Best home defense firearm?

Well, shooting is the last resort.... I would run hide or do whatever before deciding to pull the triger,,, and if you have to pull the trigger then that means you are out of options and there is nothing alse left but to save your own ass...I that point I will shoot to preserve a life, and that life is mine. :!:

There is nothing like the sound of a shotgun being loaded to send chills down someones spine. It is my preferred home defense firearm at the moment although handguns certainly have their place. My mossberg 500 is the first line for me.

what do you guys recommend for best and quickest home defense for a woman

ultimate.. im fairly new to the whole gun thing but is there a smaller shotgun available with less of the whole kick back stuff?

Oh and :arrow: For home defense I'd use my Mossberg 500a pistol grip and have my Glock 27 ready to use JIC..

Let's think about it, if you don't shoot to kill an intruder, then you leave that person around to tell their side of the story. Why would you want to let someone speak against you in a court situation while all you were trying to do is defend your property. You work hard for your money and possessions, protect them as such.

Better to be judged by 12 then carried by 6

I'm a fan of the Judge revolver, with a mix of .410 and .45 inside. I also like my 930 by my bedside.

Other than the fact that Mr. ANG looks like a complete and total tool I agree. My only caveat is go with the simplest light mounting device possible, not because of voided warranty, but because of the fact that it creates unwanted weight at the end of the gun. It also creates a snag point in the least opportunistic point of your weapon system.

I am still sticking with the short barel pump shotgun.

I definetly think the SG for several reasons, 1st and foremost the amount of led down range and or on target in 1 volley or trigger pull is unmatched in anyother firearm excluding class III FA, 2nd it can be easliy manipulated and used by the novice shooter, 3rd their is really no need to aim at something specific for self defense...ie all you have to do is point the weapon in the general direction and more than likely there will be contact. I could go on and on but overall IMHO the Shotgun is the most versatile and lethal HD weapon avaliable to the general public.
As far as something good for the ladies or the not so stout men I'm thinking "The Taurus Judge" or "Defender". The recoil on those revolvers is moderate using standard .410 OOBuck and or Slug rounds and they are fairly light weight compared to a SG as well as having simular benefits due to the cartridge. Any weapon depending on the shooter that can deliver the most amount of led with the least amount of effort is the ideal Home Defense firearm choice. :mrgreen:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrxIpvZYjsM[/youtube]

Hotshot, I would think a .410 would do nicely. Recoil is easily managed, and my 12 year old has her very own .410. She is about 8o lbs and 4' 7". For HD an 18" barrel and Mossbergs 12" LOP stock should work great. I'm so used to my 590A1, the .410 is a featherweight. Its super easy to handle, quick pointing and a very fun gun to shoot! There are plenty of load options available, from slugs, to buckshot. What ever you go with, remember, practice! Shooting makes for a better shooter, theres no substitue for practice and knowing how your firearm is going to feel when you pull the trigger.

I strongly disagree with this statement.

Even a short barrel shotgun like the Serbu Super Shorty will @ HD ranges, 5 to 10 yards, produce patterns with 9 pellet 00 buckshot of about 8". More than 10 yards and pellets begin to stray, but we're talking like 1 or 2. A spray of lead that will "more than likely" make contact will only be more than likely putting a handful very small pellets on target. I wouldnt try to take a deer or even a coyote with bird shot, and I certainly wouldnt trust my life with it. Even bird shot can pattern tightly. Too tightly to not aim.
For example, my daughters .410 I mentioned, will pattern about 12" @ about 25 to 30 yards. This pic shows the shot pattern of 2 1/2 #6 bird shot @ 25 yards. This was the first time she ever pulled the trigger on this gun. She was so excited, she even made her own paper targets!



So you can see, theres still a pretty well formed column of lead, even at some range. At HD ranges, its going to be tighter. Just for comparrison, I put 9 rounds of 12 ga. 2 3/4" #6 bird shot through a 20" barrel at the same distance, all on target, and left a coffee can sized hole in her paper target.

Please dont take me to be disrespectful, forgive me if I am. But heres the thing, should you need to use force, your life, as well as others may depend on your aim. Also, check out this thread for further documentation;
http://www.mossbergowners.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=238

Happy shootin my friend!

Brad.

good point on the low recoil shells. I second that.

A few additions to the discussion-
With the .410, if you want to run one of those make sure you are using slugs or buck if it is for defensive purposes. I would not run something like the Judge in any of its iterations. A 510 or something like it would be my very, very bottom line. There are some loads that approach decent defensive capabilities.
As for not needing to aim, I would say there is absolutely a need to aim. Especially if you are shooting at in-home distances. The absolute longest shot in my home is 15 yards. With LE132 that means a very small spread. Since the target I'm trying to hit is about fist-sized, I need to aim to hit that thing. If you're using some God-awful load like GI 00 that will spread about 9-12" at that range, you want as many of those relatively inefficient projos to hit in and around that fist-sized area as you can. There are a ton of other loads that will fall between, you can see that at close range the amount of spread is not going to adequately compensate for poor or no aiming.
As for shooting to stop/kill/wound/tickle: you shoot to stop. You should not say or believe otherwise. If you are in a Castle state, such as Texas, even if you leave the turd living as long as your shoot is justified it does not matter if he is around to tell his story. He won't have any standing in a civil case. Furthermore, there's quite a few steps to go through before you would actually even get to a courtroom setting. In criminal terms, there would be the intital CID investigation, then the ADA, then possibly the GJ, and then the court. Outside of the GJ, you will have an attorney or at least the right to representation. So it won't be as simple as some people think. In civil terms, as I said if it is a good shoot there won't be a case. Back to the criminal side, it would be a lot better if you were to articulate that you were shooting to stop the threat as opposed to killing the turd. If the turd happens to expire in the act of being stopped, that is sad and unfortunate.
As for recoil, I would add a few things to the reduced recoil rounds too. A youth stock and good shooting position will go a looooooong way towards dealing with recoil and being able to shoot the 12 gauge. When you take a smaller person (female/kid/elderly/just small dude) and hand them a 12 gauge with a 14" LOP stock and a 20-something inch barrel, they are going to get beat up most likely unless they already know how to shoot it. Give them a shorter stock that they can get their body behind, a more manageable barrel, a smoother round, and good body position to absorb recoil and you can have them shooting a 12 gauge as easily as some 280# D lineman. I've seen it happen.
ETA: Hit SUBMIT too soon.
Generally, I would go rifle/carbine/shotgun/pistol/sharp stick.
Rifles can be unmanageable in homes. They are load sensitive and you have to be careful about what you're using.
Carbines are much better ergonomically, and again load is important. They offer a lot of capacity, easy reloading, rapid follow ups, very good terminal ballistics, good ergonomics and easy manipulations.
Shotguns put a world of hurt on anybody up close in Old Testament levels. They are politically more "neutral" and may be a more realisitic option in some jurisdictions.
Pistols are handy. They are compact and easy to get into action. That's about it.
Whatever you have, that you are proficient with, is what is best. You could have an M134 but if you don't know how to flip the Master Arm and spin it up it doesn't matter.
Run what you brung, and do it well. You will default to your level of mastery.