Help me pick a gun to buy!

[Verrater]

The caliber wars are going to end with the advent railgun pistols and rifles

doubtful

 

[AZ Libertarian]

Fancy-schmancy comes LATER.

For $750 you can get TWO S & W .38 revolvers - one with 4" barrel, and one with a 2" barrel (for your boot) - PLUS AMMO, and still have money left over...

 

[AFPVet]

doubtful

Well... I suppose you could have arguments about the amount of power which the railgun uses... but still... it's a freaking railgun! LOL. The only thing more powerful than a railgun is a particle disruptor

 

[brushfire]

Out in the middle of nowhere, the best home defense tool might be an AR-10

When shooting through walls is your intention - even the cinder block variety LOL

AR308/10 | cover = concealment

 

[osan]

Just shoot at the torso, even then you'll be lucky to hit anything. I have a taurus model 66 its a great all steel .357 revolver. It shoots .38 sp and sp+ which is more powerful, you can shoot that first to get used before moving to .357. Its a well built gun I got it for its versatility it shoots 2 size calibers, a well built revolver so its gonna shoot every time, and if u hit someone in the head whith this thing you might put a hole in his head bigger than the bullet will. However I live in NJ and can't walk around with it. Its strictly for home protection, it being small enough to carry wasn't an option. I got the 4 inch which is hard to conceal. You may want a 38 sp with a 2 inch to carry. But find one rated for the sp+ or sp++ for more power. And take a class you have to be real careful with these things.

I do not mean to rain on your parade, but the Taurus guns have a reputation for using steels of questionable quality. I have one anecdotal experience to support this when a customer brought one in that had half the cylinder blown away. Factory ammo.

That aside, as compared with Smiths, the Tauruses have very heavy triggers (even factory Smith triggers are too stiff). If you buy a Taurus, IMO you should shuttle it off to a competent smith right away. Besides being very heavy, I have found some triggers rough and others far too creepy for my likes. YMMV, of course, but for me trigger quality is of utmost importance for good marksmanship, especially under circumstances of combat stress.

Another problem I have seen with Taurus more than Smiths is spotty timing. Some may not consider this significant. When your life is hanging on the performance of the weapon, I believe all aspects of operational quality are important.

 

[Kalashnikov Josh]

unless it has a 9" barrel

Not everyone has paid the infringement tax,and that means a restriction to 18".A stupid "law",to be sure.
But a "law" they will murder unarmed women holding infant children to "enforce",nonetheless.

000?

A slug will seriously ruin one's day even with a vest. May not kill you but it is going to hurt and slow you down.

I like 000 but it comes in 3" shells with any meaningful (IMHO) payload,I find that 2 3/4" shells run faster.I like speed and will choose it all day over something that *might* give a marginal and relatively immeasurable edge in size.
And as for the slug and bodyarmor issue- depends on the armor.Soft body armor,usually kevlar,is rated not only in what it 'stops',but also in the blunt force trauma it can acceptably pass to its backstop- the person wearing it.
Someone in a light,concealable level 2 or 2A will be in bad shape from a solid hit with,say,a Brenneke Black Magic Magnum.Personally,I prefer Brenneke KO,and I'm pretty certain that if I'm using my shotgun against armored thugs rather than my AK,it'll put a hurting on them if they're not wearing something like an Interceptor.

For that,we come back to buckshot.Its my personal supposition,not a proven fact,but just a little 'armchair daydream',if you will,that buckshot,with its wider shot spread than rifle or pistol calibers,would be more effective at "shooting around" the armor,because that usually means having to shoot at smaller target areas like the head and neck.
So ultimately-I load my shotgun with buckshot, 2 3/4" 00 shells with 12 pellets.Thats my favorite.
Slugs,in my opinion, are for using a shotgun to reach out to where your buckshot falls short.

Agreed, but it should be pointed out that, contrary to popular legend, shotguns must be aimed like any other weapon in order to provide a reasonable likelihood of a good hit. This is particularly true in close quarters such as are found within a typical dwelling. From 20 or 50 feet away, even with a cylinder bore the shot is going to spread very little - probably not more than 2-3 inches. While a whole lot larger an area than a .45, it is still not that difficult to miss a target especially under combat stress.

Yes,thanks to hollyweird,that always does bear mention.However,shotguns do not need the same kind of precise aiming as rifles or pistols.They do need to be 'pointed' at the target,they do not go off and hit the whole room.
2-3 inch spread is quite a margin of error over a single chunk of lead that is measurable in fractions of an inch.
So it is safe to say that someone could be more effective with a shotgun in a fast,close range gunfight,and even with minimal training.
If you can't or won't learn to use any weapon sufficiently it simply wont serve you well when the time comes,Shotguns by their nature are more forgiving of a lower level of skill,so you could invest less time in training with a shotgun and still be able to get the job done.

The best solution is training. As much of it as you can manage.

And that also depends- entirely on the training environment.

Some places are pretty good,some are nothing better than the McDojo black belt mills you can find in the local strip mall.

Watching video of what some of these people are doing and teaching makes me laugh.Seriously.
An example-twisting back and forth to "check their surroundings" every time they shoot their gun is probably the silliest shit I've seen in a long time.Standing stock still so you can accomplish this nifty little feat,rather than having headed for cover while firing is the epitome of ludicrous.

Ever hear of peripheral vision and using your other senses?

And doing it from BEHIND cover?

This is a bit like setting a 'black belt' loose on the streets to defend all thats good in the world because he can break a couple pieces of balsa wood with his feet.Its a skill as useless as tits on a bull.

Anyway........

Closing one's eyes and thinking of England whilst pulling the trigger is not the recommended procedure for defending oneself with any weapon, shotguns included.

Thats a gimme.
Shotguns are good for novice shooters and people who want a gun for home defense because compared to handguns they offer more contact with the shooters body,thus making them more easily aimed,they offer a very forgiving-of-poor accuracy shot spread,which is in fact only about as much as Osan pointed out,but still thats plenty forgiving compared to the single projectiles of rifles and handguns.

A pump action gun or even a double barrel consists of simple,easy to use mechanisms that are dependable and reliable.

All this boils down to having to learn less to be able to use it well.

Add the cherry on top that in the terminal ballistics arena your no longer discussing the merits of a few grains or a fraction of an inch and the elusive 'one shot stop' derived by 'energy dump' or whatever-
And you've got something that will launch 9 or more pellets around the same diameter as some handgun calibers (although not the same size) with one shot,you've got something that is known worldwide for its devastating ability to do its job-

I'd feel comfortable suggesting the OP get a shotgun over a handgun.

 

[AFPVet]

Not everyone has paid the infringement tax,and that means a restriction to 18".A stupid law,to be sure.
But a law they will murder unarmed women holding infant children to "enforce",nonetheless.



I like 000 but it comes in 3" shells with any meaningful (IMHO) payload,I find that 2 3/4" shells run faster.I like speed and will choose it all day over something that *might* give a marginal and relatively immeasurable edge in size.
And as for the slug and bodyarmor issue- depends on the armor.Soft body armor,usually kevlar,is rated not only in what it 'stops',but also in the blunt force trauma it can acceptably pass to its backstop- the person wearing it.
Someone in a light,concealable level 2 or 2A will be in bad shape from a solid hit with,say,a Brenneke Black Magic Magnum.Personally,I prefer Brenneke KO,and I'm pretty certain that if I'm using my shotgun against armored thugs rather than my AK,it'll put a hurting on them if they're not wearing something like an Interceptor.

For that,we come back to buckshot.Its my personal supposition,not a proven fact,but just a little 'armchair daydream',if you will,that buckshot,with its wider shot spread than rifle or pistol calibers,would be more effective at "shooting around" the armor,because that usually means having to shoot at smaller target areas like the head and neck.
So ultimately-I load my shotgun with buckshot, 2 3/4" 00 shells with 12 pellets.Thats my favorite.
Slugs,in my opinion, are for using a shotgun to reach out to where your buckshot falls short.



Yes,thanks to hollyweird,that always does bear mention.However,shotguns do not need the same kind of precise aiming as rifles or pistols.they do need to be 'pointed' at the target,they do not go off and hit the whole room.
2-3 inch spread is quite margin of error over a single chunk of lead that is measurable in fractions of an inch.
So it is safe to say that someone could be more effective with a shotgun in a fast,close range gunfight,and even with minimal training.
If you can't or won't learn to use any weapon sufficiently it simply wont serve you well when the time comes,Shotguns by their nature are more forgiving of a lower level of skill,so you could invest less time in training with a shotgun and still be able to get the job done.




And that also depends- entirely on the training environment.

Some places are pretty good,some are nothing better than the McDojo black belt mills you can find in the local strip mall.



Thats a gimme.
Shotguns are good for novice shooters and people who want a gun for home defense because compared to handguns they offer more contact with the shooters body,thus making them more easily aimed,they offer a very forgiving-of-poor accuracy shot spread,which is in fact only about as much as Osan pointed out,but still thats plenty forgiving compared to the single projectiles of rifles and handguns.

A pump action gun or even a double barrel consists of simple,easy to use mechanisms that are dependable and reliable.

All this boils down to having to learn less to be able to use it well.

Add the cherry on top that in the terminal ballistics arena your no longer discussing the merits of a few grains or a fraction of an inch and the elusive 'one shot stop'-
you've got something that will launch 9 or more pellets around the same diameter as some handgun calibers (although not the same size) with one shot,you've got something that is known worldwide for its devastating ability to do its job-

I'd feel comfortable suggesting the OP get a shotgun over a handgun.

To go along with this, I would suggest some reduced recoil 00 buck loads since in close quarters, not much is gained by high velocity 000 buckshot... unless there is a black bear in your family room

 

[Toureg89]

if i could start my collection over, i would have started with a Glock 20 (10mm) for 500$, and then would have bought 200$ 40SW barrel conversion, and for 700$, you get a pistol that uses the same upper and lower frames, and same magazine, too shoot 2 calibers: one that is powerful, and one that is cheap and plentiful.