Best handgun for home security

[Lars]

..although I never considered a pump shotgun...Food for thought..

Warning: Slight ThreadJack here. But since the OP mentioned not considering a shotgun I'm going to walk out on a tangent here.

I'm not going to say that a 12 gauge is a magic wand that makes bad people simply go away. What I will say is that it's one of the only weapons easily available for us to purchase for a reasonable price (usually under $500 for a GOOD pump action) that dramatically improves the stopping performance of "Bad Hits"

If in the heat of the moment I fire my .45 ACP twice and put one round in the wall next to the BG, and one round in his bicep. Chances are if he's even half determined he's going to keep coming. If I put one shell worth of 00 Buck in the wall next to the BG, and put a second on in his bicep. Chances are he's going to need a lot of surgery to repair that arm. And unlike a single .45 caliber hole. he very well could bleed out of that wound.

one shell of 00 buck contains.... 9 .32 caliber balls iirc. At "in home" distances the pattern is usually 2" or so across (meaning aiming is important) a 2" circle with 9, .32" holes == bad for the body.

[soapbox]

That said..... Any Handgun, Rifle, or Shotgun you intend to use for self defense in the home, should be accompanied with a good amount of defensive weapon training. Determine what gear you intend to use for self defense, and then make your next priority quality training.

[/soapbox]

 

[kludge]

Question fo the OP: Which one do you shoot the best?

Neither of the .25's are adquate for HD. The other three are.

The .357 miss will penetrate into another room.

And the .45 and .40 will be stopped by four layers of paper and and inch of plaster?

 

[Lars]

Question fo the OP: Which one do you shoot the best?

Neither of the .25's are adquate for HD. The other three are.



And the .45 and .40 will be stopped by four layers of paper and and inch of plaster?

This link should be required reading
The Box O' Truth #1 - The Original Box O' Truth - Page 1

My shooting buddy, Tman and I took it to the range with a variety of guns and ammo. Here's what we did.

First, we loaded the box with 12 sheets of 5/8 sheetrock, which is also called wallboard in some areas.
Since it takes 2 sheets per wall, this is the thickness of 6 interior walls.

Why twelve? It seemed like a good number and I thought it might stop most rounds.
I was about to learn something.

First, I shot it with my M-17 S&W, .22 LR HP. It penetrated 6 sheets and bounced off the seventh sheet.
That would be the equivalent of 3 interior walls.
And that's only a .22 pistol.

Long story short, we proceeded to shoot several rounds and they all penetrated all 12 sheets and exited.

This is the entrance of the last sheet.

 

[Lars]

Side note, On the above site. they have a "Shotgun meets the box o truth" article under the original chapters link.

00 buck from 25 yards penetrated 7 sheets, with 3 balls penetrating 8, and being embedded in the 9th. Take that down to "in home" distances which are usually going to be 20-30' tops, and you're looking at just about anything you fire going through every interior wall of your house pretty easily provided it doesn't hit other objects with more structure..... like a water heater, furnace, refrigerator. (and I wouldn't bet my life on those stopping the round either.)

That whole "Objects in motion tend to stay in motion" rule applies. And in this case we're talking objects moving at several hundred, if not thousand feet per second.

 

[Joe Williams]

The .25s are sub-optimum.

The other choices are all excellent, and all would work. To paraphrase what someone has already said, the gun you shoot best with is your best choice.

Now on to the threadjacking about shotguns:
A 12 or 20 guage is certainly a better stopper than any handgun, but if one can have only one gun for home defense I feel a handgun is the superior choice. One cannot answer the door to a knock from a stranger with a shotgun in hand without scaring the heck out of people, you can answer with a handgun in hand without the person at the door even knowing you have one. Even if you don't care about scaring the heck out of people, answering the door with a shotgun just means you are liable to end up in a wrestling match for the gun if the knocker is a bad gun.

When you go to investigate bumps in the night, a handgun is easier to grab, more convenient to keep handy, and it's easier to conduct your investigation while maintaining retention of your weapon.

A shotgun or carbine is superior if you can just barricade (and both play a role in our home's defense plans), but way more often than not you want a gun handy for suspicious noises or events that end up being non-events, and for that vast majority of times you want a gun, a handgun is likely closer to hand, easier to maintain control of, and far more discrete.

 

[Snake Eater]

you must look out for over penetration on all cal.

 

[GlockRiver]

Glock! 9mm, .40, .45 ACP... whatever. Goes bang EVERYTIME...perfect for protection.

 

[james e]

best gun

out of the guns you have it would be the 40.but i think a 380 is better,because it has nock down power and will not hurt your ears if your shoting in your house.

 

[calcot7]

Unless you've got a really good throwing arm...........sell th .25

 

[HICKMAN]

.40 shooting the Glaser Safety Slug for in the house.


Glaser Safety Slug

 

[RaiseTheBlackFlag]

Walther P99 .40 loaded with 180 gr. Federal HST.

 

[kadetklapp]

12 gauge boom stick or a .45.

 

[sivins]

12 gauge boom stick or a .45.

Boom stick always reminds me of that movie with the guy who has one hand and a chainsaw for the other. im using a bersa .380 currently for HD, would you recommend standard shells, or H points?

 

[mavisky]

What about that new 410 Taurus revolver that'll take small shotgun shells?

 

[WinChoke]

Boom stick always reminds me of that movie with the guy who has one hand and a chainsaw for the other. im using a bersa .380 currently for HD, would you recommend standard shells, or H points?

Bruce Campbell in Army of Darkness

 

[9rows]

What about that new 410 Taurus revolver that'll take small shotgun shells?

you mean the "judge"?

spreads the shot out too quickly for me to consider it for a "first line of defense firearm.

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Patterning the .410 shotshells proved that this revolver is, as I expected, a close range proposition, which is just fine. Any farther than twelve feet away, the pattern opens rather quickly. The number 7-½ shot at that range is pretty sparse. I would have liked to have some number 9 shotshells for testing, but none was to be found. Anyway, the 7-½ penetrates better, and at normal "A SNAKE!!!" range, it does just fine. The spread is wide enough to assure a good hit, and the pattern tight enough to assure a quick kill.[/FONT]
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[schwaky18]

Since you said handgun I will not mention shotgun with #1 buck shot or an AR.

A .45 1911. Has a safety so you must wake up alittle which is a good thing as long as you remember to take it off which means practice. .45cal you can't beat. And 7 +1 rounds is all you should need for HD otherwise you are in some serious crap and should switch to the above guns mentioned.

 

[SavageEagle]

Nobody has suggested keeping the USP or Para and using shotshells. I have no experiance with these rounds, but they use them on snakes effeciently at 10, 12 feet. They also said these distances are fairly ineffective also. Another thing to consider is that it will not chamber another round and requires you to rack the slide for a follow up shot.

That being said, I would consider this a very viable option for HD since most encounters would be in the 10-15' areas. The first shot will probably maim and **** them off, but as the charge you your second shot being that close would probably do enough damage to either kill them or immobilize them.

At the very least the first shot will be enough to stun them allowing you to chamber a second round. I would suggest loading two on top of HP's if you are worried about penetration or just one if you are in tight quarters and one shot of shotshell would work to stun them long enough to get a good aimed shot. After penetrating flesh and bone, that HP isn't going to go through another wall hard enough to be effective. At least I wouldn't think so after inital expansion, open air, wall, wall, open air...

 

[jeremy]

I have a few handguns and want to downsize to just one..I have a 45/357/40/25 calibers..What would you recommend and why

Which ever one you shoot the best!

 

[SavageEagle]

After some thoughts, ditch them all. The only thing you need is the battle rifle from The Fifth Element. One shot, then all subsequent shots go to that same spot! Flamethrower, Netting cannon, fits right in your hand. Just don't press the red button upfront on the side. That would be bad.