It’s my understanding that there’s been a consistent trend to view the AR platform as having an edge to the shot gun for HD. The reasons for that are well known, so won’t rehash that, but feel free to add thoughts/ links as needed.
So I’m on a site and as usual, it’s stated by people that the 12g shot gun is the ultimate HD gun, etc, etc. I pointed out that opinion seems to be changing and a correctly set up M4 with appropriate loads, maybe a better choice.
Well you’d think I had told them there was no Santa, or Christmas a Muslim holiday. The very mention their 870 express with pistol grip and 3/4 inch magnum shells might not be the best choice was a sacred cow never to be challenged. I didn’t claim the shot gun a bad choice or that the scatter gun not the the choice of many, simply that modern thinking was leaning toward the AR by many BTDT types and linked a few good articles, which were ignored. :fie:
Yep. There is still a lot of people who believe the 223 to be marginal at best for putting down bad guys. They always have a cousins uncles sons brother who shot a bad guy in Iraq and it did practically no damage. Then he was able to get a M14 or SCAR 17 and was taking peoples heads clean off at 800 yards.
For the Ranch House, a shot gun has always been in the mix. My first line of Home Defense is a Colt Commando 6933, plus a Smith & Wesson 686 sporting a six in barrel, and finally a Mossberg Cruiser 500. I live so far out that it would take law enforcement a half hour to an hour to reach my place. That’s my current line up.
I’m not one to criticize others for what they use for home defense. Lots of different ways to get the job done based on skill, financial ability and personal taste.
Ones selection of a HD gun is in DIRECT correlation to their level of training and the types of instructors they select to receive training. Case in point, the bulk of my hours logged training have been via ex-Delta and trainers that have taught at Delta. They have VERY little interest in the SG for most anything (to include defense in the home).
With that said, I always fall back to my golden rule. This rule states that you choose the gun that you are MOST comfortable with for HD. If that is a .22 revolver, then that is it! The “foot note” to this rule is that if you say something like SG, .22, etc then I will inform you that you need more training to learn what you do not know (as you have made a poor choice in weapons).
Indoor household distances with a shotgun…you are basically shooting a rifle anyway. There are so many arguments against and a few for. In my mind at least. All the ignorant (not trying to belittle…you don’t know what you don’t know) masses who have a 12/20 gauge for HD would ironically be better off WITH an AR with the correct load. The shotgun is so much more of a beast in every single way.
All true, and that point was made also. My point was simply that the shot gun as be all end all choice of HD was not in line with modern thinking by many and outlined the reasons.
We should defend ourselves with what we are proficient with.
One factor to consider, and I’m sure many of you have considered it, is that we are going to be best with what we train/practice with the most. An AR is friendlier for frequent, high-volume practice than a 12-gauge pump shotgun.
Here’s something to add to the mix. When I was in Somalia, I learned that the local Skinnies would rather be shot than stuck with a blade. There was something in their psyche that made them fearful of a knife, and the bigger the knife, the bigger was their fear. Maybe for places like Ferguson, MO a good home defense addition would be an AR sporting a bayonet?
Although I agree that people should use what they’re best trained with, I also encourage people to get more training on a better platform if they say they rely on a shotgun for HD. I have a lot of training with both an AR and a shotgun, it’s very evident when comparing the two that SGs are big and bulky, have much more recoil to handle, hold less ammo, are much harder to make quick accurate follow up shots, and unlike popular belief, the pattern doesn’t even have room to open up in inside-home distances, so you can’t just not aim and expect to hit something.
A good shotgun slug or good 0 or 1 buckshot definitely does a lot of damage at close range, but that’s about the extent of any positives that come with it for HD. A properly set up AR with good ammo is a much better weapon for anything defense related IMO.
I put my 30rd capacity AR15 in the safe every night and grab my 5 capacity 12 gauge because I know just the sound of loading my Shotgun is enough to scare someone away. I don’t want to clean up a big mess…
I’m pretty sure the hardest thing to open is a mind thats made up. Being unwilling to look again at a subject from a new perspective is stagnation.
I will sometimes ask a question, or for an opinion just to see where someones head is at, more often than not it’s to view for a moment something from a fresh place.
I find it sometimes very helpful, not for someone elses answer, but to help me look again from another direction.
I don’t think using a pistol for HD makes you odd or unprepared, as long as you are well trained with it.
That being said, I would NEVER take a pistol to a gunfight if I can take a rifle. There is no comparison between the effect on target of a pistol caliber vs a rifle caliber. Carry pistols are generally poor man stoppers but we carry them because they are concealable and compact. But in my house where concealment doesn’t matter, I will take my 12" rifle with 30 rounds of bonded Gold Dot 5.56 ammo over my 16 rounds of 9mm ANY DAY.
LOL. I had someone lecture me (in my own store) a month ago about why the SG was the best choice. They covered all the important topics (noise of racking it and that you cannot miss).
Then, the customer advised me as to why he doesn’t carry a round in the chamber of his CCW Glock. This was after the fact where he pulled it out and pointed it as his wife as he locked the slide to the rear.
Now normally, I am HUGE proponent of keeping a round in the chamber of ANY gun, but in this instance, I think the guy was much better off with unloaded firearm.
I don’t think there is a best solution to a home defense firearm. I think one needs to look at their unique situation and make a sound logical decision. For myself, I have two small kids which forces me to keep all of my weapons secured in a safe. Furthermore, my wife is not going to let me have a rifle style safe in our bedroom especially since it would take up her closet space. Being able to readily get to a weapon is a priority in a HD situation, my solution is M&P 9 with light secured in a biometric safe. It allows me to get to a weapon within 10-15 seconds and 17rds of 9mm is nothing to laugh at.
Of course a M4 would be my preferred option but normally intruders don’t announce that they are breaking in and I would rather have a pistol which I can get in 10 seconds rather than a rifle which would take 45-60 seconds to reach.
