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Best home defense firearm for novice shooters


fortyofforty
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For people with no experience or preconceptions about guns and who have no preferences in terms of home defense, then it makes sense to start from scratch and determine what will work best for that person and their situation.  An approach like that would take into account any limitations of the person and the circumstances of their situation.

BUT, if the person has preconceptions or experience, it's important to take those things into consideration.  No point in advising a person to buy the ideal gun that they don't want and won't practice with.  Even a less than ideal choice in terms of equipment can turn out to be the right choice if that's what the person wants, feels confident with, will practice with, etc.

Whatever is chosen, the person who will be using it needs to check it out before purchase.  No point in finding out that the trigger reach is too long for their hands or that they can't operate the DA trigger or the slide due to hand strength issues AFTER the gun is already purchased.

By the way, one firearms category that is often left out of these discussions is pistol caliber carbines.

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  • 11 months later...

It's been 11 months since the last post in this thread, but I thought I'd throw out my opinion anyway and see if anyone here feels like telling me I'm an idiot for it.  I'm a little bored at the moment, so catching up on threads in forums I haven't gone though yet.  (I think I just spent over an hour typing this all out, time for bed)

 

So the basic situation being asked is a firearm for home defense for a shooter without much experience.  There may or may not be an intruder in the home, so unless you like calling 911 for potential issues with no idea if it's bad guys or just a raccoon in the garbage can, you're probably going to need to move around the house a little bit to figure out what's going on.  Especially true if you have children living in the house in a different room than you.

 

Since there were no other criteria listed, I'll go from there.  The only thing I'm going to add is something affordable.  Otherwise I'd start out with something like an integrally suppressed MP5 with shoulder stock, for multiple reasons.

 

If we are talking about a true "novice" with very limited firearms experience, then I'd say there are a few options. 

 

Semi-Auto Pistol

Nay say all you want, but once it's loaded and a round in the chamber, glocks tend to have very few operational issues, and pretty hard to screw up with just the trigger safety to worry about.  Can be used one handed, holds lots of rounds, and easy enough to train with.  9mm with 17 round magazine is more than enough.  Can mount a light onto most of them as well if you want to. 

Easy enough to hide somewhere or to keep in a quick access safe.

 

Revolver

Revolver in 38 special (or .357 magnum, but loaded with 38 special) is simple to operate, and very few times will you need more than the 6-8 rounds in the cylinder.  Downside or possibly not is the triggers tend to be a lot heavier.  Either this or a reliable brand of 9mm with no external safety is a good, simple choice.  Biggest downside I see to either of these is they are harder to control than a firearm with a buttstock.  Revolvers don't tend to be able to mount a flashlight is another downside. 

Also easy to store in a small, quick access safe.

 

Pistol Caliber Carbine (PCC)

Which brings me to another one that's probably controversial, a pistol caliber carbine.  The one Ruger just came out with can take a couple different types of magazines, to pair it up with a pistol, makes things easier on a novice.  There are also plenty of them based on the AR-15 that will use common pistol magazines.

If it's a couple one can have the pistol and the other the carbine, and if either one needs a spare mag the other person can give them one.  Pistol rounds when fired from rifle length barrels don't have anywhere near as much blast as something like a 12 gauge or AR in .223 or .308.  Ammo is cheap and plentiful, magazines are cheap, recoil is extremely low, muzzle blast is low.  Biggest trade off is for the same size firearm you can have much more powerful ammunition, but for pretty much anything short of a grizzly tearing through your house 9mm should do a good enough job.  Plenty of extra rounds in the magazine if you need to shoot them again for any reason.  They are relatively lightweight, usually not much above legal minimum dimensions for a rifle, and can also be assembled as a pistol with a brace for an even more compact package (all legal caveats apply)  They also don't suffer the same from limp wristing as some pistols do because they have more mass to begin with.

Say what you want about them, but getting a matching HiPoint pistol and carbine is a good way to start out if your budget is really small for this.  They're ugly, heavy, and bulky, but from everything I've seen done to them, they just work, and the company stands behind them.

I'm going to toss 300 blackout in with pistol caliber carbines for this situation primarily because it's designed for the powder to fully burn in a short barrel, so not as much muzzle blast when used in longer ones.  There are also heavy subsonic loads available to reduce noise from bullets breaking the sound barrier.  Plus side is if you live out in the country and need to reach out and be effective at a hundred or two yards there are plenty of loads for that as well.  Less common and more expensive than 9mm, I can still pick it up as both supersonic and subsonic at the local walmarts, not to mention the actual firearms stores.  It's not really a true rifle round, but in many cases it's better than most pistol rounds.

Downside is quick access safes large enough to store them tend to be a little on the pricey side.

 

Shotgun

Shotguns are also decent enough, if you can make sure not to short stroke it.  Downsides tend to be harsher recoil and fewer rounds, as well as the inability to function a pump shotgun if for whatever reason you only have one hand available, like picking up a child.  There is also a mindset for a lot of people because hollywood sucks is that you don't have to aim them.  I'm no expert, but I've had a few novices shoot with me, and they tend to shy away from the shotgun until they become more comfortable with smaller calibers.  The kick and the boom just scare them.  If they aren't comfortable then they aren't likely to practice with it, and if they don't practice then what good is it going to be in a stressful situation?  Semi-auto shotgun might be a better choice than a pump, they might not be quite as reliable in the long run, but much less likely to have issues in a stressful situation due to the operator.  They also soak up some of the recoil to operate, so easier on the shoulder.  Either type is probably going to be hard to reload in the dark under stress for a novice, so hope that whoever was in the house is either down for the count or ran off.

For a novice I would personally not recommend a pistol grip pump shotgun, but that's probably a personal prejudice as I haven't fired one.  I would think that the recoil might feel less if you are holding it down by your side with 2 hands on it, but there is a lot of forward weight in them that would make it hard for some people to hold one handed and still be able to shoot it, as in the picking up a child scenario mentioned above.  

Once again, bigger firearms means bigger safe to store it, especially if you want to have quick access to it in an emergency.  

 

Rifle

I personally think that in an enclosed space a high speed rifle round, like .223 or .308 is going to cause issues.  They are designed to work with longer barrels, when you fire them through short barrels you get a lot of extra muzzle blast.  .223  has advantages in that you can have a lot of rounds without a lot of weight, but I don't think that outweighs the level of noise in an enclosed space.  .308 and larger is just overkill unless they're in full armor, in which case as a novice they'd pretty well be screwed anyway.  (Saying that does remind me of the Matt Best clip where he's using a 50 cal to clear his house)

Lever action rifles might also be usable, but the same as pump shotguns, they do require two hands to use properly, no rifleman antics going on inside the house.  There are lots of good calibers for them, probably anything in the power range of 357 magnum, or 30-30 is enough for inside the house, though 44 magnum or 45 colt might also work..  Since it doesn't rely on the cartridge to load the next round, reduced power loads in larger calibers like 45-70 would also be feasible, but the extra weight to handle the more powerful rounds is a downside when inside a house and having to possibly perform other actions.  I'd say that a lever action that matches your revolver ammunition would be a good choice if you plan on getting both a basic rifle and a revolver.

Bigger quick access safe or whatever type of storage needed, especially if there are children around.

 

 

Some of the things I thought were bad about a particular firearm type can be corrected with training.  The thing is, once you get to the level of training where those situations aren't going to be an issue in a stressful situation, you've now moved out of the "novice" category into intermediate level, so this entire post would not apply to you in the same way.

As I mentioned above, properly securing it when not needed is also a consideration for anyone that doesn't live alone and never has anyone visit them.  

 

 

 

On a side note, there's a 9mm handgun on the desk in front of me, a 300 blackout pistol with brace on the wall behind me, and a 20 gauge mossberg 500 on top of a cabinet a few feet away.  I wouldn't have issues with any of the 3 to go check out a bump in the night, though most likely I'd take both the 9mm and the 300BO because the 9mm has a paddle type holster I can easily tuck into my pants, and the AR-15 pistol has a sling I can put over my shoulder, so I wouldn't have to release control of either of them if I needed both hands free for whatever reason.

 

 

 

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On ‎11‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 8:58 AM, Eric said:

I don't think an AR is a good home defense weapon. Over-penetration of the rounds fired is a serious issue. The concussion and flash of the muzzleblast in a confined space is also going to be an issue. If you have ever fired an AR in a confined space without hearing protection, you know what I mean. If the weapon malfunctions, it takes practice to have the presence of mind to clear it and get it back in the fight. 

I think the best home defense firearm ever made is a 12 gauge pump-action shotgun, preferably with a pistol grip. Just about everyone in this country has grown up watching people rack a pump shotgun in the movies and on TV, even if they have never touched one. It is a simple weapon.

With the right home defense rounds, over-penetration is much less a concern and it is obviously going to be much easier to get a hit with shotgun firing 00 or 0000 shot, than with a single projectile. Add to this the massive stopping power at close range of a 12 gauge round and the psychological factor of the bad guy hearing you rack that mother and he is likely to remember that he needs to be somewhere else just then.

If recoil is an issue, there are dozens of rounds to choose from, including many reduced recoil rounds. There is no reason that someone can't find a round to accommodate him.

12 gauge pumps are cheap, hard-hitting, simple to operate, intimidating and extremely reliable. I really can't think of a better choice. 

Here's my E-Lime-Inator: :biggrin:

IMG_1496.JPG.c6b701fcf6586a961e93577c920ae52e.JPG

 

I didn't know Kawasaki made shotguns.

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Sometimes I think we overthink things.  Like penetration through drywall.  https://www.theboxotruth.com/the-box-o-truth-14-rifles-shotguns-and-walls/

https://www.theboxotruth.com/the-box-o-truth-3-the-shotgun-meets-the-box-o-truth/

https://www.theboxotruth.com/the-box-o-truth-1-the-original-box-o-truth/

You don't get penetration into bad guys but not through dry-wall. 

I also think there's no cookie cutter answer to this question.  Ever shooter is different.

Glock 19, S&W K-frame in .38 or .357 loaded with .38SPL loads, 12 or 20 GA pump shotgun, and even AR-15 or maybe a pistol caliber carbine are all good starting points.  Everything is a trade off.  Long-guns are easier to hit with than handguns, but you give up maneuverability and the ability to effectively control the weapon one handed.  Handguns are more maneuverable and easier to use one handed, but are harder to hit with and are not as powerful.  Pump shotguns with buckshot have much more recoil and require manual operation of the action, but malfunction very rarely when properly operated and their ability to stop a threat is largely undisputed.

I think the real answer is to figure out the shooter's capabilities, situation, and have the novice shooter try the different options. 

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