Not CC, but home protection

[model 70]

I hope and plan on never having to use it, but is the .357mag "too much" for home protection? Any have one for CC? Also, would a 6" barrel be too bulky?

[Gil Martin]

One of my home defense choices is a Smith & Wesson Model 66 stainless .357 magnum with a 4 inch barrel. Sometimes I load it with .38 Special handloads. A .357 should be just fine in the role of home defense. My recommendation would be to practice, practice and practice and keep it available. You should have confidence in whatever arm you select for home defense. Hope this helps. all the best...
Gil

[VinVega]

I think anything suitable for concealed carry would work for home defense, but personally for home defense I think the bigger the better, usually. Not always...but usually. I prefer a 12-gauge with a 18.5" barrel and pistol grip...loaded with 00 or 000 buck. Noone will mess with that.

[kt]

i would second the 12 gauge, the nra actually says a 1 oz dove load is the best idea for home defense quick shot recovery, no over penetration and less house damage. i say whatever shell you grab first. as for the 375 if you have it, its not too much, i like the idea of .38s in it.no sense in buying a new gun, i just say how well can you click them off in low light, possibly holding a flashlight. imagine though, you hear some one down stairs at 2 AM and you grab the 12 and send a SHUCK-SHUCK! of the pump action through the quiet house any body with half a brain is gonna high tail it. just a thought i like
kt

[Mr. 16 gauge]

I prefer a shotgun as well, but instead of dove loads or buckshot, I prefer #2 lead goose loads (well, back when lead was legal:p )....more lethal than #8s, yet will slow down quickly if a stray pellet goes out the window.............
One could also consider Glaser safetly slugs in the 357 mag as well, if one were concerned about a stray round going through a thin wall, as in a condo or apartment.

[gregarat]

I also prefer a shotgun, I use #3shot.
A .357 is also great fot home def. I hear that the Glaser safty slugs "can" go through walls, so be carefull.

[model 70]

This brings me to another somewhat disturbing though.

It's the middle of the night and you hear something that awakens you. You grab your tusty ol' 12ga and go investigate. You flick the lights on and see a stranger in your house. They have a weapon so you pump a round or 2 into the intruder. Blood and guts all over the floor and wall. The burglar falls down dead as can be. Wouldn't it keep you up at night knowing some piece of !@#% got blwon away in your home? I mean crime scene clean up can mop up the mess but knowing every time you walked past that spot,a person was killed there?

Yeah I know that if a person breaks into your home, even if they would rather flee than attack, you sinpley don't know. If you fear for your personal safety you have every right to defend yourself even if that means the attacker must die. I am right there with you in that fact.

Also, I'd fear that these days with society gettiong more and more...lets just say liberal for lack of a better term that the courts or jury may see you as being in the wrong. I couldn't handle going to the pen for anything or any amount of time. It would kil me even more knowing I went there to defend myself. It's a real possibility.

I cannot get over these thoughts and home defense is serious business to me. I dunno if I would be prepared to suffer the mental and legal consequenses.

[gregarat]

Mod 70,

That really very scary stuff.
-Society judging you
-Getting your belongings trashed with BG goo, and lead.
-The chance of getting charged by the law, even if you are defending yourself.
-Even feeling remorse when you feel when you find out that the BG has a kid:(
-Allot of other stuff we dont know about because it had never happened to us.

These are very serious consequences. Still self-preservation is far more serious. A LEO once told me "Its better being jugged by twelve, than carried by six"
Just remember that its only "self defense" if it is your only option. So be sure that your brain is your primary defense tool.

[8X56MS]

This is one of the most repeated threads with firearms BBS. I still say what is the best choice for one guy, won't be for another. Skill level, familiarity, practice, and the availability of guns of one type or another, all come into play.
The best advice I can give, is pick something, and practice a LOT with it. Work on securing your home, lights, alarm, locks, better quality doors. Have a plan on what you can / will do if the chips are down. Have a cell phone for emergency use. Know where your family is, within the house.
............and practice, practice, practice.

[Mickey Rat]

The best thing to have is whatever you got. I think a 357 is a bit too noisy, but that's just me.

A Ruger 10-22 is a great home defense gun. Not scary to shoot-even for the wife, cheap to practice with, and most folks can point shoot it pretty good. 10 22 rounds in about 2 seconds is pretty impressive.

A 410 or 20 guage are both good home defense guns. Either will provide a one shot stop, and both are inexpensive and easier for most people to handle.

Remember, nobody wants to get shot, even a little bit.

[Tater]

I don't think a .357 is too much. Take a look at the Glaser Safety Slugs: they are perfect for home use. Major knock-down without the fear of overpenetration and dead neighbors.

[Mickey Rat]

Yes, the safety slugs are great, but where can Joe Citizen find them. They are often difficult to obtain.

410 with #9's is the same thing, only bigger and cheaper.

Glasser's if you can get them.

[Tater]

You could always try here: http://mysite.elixirlabs.com/index.php?uid=12665&page=1977

[Classicvette63]

Model 70, Not sure if it would bug me that a bad guy got blown away in the house. Wouldn't it be more traumatic to watch a loved one die a slow painful death of natural causes? We didn't move after Dad died even though we thought about him and his last days in his bedroom often.

I second the Glasers or MagSafes for home protection. I have alternately, a .357 and a .45 in the nightstand with a 12gauge propped in the corner. If the pistols don't deter them, I ain't messing with birdshot. 00 buck all the way.

[RagingBullPa]

my taurus pt945b loaded with rem 230 grain golden sabershollow[points , and my 870 rem 20 guage loaded with high brass 7 1/2 shot whyseven and half more pellets covers broader areawith an icchoke beats only what 12 00 buck pellets

[GoodOlBoy]

No a 357 wouldn't be too much. And a 6" barrel lends itself nicely to accuracy. With 158grain semijacketed softpoint, or a good 158 grain hollowpoint you can take care of buisness. I prefere a semijacket myself but each to his or her own.

GoodOlBoy

[gold40]

It is my opinion that a 6" barreled .357 revolver is an excellent home defense choice, especially if you already own one.

The revolver is much easier to handle in a narrow hallway than a 24" + long shotgun. Also it is easier to conceal in a nighstand near your bed.

Some people believe "you can't miss" with a shotgun, but that isn't true inside a home. The pattern will only be a few inches wide inside the house, and you can miss with a shotgun just as easily as with a handgun.

Most people anguish too much over the choce of a home defense weapon. Use whatever you already own, and just practice a few times a year at your local shooting facility.

JERRY

[Adam Helmer]

gold40,

You got it right! My club offers home defense classes and we get all sorts of folks. We like to think our students leave our club better for our training. Many have NEVER fired their "Home Defense" guns and about 20% would not fire due to bad ammo or defective guns.

Adam

[8X56MS]

I like a rifle for home defense. I have a Bushmaster shorty, loaded with WW 45 grain HPs.

[L. Cooper]

Have any of you ever fired a 12 gauge shot gun in a small room?

Only once for me, and I couldn't hear anything except nearby train whistles for a week. The blast completely disoriented me for a couple of seconds.

I still think a shotgun is the best deterrent possible, and very effective if it has to be used, but one should do the experiment so you won't be as shocked as I was the first time it happened.

[Adam Helmer]

L. Cooper,

You make an excellent point about noise in a small room, from shotguns or handguns.

I prefer a handgun for my house gun and have a hearing preservation drill so I can hear other assailants entering the house after the first is down. I hold my handgun in my strong (right) hand, roll my head to the right and cover that ear on my shoulder. I put my weak hand over my left ear and blast as needed.

One MUST preserve their hearing to hear other bad guys coming in. Since we may not have time to install earphones or plugs, I use my preservation drill.

Adam

[L. Cooper]

I have to add that every time I see a gun fight in a tiny space on television I remember my little experiment. And I cringe. I sometimes worry that I would have a bad flinch in a real gunfight from just that one shot.

It seems television stars are a lot more immune to muzzle blast than I am. Either that or ............. Naaah. They wouldn't be making it look different than it really is, would they?

[wrenchman]

a 357 with some mild 38s and any one in your house can handel it.
I say youse what you have and get good with it.
There are lots of guys that have guns doing double duty they just cant afford them an there is nothing wrong with it.

[PaulS]

I agree with a 12 ga. pump. Residential robberies are seldom performed by individuals and I have seven rounds in the tube of my pump - easy to reach and my wife and I are extremely familiar with it. It is easy to point in the right direction and harder to point in the wrong direction than a pistol. A 357 mag will go through a person, leaving them wounded and keep traveling through the outside walls of my house and that of my neighbors. The shotgun pellets usually stop in the perp but even a clean miss will be stopped by the exterior walls.
Yep, he or they will be in pieces and puddles all over the hardwood floors but I am sure they will never terrorize anyone else ever again. I can feel good about that.
________
Hydrocodone Rehab Forum (http://www.rehab-forum.com/hydrocodone-rehab/)

[jmarriott]

A revolver is just to get to your primary weapon. I use a 1894 marlin 44 mag. short carbine and without the appearance of those new assualt weapons for the lawyers to pick apart.

After all everyone has seen a movie of a western rancher protecting home and family with a lever action.

[MacD37]

Whether the 357 mag is too much for home defense depends on how your house is built, and with frame&drywall, or more substantual walls, and if there are many in the family in other rooms in the house! A 357mag will shoot through several walls covered with drywall. One must think about the kids in the other room.

IMO the best home defense weapon is a 3" 20 ga pump shotgun with an 18" barrel and an extended magazine. I don't like the buckshot for the same reason I don't like the 357mag for home defense, it penetrates too well. I load with 7 1/2 birdshot. At the longest distance in most houses,the pattern will be no more thah 10" down a hall, and in most rooms, it will hit like a solid 3" chunk of lead, and will penetrate the first layer of drywall, but will not penetrate the drywall into the next room with enough velocity to do damage. the pistol can be used as a back-up if you need it, but the primary in my home is the shotgun!