The Art of Manliness on homes for self defense
They rank the shotty high, the semi-auto handgun low and the revolver in the middle. They leave off rifle, oddly. Don’t care for their rank of the handgun as low. Try navigating your Mossy shotgun through a narrow hallway at oh dark thirty while trying to open doors and turn on light switches, then get back to me.
More quibbles here.
Maybe it’s manly but it’s not the greatest of suggestions.
Legal issues aside, I’d peg the best home defense gun either a short barreled rifle or a semi auto handgun.
November 15th, 2012 at 8:12 pm
Manliness does not enter into home defense in many, many cases. For example, my daughter is planning to live off campus at college next year, in a house with 3 other girls, in a fairly good neighborhood that is still too close to slums for my comfort.
Allow me to sing the praises of her 20 gauge pump shotgun, youth model, which was my first purchase as a home defense shotgun and which will supplement her S&W Model 10 38SPL in her new home.
Short barrel, short stock, light weight, holds 4+1 rounds of non-girly 00 Buck, makes the same interesting noise when chambering a round as a 12 gauge.
And she can shoot it pretty darn well, too.
November 15th, 2012 at 8:48 pm
The article seems to be aimed at newbies, not people who have been shooting a while. That makes the suggestions a little more understandable; a newbie would have a bit more trouble operating a semi-auto than a pump or a revolver, and a newbie really shouldn’t be clearing a house, but rather should fort up in a securable room and call the police.
November 15th, 2012 at 8:49 pm
1911 in the nightstand, M4-gery behind the bedroom door. Two point sling lets the AR hang in a “ready” position as you walk around.
November 15th, 2012 at 10:45 pm
If you think the sound of racking a 12 gauge will scare them off, the ultimate in manly home defense has to be …
CHAINSAW ! ! !
November 15th, 2012 at 11:09 pm
I’ll leave searching the house for guys with body armor and several armed teammates. Shotguns seem like a good answer for people who decide to come looking for you.
But if you need to, indoor ready works pretty well.
November 16th, 2012 at 10:18 am
Ten-inch kitchen knife.
November 16th, 2012 at 10:57 am
The first thing you can get to that says FUCK YOU THIS IS MY HOUSE.
November 16th, 2012 at 11:33 am
The shotgun slide racking noise is the lamest mythical deterrent on the internet. The best deterrent according to my firearms instructor is a large dog that loves you. Perhaps my situation is different than other peoples, but there will never be a time where I will “clear” my house. I pay taxes; the police can clear my house. I’m only leaving my bedroom to get the family in there, barricade the door, set up shop with my M2 and 6 rounds of 00, and scream as loud as I can that I have a gun, I’ve called the police, get out of my house.
November 16th, 2012 at 1:49 pm
I llove the myth that shotguns are better choices because they are easier to shoot than rifles.
Really? even if you shoot it as if it was a shotgun, at 10-15′, if you could get a solid hit with a shotgun, you’ll get solid hits with a rifle. AND, recoil recovery for an intermediate round and magazine capacity mean you’ll get more effectively fired shots off in a similar amount of time.
Plus, any adult with fairly normal strength and coordination in both arms can one-hand a plain vanilla M4gery to work phones, lights, and doorknobs as need be — a little more difficult with any shotgun I’d recommend to a newb. (Everyone says you should never go looking — but what do you do if your KIDS are down the hall, and you want to consolidate everyone on the same side of your firing line, or when you aren’t sure if it’s a Bad Guy ™ or the damned dog is just barking at the racoons outside or the unlatched screen door, AGAIN. . . ?)
There are OTHER arguments in favor of a shotgun as the “go-to gun” in the home. But “riflez iz hard and shotteez R E-Z” isn’t a valid one. (
I have both — but, given the construction of my house, the density of my neighborhood, the orientation and topography of my lot, and the fact that I have years of muscle memory on an AR, including rolling out of my fart sack into a fighting position on exercises, mean my AR is my first choice.
OTOH, one of my co-workers has zero AR time, but has been hunting (deer, turkey, and waterfowl, with the appropriate barrels and loads for each) with his Remington 870 for twenty years — he was discussing buying an AR specifically for home defense with me, and I told him straight out, “Get a shorter barrel with an cylinder bore, pull the mag plug, put on a butt cuff with your preferred buckshot loads, and call it a friggin’ day. Hell, you can probably ‘Get ‘R done’ with a plugged magazine!” (Our game laws allow unplugged magazines, so long as you don’t load too many shells when actually hunting.)
In both of our cases, our longarm of choice is something we can reliably, safely, and effectively run half asleep and in the dark.
November 16th, 2012 at 11:09 pm
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
November 16th, 2012 at 11:12 pm
Sorry. I was trying to type.