I fully agree with this.
I keep my handgun within arms reach of my bed - loaded, but chamber empty and safety on.
I am far from a gun nut, but I certainly am strong on the right to have and carry (although I'm not CCW certified or do I feel the need to be).
Just realized a guy at work has family in the firearms/sportsman shop biz. Never really talked to the guy, but maybe I will tomorrow.
Thread: Thinking about a shotgun
Results 21 to 40 of 85
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12-28-2008 09:16 PM"Keep the bottle on the bar Ira, I won't be long".
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12-28-2008 09:21 PM
Hey Chris
I had a friend tell me about home defense shot gun shells that were much shorter that 2 3/4 shells. He said that he saw them at a gunshow. Have you heard of these?
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12-28-2008 09:58 PM
Great thread. I have a .40 for carry but am looking at a shotgun to keep under the bed for home defense.
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12-28-2008 10:18 PMI have a vague memory of something like that from years back. If you need something like that, go to a 20 gauge.
The big issue is over-penetration. You don't want to shoot through a wall behind your bad guy and kill one of your own kids. iI this is a possibility, you might want to step down to #1 shot or even #4. Another thing to remember is you don't want any choke in your barrel. Your hunting shotgun with a 22" barrel and a full choke is a bad choice for home defense. You're dealing with very close ranges (measure your longest hallway or down your staircase) and it does you no good if all the shot is still inside of the wad's shotcup. You might as well use a 9mm and hope for a hit.
Someone mentioned a sawed-off shotgun. Another poor choice. Not only does a very short barrel give away alot of velocity, you're also now deafened by the first shot and flash-blinded. Smokeless powder is progressive-burning and made to burn down the length of the barrel. In a 10" barrel, half the powder is unburned and expelled in a loud, brilliant flash. Not good if you need to make a follow-up shot on a second assailant- or if you missed.
This brings up some other good points- you really should fire your home defense weapon in a dark enclosed space without hearing protection- at least once. You don't want to fire down that staircase and be so startled that you drop the shotgun and it slides down to your assailant's pal. Try shooting it left-handed too. It's hard to make a semi-concealed shot from cover on the right side of an opening without firing left-handed. You don't want your first time to be the one you need to do it right.
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12-28-2008 10:49 PM
I keep 7 1/2s in my shotty in the house. It still is not real fun to shoot with the pistol grip/
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12-28-2008 11:01 PM
Some very good discussion here.
I'm learning alot.
I don't think I'd want to try to handle one of those pistol grip shotguns. I'm not a real big guy (5'11 165#) and I think I'd rather have something to hold steady in my shoulder.
Again, my intention is to never need to use the gun - But I'd like to have it in the event I need it, and in that case, I wouldn't be afraid to use it."Keep the bottle on the bar Ira, I won't be long".
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12-28-2008 11:05 PM
only way to know what you like is to shoot a lot of different guns... most places will rent you anything you can shoot, so its a easy way to see what feels good... i know what i think is cool does not always feel good in my hand.. i shot a lot wheni was a kid and my close buddies are getting back into the swing of things....
Hi, Im Dave.. Welcome, glad to have ya.....
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12-28-2008 11:30 PMHere's what you're talking about. It's why I have the 1300.
Straddling both the law-enforcement and civilian markets for low-recoil shells is the unique offering from the Mexican manufacturer, Aguila. It's the 1 3/4-inch, 12-gauge Minishell. This cute little number was designed originally for the law-enforcement and military market. Given its compact size, officers can carry a lot of them, and 12 to 14 Minishells can easily fit into the tube of a 20-inch riot gun. Only the Winchester 1300 pump will cycle them without a hitch, but they are just perfect for single- and double-barrel guns. The Minishell comes in three combinations. There's a 5/8-ounce load of 7 1/2s a 7/8-ounce slug load, and a duplex buckshot load consisting of seven 4-Buck plus four l-Buck. Minishells are beginning to appear in local retail stores where their low recoil and recreational qualities haven't gone unnoticed by the shooting public. They're fun to shoot and a great conversation piece at the range.
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12-29-2008 01:06 AM
Another common misconception- actually two. First, there are very few places in the average home that you'll be shooting 15 feet. 7 feet is the average distance for a residential confrontation. Second, even with a cylinder bore, the average pattern for 00 buckshot at 10 feet is about 8". Certainly better than a single 9mm projectile, but you still need to have a decent aim.
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12-29-2008 08:31 AM
Remington 870 Express w/18" cylinder bore barrel and pistol grips. I'll take some pics.
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12-29-2008 08:36 AM
Planning on putting together a home defense shotgun myself pretty soon. Everyone talks about the noise from racking a slide but why would you not keep one in the chamber? My worry is that waking up in the middle of the night with the dogs barking and alarm blaring, the slide release (or whatever the thing is called) might be hard to find. Especially for my wife if she's home by herself. I was thinking about finding a beat up old 1100 and shortening the barrel on it.....
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12-29-2008 09:18 AMBuy a good dog and the need for most of this discusion is moot. If you are going to keep a gun by your bed side then please make sure that the kids in the house understand what it is and take them to the range to understand how to shoot. Go to the range often yourself and shoot so that if god forbid you do ever need to use your gun you hit what you are aiming for. I shoot on average once a week.
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12-29-2008 09:37 AM
Good home defense gun, has a pistol grip also but I like the standard stock better. Mossberg Mariner...... . Good for the boat also!!!!
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12-29-2008 09:43 AMYou don't need to use the slide release if you have a full mag and an empty chamber if you pulled the trigger on the empty chamber once you loaded it. The shotgun noise making the bad guy leave it GREATLY PREFERABLE than having to engage in a gun battle so why not use it. Pump shotguns are like revolvers. They ALWAYS go off. Automatics can and do have cycling issues. If you have the skill and experience to deal with a clearing drill on a semi-automatic weapon in a high-stress situation of exchanging gunfire in your home in the middle of the night in your underwear... you get the picture. The best home-defense weapon is practice. Buying a gun and parking it until the very moment you need it is a very bad idea.
If you have barking dogs and an alarm and you still have concern about repelling armed assailants, you need one of these-
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12-29-2008 09:54 AMThe guy in the vid mentions "tube jam". What he's talking about is a double-feed from the magazine. The magazine tube has a small pawl that releases one cartridge into the lower receiver which is then lifted up into the action and fed into the chamber. It pops back and prevents the next shell from following it in. If you put an extended magazine tube on a shotgun it makes this problem more prevalent. 7 shells compress the follower spring more than 5 and that increases the tension on those first two cartridges. If you really think you'll need more than 5, you probabaly need more guns- or a better neighborhood. Or a different line of work
More isn't always better. Fancy isn't always better. More arguments have been ended with the old, now-useless .38 Special round fired from an old-fashioned Smith revolver than all other calibers combined.
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12-29-2008 10:02 AMToo many people get caught up in thinking about the exchange of gunfire portion of having a stranger in their home. The often overlook the most important objective- making the threat to their family go away. I would gladly trade my TV and stereo equipment for not having to risk engaging in a gun battle. Even if I have a higher skill level than the guy that sneaked into my home, he might get lucky. Even if I win cleanly, I now have a whole batch of issues on my hands that I really don't need. If I can skip all this by scaring them into leaving, I'm up for that option. Sure, I'm going to have that moment of being pi$$ed and wanting to do these scumbags in, but I also don't want to risk the potential costs associated with that happening. Plus, I have insurance.
Like the guy that shot the two burglars on his front lawn last year in Texas- He may not have gone to jail, but I'm certain he spent a nice chunk of his retirement on lawyer's fees to make that happen.