bradleyd3 - 2008-05-21 11:05 AM
CBarnes - 2008-05-20 9:35 PM Well if it is Home Defense a 20Ga pump home defense gun with a mounted light is very hard to beat and a lot safer than a hand gun in the house but I am sure others may disagree.
x3
(someone else mentioned a shotgun
) Easy to use and hard to miss
(unless you're shooting at dove or duck.....those b@stards...
) Plus....if you're caught unprepared and don't have any shells, one pump on a shotgun will make ANYONE stop and think about what they're going to do next.
While I don't disagree about the efficacy of a shotgun for home-defense, I will give you a few observations I've made from years of competitive 3-Gun shooting:
1) contrary to popular opinion, its REAL EASY to miss with a shotgun, more so at indoor ranges. The typical range of 20-30 feet of a home, means your pattern has not had the opportunity to open-up more than 5-6 inches--even out of an 18-in. barrel. Add adrenaline and low-light, and you have a recipe for an easy miss--I've seen this repeated time after time under competition conditions (myself included)--which is a good indicator of what happen if/when the real sh*t hits the fan.
2) acknowledging the limited pattern-expansion of indoor ranges, and after much practice and experimentation, we (our shooting club) found #4-Shot to be the perfect blend of knockdown power and limiting wall-penetration.
3) with the exception of shooting from barricade, a shotgun can actual be a detriment for investigating "bumps in the night" around the house. The long barrel makes you very susceptible to disarmament, without some rudimentary (I'd argue extensive) training. Just my $0.02.
4) one other consideration is that a shotgun requires two-hands to operate properly, which doesn't leave a hand to hold a phone while calling for help. Not an issue if you have another person in the household to call.
5) a mounted tactical-light is almost mandatory. Be advised that such a light may cost you almost as much as the shotgun itself.
HTH!
Edited by guncollector 2008-05-21 1:50 PM