Home defense caliber?
- Thread starter thehemi
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Big country
TGT Addict
yea you know what they say "you my get busted-up, broke down, hospitalized, parrelizzed or you may get old and fat but you will always miss it." And I have never heard anything more true.
12 ga. pump action. Most crooks will leave when they hear the action, the others deserve what they get. As for hand gun, I like the .45 acp, .38 Sp +P, and 9mm -- pretty much in that order. I put the .45 ACP on top because it is big and slow. It won't travel great distances if you miss and hit the wall. 
Now, for chacing the bugger down the street, give me my .357 Mag or .44 Mag. That will crack an engine block. -G
Now, for chacing the bugger down the street, give me my .357 Mag or .44 Mag. That will crack an engine block. -G
What? Where did that come from and what are you referring to? Do you live in a state where this is a requirement by law or something?
If you plan on using a firearm for self-defense, you should certainly not keep it locked.
An unloaded handgun is pretty quick to load... just pop the mag in, and rack.
I would leave a shotgun loaded, and unlocked.
If you are in Texas there is no legal requirement to do so.
Guys, take it easy on Stewdog, he's just asking an honest question. 
Stewdog, do you live here in Texas? If so, there isn't any law about keeping a gun locked or unloaded for home defense use. I believe there are some regulations about keeping them inaccessible to children unsupervised of course(correct me if I'm wrong anyone). However it's easy enough to keep the home defense gun by your bed, on the nightstand, etc while at home and say in bed sleeping, and when you're going to leave you could always just throw on a trigger lock, throw the gun in a safe, etc etc. There are no real set regulations in Texas forcing you to do anything any one way.
As far as keeping a gun ready for home defense, here's one way I do it with handguns, and this is just my personal preference so take it with a grain of salt. I keep my Sig right next to my bed. I have a full mag in the gun, though I don't keep it chambered. I have a few extra mags in a mag pouch on a belt with a holster laying beside my bed. That way if I feel I need to I can throw the belt on which gives me easy access to 2 mags plus i can holster if i need to (never know what you might need if you have to clear the house in the middle of the night). I also keep a good sized LED flashlight next to the bed just in case. The reason I keep my handgun de-chambered is for a little added security. Should I hear something and feel I need to draw my gun and check out a sound in the middle of the night, all I need to do is rack the gun and I'm good to go. Personally, I like that as racking the gun has sort of felt like a "catalyst" to me the few times I've done it like this in the middle of the night when hearing something weird. I say "catalyst" as feeling myself going through the motion and hearing that super loud ch-chink in the middle of the night basically wakes me up instantaneously and gets my "game face" on so to speak. Everyone is different, that's just how I like to do it so far. I say it's a good idea to experiment and find what you like best. There isn't really any one right way, just preferences.
Stewdog, do you live here in Texas? If so, there isn't any law about keeping a gun locked or unloaded for home defense use. I believe there are some regulations about keeping them inaccessible to children unsupervised of course(correct me if I'm wrong anyone). However it's easy enough to keep the home defense gun by your bed, on the nightstand, etc while at home and say in bed sleeping, and when you're going to leave you could always just throw on a trigger lock, throw the gun in a safe, etc etc. There are no real set regulations in Texas forcing you to do anything any one way.
As far as keeping a gun ready for home defense, here's one way I do it with handguns, and this is just my personal preference so take it with a grain of salt. I keep my Sig right next to my bed. I have a full mag in the gun, though I don't keep it chambered. I have a few extra mags in a mag pouch on a belt with a holster laying beside my bed. That way if I feel I need to I can throw the belt on which gives me easy access to 2 mags plus i can holster if i need to (never know what you might need if you have to clear the house in the middle of the night). I also keep a good sized LED flashlight next to the bed just in case. The reason I keep my handgun de-chambered is for a little added security. Should I hear something and feel I need to draw my gun and check out a sound in the middle of the night, all I need to do is rack the gun and I'm good to go. Personally, I like that as racking the gun has sort of felt like a "catalyst" to me the few times I've done it like this in the middle of the night when hearing something weird. I say "catalyst" as feeling myself going through the motion and hearing that super loud ch-chink in the middle of the night basically wakes me up instantaneously and gets my "game face" on so to speak. Everyone is different, that's just how I like to do it so far. I say it's a good idea to experiment and find what you like best. There isn't really any one right way, just preferences.
Yes, I live in Texas. It seems if you make your weapon inaccessible to a child it is inaccessible to you in a emergency. My children are preteen and I take them to the range to teach gun safety. I just wondered about the guys who have younger kids and weapons in the house.
Big country
TGT Addict
talk about paranoid! just jokeing. My dad was the same way when I was a kid (and dad was a sherif's deputy) he would get creative. And of cours now I do the whole scotch tape on the top of the door to.
WARHAWK357
New Member
Ok, shot placement shot placement. If you can't hit what you shoot at all else won't amount to a hill of beans. Remove that from the equation. 9mm just don't have the pop needed for home defense. In home defense you want fewest shots possible. So I go with a few select cal. .38 special .38+p .357mag .40 .45. These have enough stopping power in case the intruder just happens to be a big SOB and you are a lil off your mark. A good 12 guage is the best with 00 buck. An AR with .223 is a bad idea unless you live in the rual areas like I used to. It will punch right through a person and into another home. Its a badass gun and I can't wait till mine comes in but I'll go with the handgun or shotgun if I'm inside the home when badman comes knockin but when he's runnin in his vechical he'll have .223 comein at him.
I'd rather be tried by 12 than carried by 6
I'd rather be tried by 12 than carried by 6
I really don't understand what so many people have against 9mm. I can respect personal preference for whatever cartridge is your favorite, but most of the "evidence" cited against 9mm doesn't hold up under even casual scrutiny.
9mm has considerably more "pop" than .38SPL according to all the ballistics charts I've seen. .38SPL +P is close to 9mm, but does not equal it.
In the same general bore diameter and bullet weight, why are .38 SPL, .38SPL +P, 9mm, .357SIG, .357MAG ranked in this order? Because that's the general order of their velocities.
9mm has considerably more "pop" than .38SPL according to all the ballistics charts I've seen. .38SPL +P is close to 9mm, but does not equal it.
In the same general bore diameter and bullet weight, why are .38 SPL, .38SPL +P, 9mm, .357SIG, .357MAG ranked in this order? Because that's the general order of their velocities.
Guys, take it easy on Stewdog, he's just asking an honest question.
Stewdog, do you live here in Texas? If so, there isn't any law about keeping a gun locked or unloaded for home defense use. I believe there are some regulations about keeping them inaccessible to children unsupervised of course(correct me if I'm wrong anyone). However it's easy enough to keep the home defense gun by your bed, on the nightstand, etc while at home and say in bed sleeping, and when you're going to leave you could always just throw on a trigger lock, throw the gun in a safe, etc etc. There are no real set regulations in Texas forcing you to do anything any one way.
As far as keeping a gun ready for home defense, here's one way I do it with handguns, and this is just my personal preference so take it with a grain of salt. I keep my Sig right next to my bed. I have a full mag in the gun, though I don't keep it chambered. I have a few extra mags in a mag pouch on a belt with a holster laying beside my bed. That way if I feel I need to I can throw the belt on which gives me easy access to 2 mags plus i can holster if i need to (never know what you might need if you have to clear the house in the middle of the night). I also keep a good sized LED flashlight next to the bed just in case. The reason I keep my handgun de-chambered is for a little added security. Should I hear something and feel I need to draw my gun and check out a sound in the middle of the night, all I need to do is rack the gun and I'm good to go. Personally, I like that as racking the gun has sort of felt like a "catalyst" to me the few times I've done it like this in the middle of the night when hearing something weird. I say "catalyst" as feeling myself going through the motion and hearing that super loud ch-chink in the middle of the night basically wakes me up instantaneously and gets my "game face" on so to speak. Everyone is different, that's just how I like to do it so far. I say it's a good idea to experiment and find what you like best. There isn't really any one right way, just preferences.
I'm following this advice now after talking to Sig_Fiend personally about this subject. Previously I was chambered and de-cocked (DA). The main reason I switched to the above method is because I use Carbon DPX rounds for home defense and the constant chambering and unchambering of the round could present ammo problems down the road. Since I go to the range at least twice a month and don't plan to use the home defense ammo except in an emergency, it's probably not a good idea to keep chambering and unchambering the round(s). I do on occasion fire a Corbon just to make sure my gun likes tem, but generally speaking I have two 15rd P30 mags loaded up with DPX ready to rock.
I can rack the slide as quickly as I could cock the gun so it's not a big deal from time-to-fire.
While on the best round situation, I'm still using my P30 as the first line of defense. It's for a few reasons: 1) My HK45 is brand new and my accuracy with it isn't as good. 2) I get 15 rounds in the P30 -vs- 10 in the HK45. 3) I suppose with the P30 I have less a chance of having the round go through walls and cause more damage to property/life. 4) As of now, I'm still researching the best home defense round for the HK45
I may change my tune as I get more time with my HK45 and find a good defense round for it. My feeling is that a 9mm 115gr DPX has enough stopping power so the extra accuracy and 50% more rounds wins for right now.
However, if I could fire with the accuracy and speed of Sig_Fiend on his .45 it'd be another story, but I just have no where near the range time and skill that he does.
Additionally, I have a MagLite ready to go to insta-charge the night sites.
I do feel now with the 9mm and .45 (and a currently broken .22LR Mosquito plinker), I have no need for any additional handguns. I don't see a need for a .40SW or anything like that when I have both a 9mm and .45 now. My next purchase will be an AR15 or a 12ga tactical. Once I have the 12ga, that'll be option #1, the firearm will be secondary.
Brian, I am sorry you are unfortunate enough to be stuck with the notoriously unreliable H&K P30. Being the kind soul that I am, I will generously offer you a $25 Chili's gift card (mmmm, Southwestern Smokehouse Bacon Burgers!) to take it off your hands. The same offer goes for anyone else with such high-end, expensive guns that are all generally unreliable (Ed Brown, Wilson Combat, Sig X5's, etc). Well we'll have to call it the TGT gun buyback program, done of course in the effort to take notoriously "unreliable" high-end firearms off the streets to save the lives of those depending on such unreliable firearms. lol j/k (total sarcasm)
How about a fubar'd Sig Mosquito for a $25 gift card. How sad it is that I'd seriously contemplate that offer.
