Best gun for home defense?

Question

Could I get a list of several guns that would be the best for home-defense? Seems like most people say that the shotgun is the best. What type of shotgun would be good? I know little about guns. I am a male and can handle a larger gun if need be.

Answer 1

Check out Taurus. They have a 5 shot revolver that fires either a 45 long colt, or a 410 shotgun shell. The video is quite impressive. Easy to carry, and it does the job.
Edit. The Judge.

Answer 2

There are a few questions that need to be answered first. Do you live in an apartment or house? Are there other people living in the home? Will a bullet penetrate the walls where you live and kill your neighbor? There is a lot more to think about besides the easily take out a burglar part. Shotguns are going to be your best bet. No need for a 12 gauge unless you already own one. A 20 works out just as well at short distance inside a home with less kick. A short barreled(18.5inch) pump or semi auto is the ideal home defense weapon with light source of some sort. Most people recommend oo buck but in an apartment I would recommend bird shot to avoid over penetration. The main idea is t stay alive but the anal pucker factor you instill into the burglar also works and nothing is scarier in the dead of the night then the sound of a pump action shotgun when all is quiet. Plus it leaves a large gapping wound. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Lots of answers, so let me help. Go read the ones that say to stay away from a long gun, like a shotgun or rifle. Yes, the sound of chambering a round in a shotgun is bone-chilling, but like others have said, they're not the best choice for indoor situations (easer to disarm, spread of pellets may hit undesired target). An assault rifle is just silly for home defense (again, like others have said, hard to aim, too cumbersome). SWAT teams typically use sub-machine guns when doing home entries, although they have shotguns and rifles readily available in their arsenal. They opt for the smaller, easy to aim, easy to control weapon that utilizes handgun ammo. So should you (well, minus the automatic firing option).

Whatever you go with remember this: You need to train and make sure you realize every aspect of having/using a firearm in your house. Safety is paramount. It's not something you can just go out and buy, lock it up and forget about until the boogie man jumps in through a window. People have shot and killed their own family members - the very same people they thought they were protecting. Will you be able to see well enough in the dark right after being awakened from a deep sleep? What if an intruder gets your gun from you? If you do shoot the bad guy and are cleared of criminal charges, are you ready to defend yourself in civil court? (ridiculous, I know)

I'm not against getting a gun for protecting your home, and there's lots of good advice here, just please make sure you are fully aware it goes far beyond type, model and caliber.

Answer 4

Oh for crying out loud,,, this person is looking for something to defend his home. Not start a war with.

First, go outside and look at your surroundings, do you live in an apartment building? A house in the suburbs with lots of neighbors? The Ghetto? Out in some rural area?

Ok now that you have established this, lets talk about your options. We have rifles, pistols and shotguns. Unless you are living in a rural area and are surrounded by wolves and other wild animals, Rifles are pretty much out of the question. So now that is settled lets move on. Pistols lots of power in a little tool. Wheel guns are KISS (keep it simple stupid) However they are limited in capacity, top out at 8 rounds unless you want a 22. So those are ok, however I don't like them.
We now have auto pistols, presumably the glock which has become ubiquitous in the states as a go to gun. It comes in a great many calibres, from the 9mm to the 10mm. .45 to .357. As for recoil goes the 9mm is pretty good, you can get +p+ and it wil have some stopping power. In the G17 you have 17+1 rounds you can put a tactical light with a laser on and what you see is what you shoot. This goes with all Glocks, some with more stopping power but the 9mm is good for what you are looking for.
Shotguns, shotguns are great for close up within 25ft. 00 shot is a life stopper. They can be big and cumbersome and if you don't know how to shoot one they can knock you on your butt. Now with all of these guys say 10 round 9 rounds or whatever, 00 buck blah blah blah. I would say if you are looking for home defense go online and look for some bean bag rounds. Load these last since they should be the first one out, load some 00 first since these should be the last ones out. This does two things, one it doesn't kill the person you aim at. Two, it shows that you weren't trying to kill the man,, if you need more rounds, you have the buckshot to stop him permanently, but the non lethal rounds should be sufficient. Despite what some of these action movie junkies might say. Killing people isn't a good thing, it will change your life and it is something believe me you don't want to do if you can avoid it..
As for ammo for a pistol, choose frangible ammo so that they won't go through the wall well walls and inadvertantly kill your neighbors.
The last thing, train train train. If you can not place your rounds, if you do not know how to load under stress, if you do not know how to keep hold of your gun in a fight. You will do more harm then good, and you would be better off without a gun.

Answer 5

Several factors come into play on choosing a home defense weapon. How much experience do you have with handguns, shotguns, or rifles? What kind of environment do you live in, apartment, urban neighborhood, rural (no close neighbors)?

I have over 40 years experience and training with weapons. My wife is also an accomplished shooter, competitor, and hunter. At one time we lived on a small ranch. My house gun was a S&W .44 mag. revolver and my wife's was a Ruger SP101 in .38 spl. I kept a Remington 870, 12 GA., pump shotgun, with an extension tube (giving me eight shots), in the closet. I also had an AR-15 in the same closet, but that was mostly for Coyote control.

That is a lot of fire power. Once we sold the ranch and moved into the city, we had to reconsider our house guns. We live in an urban neighborhood, my .44 mag would punch thru an entire house; so I down loaded to .44 special. My wife changed from the 125 gr. hollow points to Glazer safety slugs for her .38 revolver. I changed out the 12 GA, double aught buck shot for #4 shot shells. The rifle went into the safe.

If you are not an experienced shooter, I would recommend the Smith & Wesson model 10, heavy barrel, revolver in .38 special. This gun has been around for 100 years. It is a rock solid design and utterly reliable. Ammunition is inexpensive so you can practice quite a lot with it. Stick to the four inch barrel. Take some lessons from a qualified instructor, not your drinking buddy down the street. Training with a revolver is the best way to get a good grounding in the basics of handgunning. As you improve, you can decide then if you want a semi auto or more powerful calibers.

There are a lot of myths surrounding the shotgun. However, it can be a difficult weapon to master without proper instruction. Most home defense shotguns are 18 to 20 inch barreled guns. 12 GA seems to be the gauge of choice but a 20 guage works just as well. If you live in an apartment, be aware that almost any shotgun round will blow thru apartment walls. Recoil can be stout with the slug and double aught buckshot loads. #4 shotshells will do the trick at close ranges without beating you to death.

Children in the home?? Start looking at a lock box to keep the weapon stored in.

Hope this helps.

Answer 6

I think a shotgun is a good idea, they are inexpensive to own and the shells aren't too expensive. You an also reload your own shotgun shells. Since you are in the home, you don't need accuracy, just stopping power and a shotgun should be fine.

Also, the sounds of you pumping the shotgun to load a cartridge should be enough.

If you are worried, also look into getting your home monitored by a security company.

Answer 7

A 12 gauge pump shot gun sawed down to just over the legal length barrel let a gunsmith do it so there are no legal problems. Have him take the plug out if there is one that way the weapon will hold 5 rounds instead of 3.
Then load her up with high brass 00 buckshot and you sir will be the most dangerous thing in your home.

Answer 8

Pump shotgun,pumping it alone is a strong message.I have a Winchester defender and a Mossberg maverick. Those are just the two I own with 18 inch barrel and 10 shot mag. both 12 gauge with 3 inch capacity,which will drop the number of shells you can load. I load them with triple ought buckshot.

added. dog,that is bad advice and you claim to be a cop. I could use my .44 or one of my rifles,but the object is to harm the intruders,not the neighbors. at least have the good sense to suggest fragible ammo with something beyond a shotgun.

Answer 9

Pump 12 Guage. A Mossberg 500 is inexpensive, reliable and would do the trick. The nice thing about a shot gun is that you don't need to be terribly accurate and it will not penetrate walls as well as a handgun so accidentally killing the sleeping child next door is unlikely.

Lastly, a shotgun is much harder for a child to load, pump and fire considering the weight and size of the weapon as well as the multiple safeties needed to pump. That said, all firearms should be stored out of reach and unloaded.

Answer 10

If you have children in the house, use a pump shotgun with bird shot, bird shot will not gone through a wall as easy as buck shot and will stop a person at closet range. If you live alone and is a good shot, then a 357 or 9mm will do.
Remember, more shooting for defense happens within 15 ft.
Take a good look at your environment and picture where the shot or bullet may go if you miss.