What sort of handgun should I use for home protection?

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Can I just bring up in a handgun home self defense thread, a major aspect is how quickly can you get to it upon a break in?

And then every thing ends up a balance of speed vs security. Having non locked up, round in chamber, firearms in every room in the house would obviously be the quickest way to respond to a threat. But that's leaving a lot of room open for an accident to happen, especially if you have buddies over drinking or kids in the house.

A loaded and chambered handgun in a quick access pop open safe on your nightstand is imo the best balance of safe from accident and quickly available. Most break ins happen during sleeping hours. If there's a burglary spree in your neighborhood, you can always sleep with it open. There's loads of them out there in a variety of price points, opening speeds, and security to fit whatever your preferred setup is.

Also, even just a cheap gun mounted flashlight I feel is a good idea for home defense. Being able to get eyes on your target rather than taking time to find a lightswitch or shooting at grey movements and sounds in the dark is huge. I have a simple slide on flashlight that mounts under my ruger sr9c. When at home, I put it on and it's in my 4 button safe with the extended mag. When I conceal carry, I take the flashlight off and have the 10 round mag in.
 
Agree with your post. I have my “heard a bump in the night” gun in a electronic speed safe like this, except mine is bolted to the back of my nightstand rather than the side. And mine is keypad only, no biometric.
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The gun i keep in it is a Springfield Champion Operator with a Streamlight TLR-3 attachment and an 8rd mag. I keep it cocked and locked 8+1, and have a spare mag I keep on the top shelf in my closet.
 

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Can I just bring up in a handgun home self defense thread, a major aspect is how quickly can you get to it upon a break in?

And then every thing ends up a balance of speed vs security. Having non locked up, round in chamber, firearms in every room in the house would obviously be the quickest way to respond to a threat. But that's leaving a lot of room open for an accident to happen, especially if you have buddies over drinking or kids in the house.

A loaded and chambered handgun in a quick access pop open safe on your nightstand is imo the best balance of safe from accident and quickly available. Most break ins happen during sleeping hours. If there's a burglary spree in your neighborhood, you can always sleep with it open. There's loads of them out there in a variety of price points, opening speeds, and security to fit whatever your preferred setup is.

Also, even just a cheap gun mounted flashlight I feel is a good idea for home defense. Being able to get eyes on your target rather than taking time to find a lightswitch or shooting at grey movements and sounds in the dark is huge. I have a simple slide on flashlight that mounts under my ruger sr9c. When at home, I put it on and it's in my 4 button safe with the extended mag. When I conceal carry, I take the flashlight off and have the 10 round mag in.
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Take a class and practice. Shooting is a martial art.

As a comparison, would you trust your own skills back when you were a noob, in a fight?

Same thing with skills in a self defense situation, except you’re more likely to die if you lose in one of those.

I agree with the AR as a home defense option.
 
Cool. That's valuable info.
As for my choices, apparently, I'll have plenty of them as my father in law has quite a collection from which to choose. So, I'm sure I'll find something I like.
The Desert Eagle? I'm going to work my way up to it & then look at it as a challenge like I did back in my boxing days. As long as I listen to instructions & do it properly, I'll be just fine. I'll consider it a success as long as I stay on my feet. Whether I'll be able to hit the broad side of a barn is another story.

Dude my father in law had me shoot his WWII Mauser raw, i.e. with no shoulder cushioning. Shit is a bazooka and the recoil is literally painful but you will tough it out and appear bored because you don't want your father in law to think you are some slack-jawed :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:.
 
Dude my father in law had me shoot his WWII Mauser raw, i.e. with no shoulder cushioning. Shit is a bazooka and the recoil is literally painful but you will tough it out and appear bored because you don't want your father in law to think you are some slack-jawed :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:.


Yeah, you're right. LOL.
 
My sole contribution is that if you go with a semi (which I would), go with a 9mm. The difference in power between a 9mm and bigger cartridges is pretty negligible. However, with a 9mm, you will see double stacked mags being a lot more common. Having the ability to fire out 15-17 rounds of 9mm is much more beneficial than 7-8 of a .45 ACP. And lastly, the price is right. It's the most common caliber so ammo is plentiful and inexpensive. You can get 50 rounds of range ammo for no more than $10-11 and 25 rounds of hollow point defensive ammo for ~$23.

For hollow points, go with Hornady Critical Defense. Nothing else can match that round.

I don't agree with your statement regarding Critical Defense ammo..

Critical Defense is for shorter barrels. Critical Duty is for longer barrels.

The Hornady ammo is consistent. That's about it.. It is definitely not the best ammo. There are other rounds that are larger when fully expanded.. They make bigger wounds.

HST is rated higher then the Hornady ammo BUT...

I personally think the differences in hollowpoints is barely noticeable.. They will all fuck you up.

I collect ammo. My personal favorite is Golden Saber bonded jacketed hollowpoints.. They are my favorite because I can get 50rd boxes for less then 20 bucks. I pretty much have at least a box of every type of hollowpoint. Some of the ammo looks cool and thats another reason why I collect ammo.

Federal Hydro Shoks are another favorite because of how awesome they look. There is a spear sticking out of the hollow tip.

Also a cheaper alternative to Critical Defense is Zombie Max ammo. Its the same as Critical Defense except it is brass and has a green tip.. They are cheaper locally then Critical Defense..

I personally like 147 grain ammo ovef the 115 grain Critical Defense.. I like a heavier round especially in winter time when people wear more/heavier clothing..
 
Glock 19 or 17 whichever feels better put a light on it get a holster and train.

Then get an AR
 
I don't agree with your statement regarding Critical Defense ammo..

Critical Defense is for shorter barrels. Critical Duty is for longer barrels.

The Hornady ammo is consistent. That's about it.. It is definitely not the best ammo. There are other rounds that are larger when fully expanded.. They make bigger wounds.

HST is rated higher then the Hornady ammo BUT...

I personally think the differences in hollowpoints is barely noticeable.. They will all fuck you up.

I collect ammo. My personal favorite is Golden Saber bonded jacketed hollowpoints.. They are my favorite because I can get 50rd boxes for less then 20 bucks. I pretty much have at least a box of every type of hollowpoint. Some of the ammo looks cool and thats another reason why I collect ammo.

Federal Hydro Shoks are another favorite because of how awesome they look. There is a spear sticking out of the hollow tip.

Also a cheaper alternative to Critical Defense is Zombie Max ammo. Its the same as Critical Defense except it is brass and has a green tip.. They are cheaper locally then Critical Defense..

I personally like 147 grain ammo ovef the 115 grain Critical Defense.. I like a heavier round especially in winter time when people wear more/heavier clothing..
they SAY critical defense is optimized for short barrel subcompacts, but their own testing is optimized for 4 inch barrels which is fairly duty sized. the REAL difference between critical duty and critical defense is that critical duty is a +P round intended for law enforcement use and is designed around heavier grain weight projectiles with a need to have light barrier penetration capability.

HST is highly rated because its low recoil optimized. its pushing bullets slower than similar brands of the same grain weight. I chrono'd Federal HST 124 grain 9mm and Hornady Critical duty 124 grain trhough my VP9SK and Hornady routinely clocked almost 100 fps faster/

ballistics gel testing is mostly bologna anyway.
 
I don't agree with your statement regarding Critical Defense ammo..

Critical Defense is for shorter barrels. Critical Duty is for longer barrels.

The Hornady ammo is consistent. That's about it.. It is definitely not the best ammo. There are other rounds that are larger when fully expanded.. They make bigger wounds.

HST is rated higher then the Hornady ammo BUT...

I personally think the differences in hollowpoints is barely noticeable.. They will all fuck you up.

I collect ammo. My personal favorite is Golden Saber bonded jacketed hollowpoints.. They are my favorite because I can get 50rd boxes for less then 20 bucks. I pretty much have at least a box of every type of hollowpoint. Some of the ammo looks cool and thats another reason why I collect ammo.

Federal Hydro Shoks are another favorite because of how awesome they look. There is a spear sticking out of the hollow tip.

Also a cheaper alternative to Critical Defense is Zombie Max ammo. Its the same as Critical Defense except it is brass and has a green tip.. They are cheaper locally then Critical Defense..

I personally like 147 grain ammo ovef the 115 grain Critical Defense.. I like a heavier round especially in winter time when people wear more/heavier clothing..
I was carrying with 147 gr for a while. Ive more recently been carrying with 124 gr +P. Seems to be the optimal size/speed bullet for stuff that’s been testing the best.
 


‘5 attackers, shot two with my semi auto, then it jammed.. guess I’ll just die’


Nothing wrong with using a revolver for protection. It won the West, and those were single actions.
 
‘5 attackers, shot two with my semi auto, then it jammed.. guess I’ll just die’


Nothing wrong with using a revolver for protection. It won the West, and those were single actions.
It was also the 1800s, so......
 
Revolvers are still vastly inferior so it doesn't matter....


In a war? You have a point.


For protection? You’re wrong. Especially considering many conceal carry semis are single stack with not much more in the clip than a cylinder has. And considering .357 defense rounds have some of the best ballistics available. This is a ridiculous conversation.
 
Right, and all modern ammo has readily available defense ammo that doesn’t make the same size holes they used to. Homie.
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Irrelevant.


A .38 can kill you as dead as a 9mm. They make defensive rounds for everything now so that point goes both ways.
 
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