able to bring the weapon to bare decide if the target is hostile and squeeze the trigger in a heart beat. Even with number 5 or 6 shot loaded in you weapon the intruder will be stopped, the situation will be controlled. Over penetration will not be a problem and by the way a 45 will penetrate an interior wall

Answer 9

First off 9-1-1 is for when a crime has been committed, a firearm is for preventing a crime from happening. Calling 9-1-1 isn't going to stop burglar/murder/rapist, but a gun will. Anyone who thinks 9-1-1 is always a better option than a firearm is an idiot (that means you "goASKalice")

For home defense a 12 gauge shotgun would be best. I have a Remington 870 that I believe is legal in Kommiefornia. Shotguns are better for home defense because they are easier to use in stressful situations than handguns and they do not over penetrate a target as some handgun cartridges can.

Answer 10

a lot of good answers above and a few stupid ones you know who you are 38 mag omg o well. i hope you chose well theirs a lot to pick from i can see the how a newbie can be over whelmed in the world of guns i would like many others has said a shot gun is easy to operate and pretty cheap and theirs a lot of different ammo that can fit your needs just keep in mind what the gun laws are they can be tricky packing.org has a list of them in your area