Guns

[Domsz06]

I'm gonna slightly disagree with this. 9mm will bring down an attacker. It's all about shot placement. The appeal of most 9mm handguns is that they usually hold a few extra rounds. That being said, I prefer .45. Pick a gun and caliber and shoot it a lot! No better way to be 100% sure you are able to use the weapon should you need it. And take a firearms safety class, you'll learn more than you can imagine.

I was just saying in a panic, most people don't shoot the best. Yes I agree with you that as long as your shooting good, a 9mm will stop anyone. That make you feel better

[Domsz06]

I would think twice about using a shotgun indoors for self defense. Here are a few reasons why in my opinion.
1) If you miss your target the buckshot (preferred for self-defense in a shotgun)will go through drywall and could potentially harm an innocent on the other side. Let's face it, when you wake up in the middle of the night you rarely have your wits about you. A handgun round would also penetrate the drywall, however, the odds of hitting an innocent go down due to the quantity of lead leaving the firearm
2) Not very handy to get to, unlike a pistol which can be kept in a bedside drawer or under a mattress (not recommended)
3) Noise level, a shotgun is extremely loud when fired compared to a sidearm. Firing it in close quarters amplifies this to such an extreme level that you could damage your hearing and could render you temporarily handicapped against an intruder.

These are my opinions only, just food for thought. Good luck, by the way, Dom is on to something with the .45 or the 10mm

I LOVE MY 10mm it just got a bad rap and never got popular. I want to get a 45.... but certain things are stopping that for the immidiate future.

[Domsz06]

do you guys really live places where a number of concealed weapons are this necessary?

lets just say that I want to get my CHL due to the fact that not all of houston is great area's, I drive a lot at night, I'm now not as able to defend myself due to the obvious, I drive nice cars, and car jacking is prevlant, tweekers are everywhere.

Nice thing about TX is you can carry a gun in your car as transportation and not get in trouble (little loop hole in the law apparently)

[Domsz06]

I'll respond to these.

1) I don't keep buckshot in my shotty, just for the reasons you mentioned. At the ranges you'd be at in a home invasion scenerio, there isn't much chance for the shot to open up anyway. So anything comes out more like a slug than anything else. So it's a trade off either way.

2) very true, I keep mine under the bed, unloaded with the shells nearby in a lock box. I really feel like the sound if racking a shotgun is probably enough to scare away most people. But the danger of keeping a loaded weapon outweighs the risk of anyone actually breaking in.

3). Without hearing protection all of these are gonna be insanely loud. I don't know that a shotgun is gonna do more hearing damage than any thing else. Especially when talking about shooting inside a house.

I have 30 friends in my night stands that will out run any one I know of. They are all loaded, and 1 in the chamber (but I also do NOT have children and I live alone ) When I have children I'll be getting a finger print safe so I can still keep loaded, but will only have one. I have read too many horror stories of children and guns and will not want my kids to be the story.

[Domsz06]

I agree with Tequilla, why would you want buck shot in for home defence? just have small bird shot, from a 12 gauge pump saw'd off it's still gonna knock the intruder on his/her arse, don't care how big. Plus with the bird shot hopefully it won't go through too many wall's.

[ajholt7]

.38 snub nose S&W. Enough said.

[Guapo]

I LOVE MY 10mm it just got a bad rap and never got popular. I want to get a 45.... but certain things are stopping that for the immidiate future.

I had a 10mm, but never got very good at shooting it. I got rid of it and got a 45...much easier to shoot (IMHO)...love that gun.

[Oklahoma Breakdown]

lets just say that I want to get my CHL due to the fact that not all of houston is great area's, I drive a lot at night, I'm now not as able to defend myself due to the obvious, I drive nice cars, and car jacking is prevlant, tweekers are everywhere.

Nice thing about TX is you can carry a gun in your car as transportation and not get in trouble (little loop hole in the law apparently)

Hey Dom, its a bit of a drive but there is a CHL class I am taking in Ft Worth March 20th. www.safeshot.com

[Domsz06]

Hey Dom, its a bit of a drive but there is a CHL class I am taking in Ft Worth March 20th. www.safeshot.com

I would love to take it with you, and would. But there is a certain circumstance in my life right now that is not over, that may prevent me from being able to obtain the CHL for a few years....

Thanks for the offer though!!!

[Oklahoma Breakdown]

I would love to take it with you, and would. But there is a certain circumstance in my life right now that is not over, that may prevent me from being able to obtain the CHL for a few years....

Thanks for the offer though!!!

Ouch, well ok then! Maybe next time.....

[Top Heavy]

I would think twice about using a shotgun indoors for self defense. Here are a few reasons why in my opinion.
1) If you miss your target the buckshot (preferred for self-defense in a shotgun)will go through drywall and could potentially harm an innocent on the other side. Let's face it, when you wake up in the middle of the night you rarely have your wits about you. A handgun round would also penetrate the drywall, however, the odds of hitting an innocent go down due to the quantity of lead leaving the firearm
2) Not very handy to get to, unlike a pistol which can be kept in a bedside drawer or under a mattress (not recommended)
3) Noise level, a shotgun is extremely loud when fired compared to a sidearm. Firing it in close quarters amplifies this to such an extreme level that you could damage your hearing and could render you temporarily handicapped against an intruder.

These are my opinions only, just food for thought. Good luck, by the way, Dom is on to something with the .45 or the 10mm

When using a shotgun for home defense why would you not use birdshot? 6 shot to 8 shot. 8 shot will do the trick if racking the shell does not.
Using Birdshot.... at least what I have shot has a hard time penetrating a drywall wall from 15 feet, and what does penetrate, would not cause much damage. Tried it for just these conversations when my father was in the market. I think for the average person a 12 gauge with birdshot would be the best choice along with the safest choice when other rooms in the house are occupied.
A 9mm on the other hand would be the least safe choice in my opinion when talking about penetrating walls. The small size of the calaber along with the speed of the bullet makes this a penetrating genious. This is also why this bullet does not have the stopping power of the .40 or .45. The bullet simply goes clean through the target. Meaning that same bullet would go clean through your wall or even the wall of the house next door.
However being the hypocrite that I am i bought the Ruger LCP .380 calaber for CCW. Same size as the 9mm but much smaller and slower round. The size of the gun itself is just hard to pass up when you carry all the time. For home i choose the shotgun or .45.

[Oklahoma Breakdown]

So I took the new gun out this weekend On my father in laws land in rural Oklahoma. We had several rifles, an old chinese .762 and the new S&W SIGMA 9 MM which had never been fired. In 50 rounds the 9mm jammed on me twice
I spoke with a couple buddies and the guys at academy about it and they are saying I have an ammo issue. I used cheap Monarch full metal jacket so hoping that is the case. The guys at Academy told me the Monarch rounds have a failure rate of almost 2 in 100.
I bought 100 rounds of Winchester full metal, cleaned and oiled the gun and will knock those out this week. If it jams again I will send it back.

Anyone else experience this with a new gun?

[Guapo]

So I took the new gun out this weekend On my father in laws land in rural Oklahoma. We had several rifles, an old chinese .762 and the new S&W SIGMA 9 MM which had never been fired. In 50 rounds the 9mm jammed on me twice
I spoke with a couple buddies and the guys at academy about it and they are saying I have an ammo issue. I used cheap Monarch full metal jacket so hoping that is the case. The guys at Academy told me the Monarch rounds have a failure rate of almost 2 in 100.
I bought 100 rounds of Winchester full metal, cleaned and oiled the gun and will knock those out this week. If it jams again I will send it back.

Anyone else experience this with a new gun?

I've never experienced that....though I've never used that brand of ammo. I hope they are right and switching ammo fixes the issue...keep us posted.

[thtrog]

I guess we'll talk about guns....

[RockRig]

So I took the new gun out this weekend On my father in laws land in rural Oklahoma. We had several rifles, an old chinese .762 and the new S&W SIGMA 9 MM which had never been fired. In 50 rounds the 9mm jammed on me twice
I spoke with a couple buddies and the guys at academy about it and they are saying I have an ammo issue. I used cheap Monarch full metal jacket so hoping that is the case. The guys at Academy told me the Monarch rounds have a failure rate of almost 2 in 100.
I bought 100 rounds of Winchester full metal, cleaned and oiled the gun and will knock those out this week. If it jams again I will send it back.

Anyone else experience this with a new gun?

Yes, I have a Walther that jammed brand new, I thought it might just need a better initial cleaning, so while I was dousing it in Breakfree, I noticed a burr on the slide mechanism, sanded it off and no more jams.

I also had a Para .45 that would jam about one in ten, it turned out that I could not fire it without the gun jamming. I took it to a gunsmith, but no luck, so I sold it.