Christian for Israel
Member
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2007
- Messages
- 7
with all due respect to everyone here, i feel compelled to expose a bit of folklore to the light of truth...shotguns are NOT the best home defense weapon out there. in fact, they are far inferior to a good pistol in an acceptable caliber. now, before all the shotgun lovers start flaming me, please hear me out.
if the home defense scenario you envision is one where you get into a closet or safe room, waiting for the bad guy to come to you, the shotgun loaded and pointing at the door ready to fire, the weapon is adequate for defense. however, if you're the type (like i am) to go forth and ensure your home and children are safe and that any potential problem is dealt with as soon as possible, the shotgun and in fact ANY long gun is going to be less than effective.
before i get into why this is so, let my first address some of the reasons people give for liking the shotgun. first off, they usually point out that, if the first load is light birdshot, a miss isn't likely to penetrate a wall and kill someone in the next room. this is true, but that is also the problem. most interior walls in a modern home are comprised of 2 sheets of soft sheetrock with dead air between them. any round fired that will not penetrate the wall also won't penetrate the perp that has forced his way into your home. now, in a best case scenario that's not a problem as the perp will fall down in pain and cry for the ambulance. but planning for the best case scenario is a deadly mistake. in all things, pray for the best and plan for the worst...that's the only way to prevent rude surprises.
the worst case in this scenario is a perp who's pumped up on a drug. several drugs, like PCP, prevent the user from feeling pain. they also act as a disconnect in the brain, blocking the ability to reason and reducing the individual to instinctive 'fight or flight' mode. in such a case the perp will irrationally attack and keep attacking, regardless of the amount of damage he receives, until he is dead. even if he kills you he will continue to dessecrate your body until distracted by another perceived threat, which he will then attack as well.
in this worst case scenario, shooting someone like this with birdshot won't stop him, it'll just make him all the more enraged and determined to kill you.
the next myth is that simply the sound of the shotgun being chambered will mysteriously fill the perp with fear, causing him to flee into the night. this might be so of law abiding folks not bent on destruction, but for the hopped up perp in your living room, it simply gives away your position. a determined man, intent on attack, can cross most rooms in less than a second. if you spend that second chambering a round in your shotgun the perp will be on you before you can even get the FIRST shot off. he will take your ghotgun away from you and beat you to death with it, before continuing on to rape and kill the rest of your family. please folks, leave theatrics to hollywood.
another myth about shotguns is that, because the shot spreads, you don't have to actually aim but instead can simply point it in the general direction of the trouble and pull the trigger. the truth is, while shot does spread, it has to travel a little ways before it'll do so...20-25 yards at least. over the 15-20 foot width of rooms in most modern homes, that shot won't spread more than an inch or so. given that consideration, a shot not aimed is a shot missed, plain and simple.
next is the 00 buck myth. i've heard folks claim that 00 buck is like being hit with 9 .30 caliber carbine bullets. the reality is quite different. buckshot consists of round pellets of soft lead. they are far inferior to carbine and even pistol bullets in performance. a 00 buck pellet weighs around half of what a .30 carbine bullet weighs. it is only moving, at most, 1200 feet per second at the muzzle as compared to 2000 fps for the carbine bullet. its round shape is not aerodynamic, meaning it slows quickly when flying through the air and much more quickly when it hits a body. certainly a person hit in the chest with a load of buckshot LOOKS bad, but in reality the pellets rarely penetrate enough to physically stop a hopped up attacker. the most a good hit with buckshot penetrates is 6 inches...half the distance of suitable pistol bullets. again, if the person hit is an honest citizen he's likely to fall to the ground screaming in pain, but the home intruder is as likely as not to be able to keep going after taking such a hit. and that's even if he takes a full chest shot...when confronting an intruder in your home, in the middle of the night in a dark house, with both of you moving around trying to kill the other, with you hopped up on adrenaline and him on who knows what, the chances of getting a full frontal shot like you would shooting paper at the range is a fantasy at best. taking all this into consideration, the ONLY load you want in a shotgun is a big fat slug (of course, then you really would have to aim
).
now for some facts on using a shotgun or ANY long gun to clear your home. first, as i said, if you intend to hide in the closet and wait for trouble to come to you, the shotgun is still an acceptable weapon, better than nothing certainly, and better than many other firearms such as .22 rifles and small caliber pistols. but if you intend to clear your home yourself, the long gun is more of a hinderance than a help. homes aren't designed to allow you to walk through hallways and doorways with 2+ feet of steel in your hands. consider the possibility that there is more than one invader. consider that they may be well aware that you're home and even that you're armed, and are laying in wait for you. remember, if you plan for the worst you won't be taken by surprise. now consider that you are awakened by a noise in the night. you were sleeping soundly and, when you awaken you aren't sure what caused it. you lie there for a second listening when you hear a noise from the living room. you quickly get up, struggle into your pants and grab your shotgun to go investigate.
the noise that woke you was a group of three intruders breaking the window in your back door and letting themselves in. the second sound you heard was one of the perps bumping into an end table and muttering a curse, as the other two spread out through the house. by the time you struggle into your pants and go to investigate they're in position. you leave your bedroom and enter the hallway, your shotgun leveled and ready to mete justice to the invaders. as you move slowly down the hall you hear a door that you just passed open. you whirl around to confront the threat and the muzzle of the shotgun slams into the wall, digging a hole in it. as you struggle to free your weapon the invader slips a knife between your ribs and you fall to the floor, dead.
alternately, aware of the size of the weapon you proceed down the hall with the muzzle raised vertically. as you enter the living room the perp there has heard your approach and is ready just inside the doorway. as you attempt to bring the gun down and into action he grabs the barrel with one hand, rendering it useless, and shoves a foot of steel into your chest with the other. again you die.
now, if instead you had a handgun for home defense, maneuvering around your home with it leveled and ready for action isn't a problem. if you do manage to hit a wall as you turn you can still recover almost immediately and much more likely to get a shot or three off. even if the perp grabs hold of it the first round will still go off, digging a hole deep inside the perp's body. of course, a pistol round will penetrate walls, but isn't that what you want in the first place...a round that will penetrate? the answer to missing the perp and hitting someone in another room is to practice, practice, practice. nothing else will make you more likely to hit an intruder and less likely to injure a family member.
if the home defense scenario you envision is one where you get into a closet or safe room, waiting for the bad guy to come to you, the shotgun loaded and pointing at the door ready to fire, the weapon is adequate for defense. however, if you're the type (like i am) to go forth and ensure your home and children are safe and that any potential problem is dealt with as soon as possible, the shotgun and in fact ANY long gun is going to be less than effective.
before i get into why this is so, let my first address some of the reasons people give for liking the shotgun. first off, they usually point out that, if the first load is light birdshot, a miss isn't likely to penetrate a wall and kill someone in the next room. this is true, but that is also the problem. most interior walls in a modern home are comprised of 2 sheets of soft sheetrock with dead air between them. any round fired that will not penetrate the wall also won't penetrate the perp that has forced his way into your home. now, in a best case scenario that's not a problem as the perp will fall down in pain and cry for the ambulance. but planning for the best case scenario is a deadly mistake. in all things, pray for the best and plan for the worst...that's the only way to prevent rude surprises.
the worst case in this scenario is a perp who's pumped up on a drug. several drugs, like PCP, prevent the user from feeling pain. they also act as a disconnect in the brain, blocking the ability to reason and reducing the individual to instinctive 'fight or flight' mode. in such a case the perp will irrationally attack and keep attacking, regardless of the amount of damage he receives, until he is dead. even if he kills you he will continue to dessecrate your body until distracted by another perceived threat, which he will then attack as well.
in this worst case scenario, shooting someone like this with birdshot won't stop him, it'll just make him all the more enraged and determined to kill you.
the next myth is that simply the sound of the shotgun being chambered will mysteriously fill the perp with fear, causing him to flee into the night. this might be so of law abiding folks not bent on destruction, but for the hopped up perp in your living room, it simply gives away your position. a determined man, intent on attack, can cross most rooms in less than a second. if you spend that second chambering a round in your shotgun the perp will be on you before you can even get the FIRST shot off. he will take your ghotgun away from you and beat you to death with it, before continuing on to rape and kill the rest of your family. please folks, leave theatrics to hollywood.
another myth about shotguns is that, because the shot spreads, you don't have to actually aim but instead can simply point it in the general direction of the trouble and pull the trigger. the truth is, while shot does spread, it has to travel a little ways before it'll do so...20-25 yards at least. over the 15-20 foot width of rooms in most modern homes, that shot won't spread more than an inch or so. given that consideration, a shot not aimed is a shot missed, plain and simple.
next is the 00 buck myth. i've heard folks claim that 00 buck is like being hit with 9 .30 caliber carbine bullets. the reality is quite different. buckshot consists of round pellets of soft lead. they are far inferior to carbine and even pistol bullets in performance. a 00 buck pellet weighs around half of what a .30 carbine bullet weighs. it is only moving, at most, 1200 feet per second at the muzzle as compared to 2000 fps for the carbine bullet. its round shape is not aerodynamic, meaning it slows quickly when flying through the air and much more quickly when it hits a body. certainly a person hit in the chest with a load of buckshot LOOKS bad, but in reality the pellets rarely penetrate enough to physically stop a hopped up attacker. the most a good hit with buckshot penetrates is 6 inches...half the distance of suitable pistol bullets. again, if the person hit is an honest citizen he's likely to fall to the ground screaming in pain, but the home intruder is as likely as not to be able to keep going after taking such a hit. and that's even if he takes a full chest shot...when confronting an intruder in your home, in the middle of the night in a dark house, with both of you moving around trying to kill the other, with you hopped up on adrenaline and him on who knows what, the chances of getting a full frontal shot like you would shooting paper at the range is a fantasy at best. taking all this into consideration, the ONLY load you want in a shotgun is a big fat slug (of course, then you really would have to aim
).now for some facts on using a shotgun or ANY long gun to clear your home. first, as i said, if you intend to hide in the closet and wait for trouble to come to you, the shotgun is still an acceptable weapon, better than nothing certainly, and better than many other firearms such as .22 rifles and small caliber pistols. but if you intend to clear your home yourself, the long gun is more of a hinderance than a help. homes aren't designed to allow you to walk through hallways and doorways with 2+ feet of steel in your hands. consider the possibility that there is more than one invader. consider that they may be well aware that you're home and even that you're armed, and are laying in wait for you. remember, if you plan for the worst you won't be taken by surprise. now consider that you are awakened by a noise in the night. you were sleeping soundly and, when you awaken you aren't sure what caused it. you lie there for a second listening when you hear a noise from the living room. you quickly get up, struggle into your pants and grab your shotgun to go investigate.
the noise that woke you was a group of three intruders breaking the window in your back door and letting themselves in. the second sound you heard was one of the perps bumping into an end table and muttering a curse, as the other two spread out through the house. by the time you struggle into your pants and go to investigate they're in position. you leave your bedroom and enter the hallway, your shotgun leveled and ready to mete justice to the invaders. as you move slowly down the hall you hear a door that you just passed open. you whirl around to confront the threat and the muzzle of the shotgun slams into the wall, digging a hole in it. as you struggle to free your weapon the invader slips a knife between your ribs and you fall to the floor, dead.
alternately, aware of the size of the weapon you proceed down the hall with the muzzle raised vertically. as you enter the living room the perp there has heard your approach and is ready just inside the doorway. as you attempt to bring the gun down and into action he grabs the barrel with one hand, rendering it useless, and shoves a foot of steel into your chest with the other. again you die.
now, if instead you had a handgun for home defense, maneuvering around your home with it leveled and ready for action isn't a problem. if you do manage to hit a wall as you turn you can still recover almost immediately and much more likely to get a shot or three off. even if the perp grabs hold of it the first round will still go off, digging a hole deep inside the perp's body. of course, a pistol round will penetrate walls, but isn't that what you want in the first place...a round that will penetrate? the answer to missing the perp and hitting someone in another room is to practice, practice, practice. nothing else will make you more likely to hit an intruder and less likely to injure a family member.
