Is a long gun part of your home defense strategy?

[deputyG23]

Not usually for me and the bride. Whatever handgun I carried that day is still holstered on the pants I wore the day before. They are on the floor on my side of the bed. 95% of the time the gun is my issue G4 G23 with Ranger T issued ammo. No WML since I have never trained with or own one. Surefire 6P comes off of the Sam Browne and goes on the nightstand.
She has a 4” M10 available in the bedroom as well. I used to keep a ‘60s vintage Winchester 1200 riot gun with 00 buck in the bedroom but am more concerned with facing my own shotgun if I interrupted a B&E in progress.
No one in the house but the bride and I. All long guns are either cable locked or ammunition/magazines are locked in my detached shop.
If I get a specific credible threat against me, then I suppose a long gun would be made ready for use if practical.
I anticipate grandchildren in a few years and would have to revamp everything. Pistol on floor at night would have to go along with the dresser drawer M10. A few V-line pistol safes in the bedroom and office may be in my future along with some sort of quick access long gun container in the master bedroom. They would have K-frame .38s in them that could be used by the bride or I. I would continue my practice of CC in the house but not necessarily a belt gun.

[PhillySoldier]

My plans used to be pistol with weapon light on nightstand and a loaded 590a1 with 00 buck. The shotgun sat there 24/7. Pistol also sat on nightstand almost 24/7. Two dogs sleep in the room with me and wife. Bedroom has two entry doors. Each door had one of the doorhandle prop things. So between coming up my creeky ass ol farmhouse stairs and beating on the door to get in the room. And the dogs losing their shit from intruders. I felt pretty good about time to get long gun.

Life has changed. Three kids a dog and their mother now also live with us. So. No shotgun next to bed and no pistol left out. Dogs have also had to learn that sounds in the night do not mean bad guys. Guns stay locked in safe. I am going to install a in wall safe and place key hi and handy at night time. I am not comfortable with leaving a pistol on nightstand at night. Honestly afraid to leave it out. I am also thinking i should switch to the ar. Before I was not worried about penetration also. Surrounded by state land.

Having others in the house really porks security. Before I would basically not leave the room if something happened. Now I most definitely would make sure the kids were safe.


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Somewhat similar boat here including the two dogs. I have a new granddaughter in the house so I recently went from leaving guns all around to child proofing the house. So far I have installed a bunch of concealment type safes around the house as well as some different regular biometric type safes for hand guns. Something new out now called identilock is a portable biometric (plus keylock) trigger lock that looks interesting. Anyway if you wish to discuss child proofing just sent me a PM.

[Ballistic_RT]

Necro I know-

For me its a toss up. I am as comfortable with a long gun in my home as I am with handgun. I have walked my floor plan, trained/ worked go/ no-go shot angels based on kids bedroom location and neighboring houses. So really its a matter of situation dictates. My wife is much more comfortable with the AR than handgun in terms of accuracy. So in an instance where we suspect a home intruder I take the handgun and she buttons down with the rifle. Primarily because I have to go retrieve my two infant children and its much easier to do so with a handgun unless implementing the sling on the AR. If I were home alone, in the bedroom, and faced with a home intruder I would in fact grab the AR for the ballistic performance increase and the capacity. If I were anywhere else in the house I would have to deal with the situation using my carry gun as thats what I would have available.

[Cypher]

My apartment is 27X30. I'm scared to death what's going to happen if I have to shoot a 9MM in there. I'm positive that a rifle shot would put a hole in the outside wall 2 apartments down.

[Cypher]

This is the longest shot I would ever be presented with in my apartment.

[BN]

I didn't go back and read the whole thread, but has anybody said anything about how loud a 5.56 is indoors? I was shooting off my back porch double plugged and it was uncomfortable.

[Rex G]

My apartment is 27X30. I'm scared to death what's going to happen if I have to shoot a 9MM in there. I'm positive that a rifle shot would put a hole in the outside wall 2 apartments down.

Select .223/5.56 rifle ammo carefully, and it will be the less-over-penetrative choice in structural materials. A typical .223 55-grain JSP loses its structural integrity very quickly when striking just about anything.

[willie]

When my wife and I would take two toddlers on a fishing trip, we stayed in a cabin. I would carry a Browning HiPower in condition two--hammer down on a live round. On my belt in a pouch was the only loaded magazine. The BHP has a magazine disconnect. At night, the holster with pistol hung from a nail that was 6'6" from the floor. I slept with the magazine under my pillow. The BHP has a 32 lb hammer spring and 17 lb recoil spring.

[pangloss]

Mostly pistols here. However, I have an 870P in the safe with a magazine tube full of buckshot, if something happened during waking hours when the safe is unlocked, I might grab the 870P, but picking up a pistol would be a little faster. I don't practice enough with my ARs to want to use them, but I do keep a loaded AR mag in the safe. I should probably get some decent ammo to put in that mag...

[willie]

The relevance lies within the response to post #92 where the poster states that he is reluctant to leave out a handgun because of children. My example with the BHP showed how I temporarily resolved such a problem with a handgun and two kids in the same room. A reader in a similar situation then might infer that a handgun with a magazine disconnect could be a safe alternative if a adult controlled the magazine. Heavy BHP spring weights add to difficulty of operation by small kids.