Apartment living and home defense

[Smokin .50 1,907]

Are you on the ground floor or above?  Neighbors above/below?  Honestly - I'd go with 9mm with a good HP round.  I know how you shoot - you can get the rounds on target.  Shotgun would potentially have a lot more collateral damage.

 

If you're set on using a shotgun, maybe try slightly smaller rounds?  Like #4 Buckshot?

 

+1K!

 

A scattergun offers you a lot of choices between pumpkin'-ball (slugs) and micro-fine birdshot.  #4 Buck High Brass will go through a coat without over-penetrating, so that is a very good suggestion Nick!

 

Whether or not any of our posters will actually take the time to do a "dry-run" house clearing with an empty gun yet remains to be seen.  And then you have the "deer-in-the-headlights" types who will not snap the trigger at the appropriate time, thereby making all of this "best ammo/gun for SD" entirely moot......

 

To the OP and others:

 

Self Defense is more about the attitude of winning than the size of the pellets/rounds used.  I can stop a threat with a sharpened pencil, baseball bat OR a pair of scissors, let alone my 12 ga.  It just boils down to having/growing a pair when the time comes.  I've defended my home with a 12 ga. already, and I didn't have to fire the shot.  Cause I acted like a BAD-A$$ SOB instead of the "love-able little ME", lol!

[Hooligan 0]

On handgun vs long gun:  a handgun allows you to keep one hand free at all times.  Whether to hold a light, manipulate a doorknob, grab a spouse/child's arm and lead them somewhere.  Something to think about.

[Larry1851 0]

Are you on the ground floor or above?  Neighbors above/below?  Honestly - I'd go with 9mm with a good HP round.  I know how you shoot - you can get the rounds on target.  Shotgun would potentially have a lot more collateral damage.

 

If you're set on using a shotgun, maybe try slightly smaller rounds?  Like #4 Buckshot?

The FBI condones the use of #4 buck in critical situations.  Not sure, though, whether they mean an outside encounter or inside.  #4 buck would be good, IMO.

[vladtepes 1,060]

buckshot has plenty of post interior wall killing potential.. 

 

ETA there is one issue with this test and any like it.. and that is the media is right against the interior wall.... when the media is directly against the wall it is being struck as one target... I would like to see a similar test where there is a marginal gap between the media and wall... 

 

 

[BD104X 1]

On handgun vs long gun: a handgun allows you to keep one hand free at all times. Whether to hold a light, manipulate a doorknob, grab a spouse/child's arm and lead them somewhere. Something to think about.

Very good point.

[vladtepes 1,060]

Very good point.

 

 

it takes a little upper body strength... but a slinged AR15 can be held on target.. and fired with one hand...also my light is weapon mounted so my hand that is operating the light is also supporting the weapon.. increasing accuracy... 

 

at the end of the day you do what you want.. what you are comfortable with... but a small light carbine has a ton of advantages..

[LorenzoS 100]

Spend some time reading the stickies by Gary Roberts over here: http://pistol-forum.com/forumdisplay.php?19-Ammunition

 

In particular, his list of recommended defense / duty handgun, 5.56 and shotgun loads, the folly of frangible ammo, and the sticky describing why overpenetration is the least of your concerns even in an apartment.

 

There is a lot of bull crap on the internet.  Gary Roberts is one of the few reliable sources of information on ammunition.

[Larry1851 0]

Some food for thought:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhZf_x8Esms

[10X 3,337]

Glaser Safety Slugs in a revolver.  You only need to shoot a few to sight in, and you don't have to worry about feeding issues.  They feed fine in many/most autos, but it would get expensive to shoot enough to know they feed reliably in the auto you happen to be using.   And you don't want them in your auto if you haven't shot enough to be sure they feed.

[wooly bugger 1]

Maybe I'm wrong (it does happen at least once every 5 to 10 years) but what is with everyone's fear of being attacked in your home?  I'm curious how many people here have ever had that happen?  Maybe this is being over thought.  Maybe its just a heck of a lot more unlikely where I live than where others live, but I have never heard of this happing where I live.

 

It just happened twice in the past couple of weeks. Once in Millburn and once in Colt's Neck.

That being said, I agree that mathematically, there are a lot of things to be much more worried about.

 

The tipping point for me was Irene and Sandy. In both cases, I was left without power, landline, or cell phone connections for long periods of time, all street lights were out at night, and many of my neighbors had fled town. My family was a flock of sitting ducks, and  having a weapon within reach at all times at night gave me great comfort.

 

"Shovel ready projects" aside, our social and physical infrastructure are getting worse and not better, so if we've had two instances in the past two years where the veneer of society notably buckled, I think we're in for a lot more.

 

So, I agree overall with your assessment that in normal times, all this preparation is a bit paranoid. But where I differ is in my faith in continued normalcy. We will continue to see our comfortable lives punctuated by times of danger, and it's perfectly sensible to be prepared.

[bulpup 98]

I agree it "could" happen, but what are the chances?  Maybe where you live it is a lot higher than where I am.  I am more concerned with such things as the house being hit by lightning, being attacked by a black bear in the back yard, fire, etc....  If I lived in one of the inner cities in the state I would be more concerned with a bad guy breaking in.

 

In a gun forum it is not out of place to talk about it.  If I were to be spending time on the holidays and at work discussing it perhaps it would be odd.  Although at times I do get asked my opinion about this sort of stuff.

 

I personally like to see all the differing opinions about how to handle situations and what weapons and firearms to use.

But I also like to make sure I have proper fire extinguishers in the areas of my house and figure where I might go if there is a fire.

I have even had a chance to put out a controlled fire as practice at Ft. Dix. 

That said, I don't make it part of my daily concern.

 

A little bit of thought and practice is all many people need. 

[Howard 538]

Bulpup - I don't disagree with you.  I just wonder how many people here have ever actually run into a situation in their homes where they needed to have a gun, and how many have actually fired one at a person.  I am sure there are cases, I just have never heard of anyone I know being put in that situation.  Maybe where I live is very different than where you live.  I just question when I hear people telling about the 12 guns they have scattered through the house, "just in case".

 

So who here has actually used a gun in self defense and what ramifications followed ?????

[illy 1]

 I just wonder how many people here have ever actually run into a situation in their homes where they needed to have a gun,

 

Personal experience (and a common mistake):

1. (20 years ago) My parents home. Intruder entered in the middle of the day through the bilco doors. German shepherd alerted first and chased him from the basement, over the backyard fence.

 

2. (10-12 years ago) An old GF of mine came home earlier than usual, walks in on neighbor in her (first floor) apartment. She ran screaming her lungs out, he went out the window he had jimmied to get in. 

 

3. (Recently) The last place I lived at before my current place was a large apartment building in a nice area of Bergen Co.

Around 11pm, I hear my entrance door being opened. I, unfortunately, had to cut across a hallway in full view of the entry door to get to my gun. I told the wife to dial 9-1 and stay put. As I made my way to the bedroom I notice my super hot upstairs neighbor standing in my doorway, looking confused. I ask her what she's doing, something clicks and she goes "OMG, I'm so sorry" and books.

 

Spoke to her the next day: as it turns out, all the locks in the building have the same type of key, so they'll all go into the lock, but not turn it. In this case, my wife had left the door unlocked because she was going back and forth to the laundry room (she got an earful on that one) and smoking hot neighbor chick was tipsy, got off on the wrong floor and thought she opened her own door (but stood there looking dumb, trying to figure out why her furniture looked different).

 

The common mistake in all three was far too easy access. (unsecured bilcos, easily defeated window lock, unlocked door).

 

So it does happen, even moreso if you don't take precautions. Even situation #3, which was an honest mistake, it could have gotten ugly had it been some dude from 3 floors up who I didn't recognize.

 

But it could have been really bad if it was an actual BG and I'm cut-off from any self-defense tools other than a tv remote and a couch cushion.

 

 

So now I keep a gun in easy reach in the commonly used areas of the home AND I make sure all points of entry are secure and reinforced.  

[SteveInNJ 0]

Although I served in the Marine Corps I will use the Coast Guard's motto here... Semper Paratus. It means "always ready" and it can mean life or death in an unforeseen situation. My house isn't large enough to have "12 guns" stashed in different places and I wouldn't really be comfortable with that given we have small kids but what happens if someone DOES kick in your door? It will be too late once it happens. I've never been in the situation myself but I've seen the aftermath first hand and it's scary. In my house my wife and I both have our own handguns in our nightstands (in safes) that will be for anything that happens inside. For outside, we have a 12 gauge with 00Buck as we have no neighbors. I seriously doubt anything would last more than a few magazines worth of ammo and if so.... they've probably been practicing just as much as I have.

[bulpup 98]

I think this should be a new thread.

 

Interesting turn, but nothing to do with the original topic.

 

 

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