I’d add that you should always be prepared to pull the trigger after racking it; never rely on the intelligence or common sense of someone who’s broken into your house.
That’s the beauty of 12-gauge:
If he ain’t smart enough to leave after the slide racks, then you have the added deterrent of 10 00 pellets tearing through his chest all at once, and killing him in a singularly horrific manner. It’s sort of it’s own little self-contained object lesson!
And like all life lessons, the test comes before the lecture. Harsh.
I agree… not.
I can go on at length about the advantages of a longarm for home defense, but I don’t think I really have to. Tactically speaking, handguns are a secondary weapon. Inferior capacity, stopping power, and accuracy will always make this so. Rifles rule the outdoors and open spaces; it is always strategically better to engage a threat at great a distance as possible. In this the rifle is supreme ruler of the range.
I agree completely. When I see a threat coming over the horizon to bust into my house I go to my safe, open it, grab the FN FAL and Remington 12g, load them, get set up… oh wait. I’m already dead and the criminal is drinking my beer, raping my wife, killing my children, etc. because I didn’t have time to do all that.
Of course, I’m exaggerating. This isn’t a problem for me because I have the FN Fal and 12g both strapped to my body at all times. When I go to Walmart, to the Post Office, for my morning walk, to the grocery store.
I like to be the center of attention. It keeps the loonies away.
But seriously, the only problem with “longarms” for defense is just that – they are longarms. We civilians don’t carry them in our daily lives and would rightly be considered odd or dangerous if we did. You are usually considered odd if you do concealed carry, let alone open carry. Either way, burglars, rapist, murderers, home invaders, etc., don’t call ahead to make an appointment. At least not around here. They just aren’t polite like that. I wish they were, but they seem to have other motivations.
The only gun (or weapon of any kind) that matters in common self defense events is the one that is immediately in your hand and you know how to use. A 22 pea shooter in the hand beats a shotgun under the bed, in the closet or in the safe any day. (Not that I’d recommend a 22 for self defense.)
“Tactically speaking,” all tactics are relative to your situation. The reality is that most attacks in the civilian world happen with little warning and at uncomfortably-close range, and it is ridiculous to state or imply that a long gun is a good choice for common self defense situations. It simply isn’t. It is a viable alternative for home defense for people who have chosen not to carry a pistol.
Handguns are “secondary” if you are in the military – if you carry a rifle. They are not secondary for civilians who are serious about self defense. Personally, I have three decades’ experience in unarmed self defense and martial arts. However, a 9mm handgun is either on my person or within 10 feet at all times; 14 rounds in it and 16 more available within about 2 seconds.
Of course, I carry it only so that I can clear a path to the shotgun.
:qleft7:
I direct you to the following section:
[U][I]
Leave it at home:[/I][/U] This is not a carry piece. You really need to leave it in the house, so as a “budget gun” this lack of portability could be a strike against it. Handguns can do dual duty as home defense and personal defense. The Mossberg just won’t fly as a carry piece most places. Although you can technically open carry it in Vermont, New Mexico, Arizona, Montana, and Wyoming. Your call.
Did you read the whole piece? I don’t disagree with one single thing you said. But my Mossberg is loaded and ready in the cabinet by the bed every night. This is how a home defense weapon works. I won’t tell you how to live, but if you are trying to find and load your weapon when the bad guy comes, then you have already fucked up very badly. Sorry about that. But with 30 years experience, you already knew that.
I also direct you to this part:
“If your budget has the room for a dedicated home-defense weapon, then this is the easy first-choice.”
Basically, everything you bring up was covered in the article already. I can’t change your mind, but I can respectfully ask you to build your strawmen out of substance that ISN’T already addressed in the piece. These are written to help people evaluate weapons on a budget, not to provide meaningful commentary or pass judgment upon your personal strategies.
If your contention is that shotguns don’t make good home defense pieces, then you will find yourself in the minority amongst gun owners. Sorry about that as well. But with thirty years experience, you already knew that.
[quote=zaohu;2228762]I don’t know if you noticed or not, but that soldier in the picture that “approves of the 590” isn’t actually firing a Mossy, but a Benelli M4, or an M1014 by it’s military designation. It’s a Semi-Auto Combat Shotgun.
Other than that, agreed on much of this. 590s and Remington 870s are my personal choices in shotguns.[/quote]
Also, he’s not a soldier but a US Marine.
again: