Rethinking my Wife's HD gun

[KevH]

If she shoots, is comfortable with and likes the Ruger 22/45 then this is a no-brainer....setup an identical Ruger 22/45 for her for home defense.
Load it with reliable quality 22 LR ammo that you know functions in the gun.

A heavy caliber gun that you cannot function/manipulate/handle/shoot is completely useless compared to a small caliber gun that can be run well.

My "home defense" gun is whatever primary handgun I've been toting around all day...period. Typically it's a 1911 or a Glock. I always have a J-frame (typically a 340PD) around as well as as a backup.

Everyone's home defense scenario is different, but spend some time thinking through what you are going to do.

If it's just you and your wife I wouldn't recommend any room clearing. Room clearing in my world to be done correctly takes at least two or three people depending on the structure. You're more likely to get ambushed and disarmed in your own home. Barricade yourself in your room and call 911. Stay on the phone with the dispatcher on speakerphone. If someone enters your room then shoot them. Otherwise do what the dispatcher tells you to do. If you have children you need to get to that is a different story.

Before we had kids and I worked graveyard religiously, I would turn the house alarm on bypassing only my bedroom. Someone breaks in I have some warning. With kids sleeping in different bedrooms that's not possible.

I don't want multiple guns sitting around in my house. It's more likely they'll be used against me. Guns belong on your person or secured away. For sleeping, leave it in arms reach in a holster. A call early in my career the guy had both his pistol and phone on his nightstand. The phone rang and in his sleep state he picked up the pistol and accidentally blew his brains out. Weird, but weird stuff happens. It left an impression on me. Make sure you have to do some semi-conscious action to be able to operate the gun.

In an urban or suburban environment I don't typically want a long gun. Typically the encounter will be over fast and the goal is to create a defensible area, call the police and stay safe until they arrive. Be realistic about how long it takes for the cops to get there. Depending on the time and location around here it is three to five minutes.

Can an carbine or shotgun be useful? Yes, but a pistol will work just as well for that purpose and only requires one hand to operate. You also can holster it when the police show up. Running around with an AR when a bunch of rookie cops show up in the middle of the night (typically who works on a Saturday night) who just had an adrenaline dump going to a hot call is a good way to get a bunch of guns pointed at your or get shot.

I've gone to more than a few night-time home break-ins in my career. Unless you are growing weed, a dope dealer or move cash to and from your home frequently (then it's always multiple suspects doing a home invasion), typically it's one person breaking into the house at night. If it's a stranger (not a domestic violence thing), usually it's either crazy person, a drunk going to the wrong house or some ridiculously high tweaker. Daytime break-ins are typically financially motivated (they want to steal your stuff) and don't realize that someone is home.

Think heavily about what you would do during different scenarios, how defensible your bedroom is, and arm yourself accordingly.

[Stephanie B]

What does your wife want to use?

If I could like this a pasta-bazillion times, I would do so.

A friend of mine has a 3" J-frame with CT laser-grips. That might not be ideal, but it's the gun that she chose after shooting most of what I had at the time. The closest gun I had to that (then) was a Taurus 605. She liked it. We went to a gun shop that had a "try before you buy--10 rounds, $10" program and she shot the J-frame and liked that better.

Another friend bought her sister a Glock 19. She hates the gun and it has been locked away for a long time.

For another friend, it took her husband buying three "honey, you're gonna love this one" guns before Captain Obvious hit him with the clue-bat.

[Duelist]

I just ordered a G44 to replace the one I gave to my MIL last week, and it was less than $400 shipped - like, ~$370. Depending on how much the FFL actually charges me for the transfer, I expect to get it home for right around $400.

That is a great .22, and I can’t wait to get it home. I’ve been doing most of my pistol shooting with the one I gave away for the past couple of years.

The Ruger .22/45 is really a good one, too.

$20 transfer fee +a third factory magazine = $415 total, except I haven’t replaced the Dawson fiber front sight yet.

[willie]

Why not a J frame to carry at home? The J would be a secondary weapon to be used until she picked up a more effective weapon. We must not overlook the fact that 22 ammo sometimes will misfire requiring clearing of the weapon.

I will share my solution. My wife will outlive me and will be left alone. She will have a Colt M4 carbine with a full length hand guard. A high dollar weapon light with laser will ride on the hand guard. Her other long gun will be a youth Yildiz 20 ga o/u with 20 inch barrels loaded with buckshot. In various locations she will have J frame 38's. She will carry on her person either a J frame or Ruger LCP.

[rob_s]

Why not a J frame to carry at home?

When I was selling guns 20+ years ago, we got a lot of guys in “looking for a revolver for my wife” like they’d already made up their mind. I would typically try to get them to come back with their wife. Funnily enough, that often meant just going out to the car because they’d left her out there to go to man business!

We had a LOT of women that were unable to cycle a double-action revolver. Be it a hand strength issue, dexterity/familiarity, whatever. And most of those dudes were shocked when they saw it.

Typically I’d spend the next 30-60+ minutes going through the entire case with them to try and find something that worked. We sold a fair number of Beretta 84s (IIRC) in that process because the tip up barrel made it easy to load, the relatively fat grip for such a small gun was more ergonomic than a J-frame or similar, that same fat grip seemed to enable better dexterity and more women were able to cycle the trigger, and everyone was assured that the little 380 wouldn’t “kick” too much.

[rdtompki]

OP "circling back" here. My wife is very comfortable shooting a 9mm 1911 and the likelihood of her having to do a mag change is way below the probability she would ever have to use her HD gun in the first place. I've had first rounds stutter when chambering from slide lock (147gr FP only), but in at least 200K rounds total we've never had a stoppage other than from obvious reload issues. Not to say it can't happen with brand name defensive ammo, but given that we're almost always home together I've got a handgun and SBR on hand. I did buy a TLR-6 with laser and she may well find the laser preferable to the small RDS on the bedside 1911. If she wants to use a 22lr that works for me of course, but I'm not sure what 22lr ammo I would trust from a reliability standpoint. Revolvers have a reliability advantage but in my limited experience they can be a bit snappy depending on caliber, a 22lr having the advantage over a autoloader in terms of malfunction drill.

[1Rangemaster]

Welcome back, OP. If she is comfy with the 9, drive on. I like the idea of the light/laser. Respectfully, she needs to practice (even dry fire) with it before an unlikely deployment. An incident isn’t the time to learn “switchology”, etc.
Repeat the other good suggestions: locks, alarms, animals, etc.
And if everyone is safe and comfortable, house carry could be acceptable. As far as reloading:I think it was Claude Werner who did a multiple years long study of the NRA “Armed Citizen” report. His conclusion was no citizen reported an “emergency” reload.
I can see a reload happening, but the odds are astronomical, especially if one is hitting…
Hope y’all find comfort

[1Rangemaster]

Oh, and on the .22 front-
Nothing is 100%, to include centerfire(but cf cartridges have a much lower failure rate).
If she goes to a rimfire, CCI minimag has a good rep. I’ve experimented with this new Federal “Punch” ammo, and out of a handgun seems find(haven’t shot a critter with it yet). A local Grandmaster likes the Winchester fragmenting.22(Silvertip?). “Lucky Gunner” ammo site has a bog with ammo tests I found informative.
If it’s a.22, I’d invest in some #4 drywall anchors @ $.04 cents apiece, to practice a failure to fire every now and then;
“Click”, work the action, etc.
One of my now adult daughters has the Ruger 10/22 she learned on in her downtown condo. I’m pretty comfortable with a burst of .22s changing the situation.
Finally, on being home alone; I had an IDPA competitor years ago suffer a home invasion. He was an IT consultant, worked from home. Broad daylight, mid morning: he ignores several knocks on front door, which increase in force. The last few “pounding”as he described it. He was irratated enough to step into hallway to check, at which point door splinters open. The intruders were met with gunfire(he carried at home) and one did not survive the experience. He came out fine…

[Quasimojo45]

Nearby indoor range has the option to rent pistols by the caliber. Wife and I spent an afternoon and she tried every 9mm in the cabinet.
Her final choice was a Glock 26, I added the TLR-6 light/laser and that became her bedside pistol.
The important part is she chose it, based on how well she fired it and how it felt to her.

[Rex G]

Two thoughts:

I saw mention of a safe, in a room next to a home office. In my opinion, that safe is a thousand miles away, if the defender is located inside the office, when the emergency occurs.

The lack of a response, to a knock, at the door, tells a burglar that nobody is home, or, that nobody is paying attention. For many burglars, that is an invitation. I did not need to learn this, from the internet, because I had already learned this to be so, while working big-city police patrol.

My wife does not have small hands, and likes big guns, so, I cannot offer relevant advice on weapons.