Home Defense - Handgun or Shotgun

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In your opinion, which is a better home defense gun?

  • Handgun

    Votes: 77 30.2%
  • Shotgun

    Votes: 178 69.8%

  • Total voters
    255

1911user

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I went with bird shot over .00 at the suggestion from a Sheriff's deputy that told me that he believes that it had a lesser kick and was just as effective in a CQB situation.

Use reduced recoil 00 buckshot instead of birdshot. The recoil is about the same as a good dove load with much better penetration.
 

Big-Tex

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I voted shotgun. I have a xd45 bedside and a 870 in the corner. two 00 buck and 3 slugs should solve most problems and if there's a natural disaster/zombie situation, then the ar resides in the closet and a cold steel sword beside it for when the SHTF hardcore (lol, I would never bring that thing out in self defense, I'd lose a leg...)
 

Shawn_Ginardi

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I'm going to have to go with the shotgun. Although I have my G22 w/ a surefire x400 within arms reach of my bed and the shotgun is pretty much arms length also. I am using a FN SLP 18". No pumping sound just about 4-5 shotgun rounds within a second at some scumbag. my load goes as follows: 00 buckshot, #2 buckshot, 00 buckshot, #2 buckshot, etc...

as our president kept telling us how we all need change....................
 

Street Rat

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What do you do on a dark night?

For all the shotgunners - you'd better have a light mounted on it with a pressure switch.

A small flashlight with an endcap switch works very well with a handgun. There a couple of different ways to hold it together with the handgun.

Which is another point for a handgun, flashlight in one hand, gun in the other. With a mounted a flashlight on a shotgun, are you going to go looking for your kids pointing the light at the end of a shotgun at them? If you have kids, I don't think you are going to wait for the intruder to come to you. It's easier to open doors and move objects when you have one hand free.
 

SMS

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Which is another point for a handgun, flashlight in one hand, gun in the other. With a mounted a flashlight on a shotgun, are you going to go looking for your kids pointing the light at the end of a shotgun at them? If you have kids, I don't think you are going to wait for the intruder to come to you. It's easier to open doors and move objects when you have one hand free.

Not 'looking' for kids with a shotgun mounted light...using the light to illuminate a target. I know, and can move through, my home in the dark without the aid of white light. That's one of the first steps in a home defense plan right?

I don't see how a flashlight in one hand and a pistol in the other equals "one hand free" unless you are sporting an extra appendage...LOL. But I do know I can manipulate my shotgun or rifle and still use one completely free hand to open a door or move something...with light on or off if need be.
 

Street Rat

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Not 'looking' for kids with a shotgun mounted light...using the light to illuminate a target. I know, and can move through, my home in the dark without the aid of white light. That's one of the first steps in a home defense plan right?

I don't see how a flashlight in one hand and a pistol in the other equals "one hand free" unless you are sporting an extra appendage...LOL. But I do know I can manipulate my shotgun or rifle and still use one completely free hand to open a door or move something...with light on or off if need be.

I have been known to be able to turn a door knob with something small in my hand, maybe something as small as my flashlight, you could probably do it to with a little effort. :)

True, I know my house better than in intruder, especially in the dark, I know my house is dark, so if I had kids I woudn't go shooting at things that move without knowing what or who it was, a flashlight is a good idea, but not on the end of a shotgun, that's all I'm saying. I didn't know I would be critiqued so much. That's just what I read in a magazine about this very topic.
 

Shooter00

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I'll use my pistol, easier to corner. I don't have a short enough scatter gun that I would want to poke around a corner in the off chance I get taken by surprise, and BG grows a pair and grabs the muzzle as I come around the corner - in my tacticool drawers, of course.

-just wanted to finish the mental picture for you -

I agree with Street Rat, having a hand free for a door knob is a plus.
 

Glocktogo

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No kids in the house so I'm not worried about that. I do have a 6P with a Malkoff warm flood LED and it will light up an entire room with the muzzle depressed to 45 degrees.

I always keep a hi-cap pistol with an M3 mounted in the nightstand for HD at night. But I will admit that I put the 11.5" RR M16 next to the bed the other night and it felt reassuring. I just have to decide if I want to haul it or the SBS in and out of the safe every day.
 

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