Shotgun or Handgun for Home Defense?

[Philadelphia Patriot]

Shotgun or handgun for home defense? What are your comments?

 

[Muss Muggins]

Shotgun or handgun for home defense? What are your comments?

Governor. Best of both worlds . . .

 

[Targets Guy]

Shotgun. But use the handgun if it is easier to get to.

 

[5point5sixGUY]

Handgun, easier and faster to move around and more ammo.

 

[686-380]

Handgun. Easier to maneuver.

 

[Biggfoot44]

Tastes Great vs Less Filling. This discussion could go on for thousands of posts, with no increase of cumulative knowledge after the first 10 or 12 posts. But for my $.02 ;

Ideally you should have both, as they can fill different needs. But if truely only one, I would put the higher priority on handgun.

 

[Rpg]

Colt 1911.

I'm not wandering around the house with a Parker looking for a BG.

 

[WR Moore]

There's got to be several threads on this already. There is a search feature.

Short form: for static defense, shotgun with attached light and buckshot. Anything else, handgun with attached light.

And before you ask, anything that'll stop bag persons goes through drywall like it wasn't there. Work out your fire lanes ahead of time.

 

[Old cop]

I'm old school (when the .38 ruled) and don't like the idea of a light attached to a gun. Maybe if I was trained differently but to me the bad guy (BG) will shoot at the light and hit you b/c you're right behind it. Our revolvers could not be adapted to accept a light so it was held in the off hand and out to the side for tactical advantage. Even when we transitioned to the Glock there was no rail on the weapon. I'm not knocking current tech or methods, just not something I'm comfortable with.

 

[cmort666]

Shotgun or handgun for home defense? What are your comments?

It depends entirely on your environment.

In my home, anything bigger than a Greasegun with the stock collapsed is as useless as a bamboo cavalry lance.

My home defense gun is whatever I carried that day, usually my 3 1/2" M1911.

Other people in bigger homes have more latitude.

 

[fatcat3]

shotgun!

 

[dougb1946]

I am not wondering through the house trying to jump a BG. Thats for the police. I am making a call and forting up with a 12 gauge in a spot with a field of fire, a solid backdrop to shoot into, and a little defensive structure that looks like a bed. The 9mm will be near by, but the 12 will be the first sound the BG hears.

 

[kenv1950]

Just because I shake to much for a handgun .Shotgun is ok, but remember if the first shot doen't count a shotgun will deafen you temporarily if fired indoors and possibly flash blind for a few seconds

 

[G.T. Smith]

I would probably use the handgun to give me time to get to a shotgun or rifle.
Peace,
gordon

 

[Mister X]

Handgun.

The shotgun(or rifle) can play a home defense role(primarily from static, fixed position/safe room/lots of lead time scenarios), but for me it has such limited practical application that I no longer even own a long gun of any kind.

With kids, all my guns are locked up or on me. There likely wouldn't be time to even access a long gun kept in a safe. Plus I'd be moving toward my kids room anyway in the event of a home invasion and a handgun is much more practical in that situation. Even if I didn't have kids, I still see the pistol making the most sense. Any long gun would merely by supplementary.

I wouldn't go looking for an intruder, but with kids and pets, "clearing" my house is a pretty frequent occurrence. It would be absolutely ridiculous to call the police in response to every bump in the night.

I agree with the majority of points made here...

[ame]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dtxxvHF_pTY[/ame]

 

[V0OBWxZS16]

AR15 carbine or SBR

 

[WR Moore]

I'm old school Maybe if I was trained differently but to me the bad guy (BG) will shoot at the light and hit you b/c you're right behind it. ......... I'm not knocking current tech or methods, just not something I'm comfortable with.

In wide open spaces you may have a point. That said, in the limited space of a home, office, etc and especially with the predominant use of white walls that reflect a lot of light, you're kidding yourself if you think one method is more concealing than another. We used to do significant force on force work and I had a lot of experience as the bad (not bag) guy. Try it yourself.

The weapon mounted light is also a lot easier to work with. No, you don't have to point it at anyone, there's generally enough width of light to avoid that if not necessary.

 

[ContinentalOp]

I'm in the camp that says long guns are best used for hunkering down in the safe room, while handguns provide more versatility; they're handier (pun intended ).

Right now I don't have a long gun, and my only experiences with long guns have been learning to shoot with a .22 rifle as a boy and attending a brief familiarization course with a Remington 870 as a young adult. I've had much more training and experience with handguns. So I rely on handguns for HD, currently consisting of a couple of 642s (one of which I carry on me even when at home) and a Beretta 92FS (my "hunker-down" safe room gun).

I've thought about getting a long gun for HD, but I think a pistol-caliber carbine of some type would suit me better than a shotgun. While noise is a small consideration, my main reason is that I have much easier access to ranges that let me shoot pistol-caliber rifles.

 

[AlHunt]

A couple of each, located strategically as circumstances allow.

 

[bigwheelzip]

Shotgun or handgun for home defense?

Why, both of course, as they make a great team.

You knock politely at my door, I bring a handgun to look out the peephole, and maybe open the door.

You try to knock down my door, there will be long guns waiting on the other side.