Why a Revolver for Home Defense

a reply to: SPECULUM

I've had Glocks malfunction on many occasions

a reply to: semperfortis Yeah!!!

originally posted by: semperfortis
a reply to: SPECULUM

I've had Glocks malfunction on many occasions

I never have

Ive never had a jam or misfire in my Hipoint 9 carbine, shooting aluminum case Wolf ammo either.

To each is own, but i don't think i want to trust my life to 6 shots, at the gas pump, or at the mall, when a group of thugs start unloading on everyone which is very possible, more so possible than ever before in our existence

6 shots? I trust my life to one. I may fire one as a warning. That means I have 4 left in my wheel gun. It is only a five shooter. One round to the torso and thats all. Dont need a head shot. One shot to the foot and they dont have one. One shot to the shoulder and an arm is coming off. One shot to armor and they are down and likely going to die. One shot to an engine and its done. A 50 mag is a 50 mag. I dont play with plastic guns. Someday they will be making them in china

originally posted by: visitedbythem
6 shots? I trust my life to one. I may fire one as a warning. That means I have 4 left in my wheel gun. It is only a five shooter. One round to the torso and thats all. Dont need a head shot. One shot to the foot and they dont have one. One shot to the shoulder and an arm is coming off. One shot to armor and they are down and likely going to die. One shot to an engine and its done. A 50 mag is a 50 mag. I dont play with plastic guns. Someday they will be making them in china

better duck and cover when you've got 4 to 8 assailant firing ak47s at everyone with 50 round mags in full auto....6 rounds just ain't gonna cut it...thats what grenades are for

They told us to duck and cover in the early 60s. 4- 8 asailants better hope they dont walk behind each other. I will take them out with one round. Have you ever fired a 500? It hurts to shoot. I wear a padded glove and still get pulled muscles. I fire hot ;loads that will feed a hot lunch to eight guys standing one in front of another. One round through them all. One round through an engine block. Remember what I said, I have many hand guns. I never just grab one, would you? I grab 3 ansd so would you. The auto goes in my pocket. The auto is last resort. It fires not some puny 40s but full on 45s, Those bullets travel at sub sonic speeds and due to that knock people down when they are hit. You hit them in the shoulder and their arm may very well come off. The 50 will blow somebody away and everyone else will run. They can toss their aks off and run after they get splattered with gutts. Dont worry about me Bro.I have bases covered. The 12 gage is always handy and it is loaded with both 00 buck mags and Mag slugs. Ever seen what a mag slug does to a human..... its not pretty

a reply to: SPECULUM

If I've got 4-8 guys with full auto AK47s and 50 round magazines to worry about, its a good assumption that two things are true. One, it probably doesn't matter much what kind of firearm I have. Second, I've very likely made some really, really poor decisions that have led to 4-8 guys with full auto AK47s being on my doorstep.

So the best weapon for home defense in the case of a break in resulting in a face to face confrontation is a 357 revolver. One of the most powerful handguns ever made. Capable of blasting through the perp, through flimsy drywall, through exterior walls into your neighbor’s house killing his baby. While you stand dazed from the near deadly sound waves echoing through the confined space, causing very likely permanent hearing damage. Of course all of this very disturbing activity would likely take place several times as most people wouldn’t be able to hit the side of a barn with that gun, and would just keep shooting until they physically couldn’t take it any more. Oh to hope that there are no family member in the rooms next to the area of shooting, and that the neighbors don’t take offense at bullets flying through their homes.

This gun as a home defense weapon is the most ridiculous of all choices. The only consideration given in this choice of weapon, is it’s stopping power. and of course macho image. Yes that stopping power is definitely there but there is, not maybe, going to be severe consequences.

The best weapon for home defense is a medium gage semiautomatic shotgun. No so romantic. Not like Dirty Harry blasting away the bad guys with a gun that he can barely hold level. But for the guy with limited skills, who just woke up and needs to stop a bad guy you can’t go wrong with point in the general direction and shoot.

a reply to: semperfortis

Why i pick a M4 over the revolver. I do not consider myself a gun nut but i did feel the need for home protection. i just dont like the weight of the 357. i use to use a glock 9 it was a good gun the jamming issue was not that big of a deal to me for it only happens when you load full your clip. i would never load a full clip to get around this issue. why the M4 you ask. well i really like how versatile it is. as in you can load beanbags, spread shot, slug shot, far distance for a shotgun but yet can hit though walls. I want home protection but i still dont want to kill anyone i just really like the idea with the beanbags. another reason why i like the shotgun over the 357. its really loud when cocking it back. i dont care what part of the house your in you will hear that thing cock back just the sound of it will make most people run with out even needing to see anyone. im hopfull that the sound of my shotgun will be enough but if its not well then......

a reply to: okyouwin

That's the great thing about .357 magnum, though. If the recoil is too stout for you, you can always drop down to .38 specials. Some of the commercial .38 loadings out of a full size revolver like that GP-100 I mentioned above have about as much recoil as a mouse fart. And to be honest, a heavy, large frame revolver like that does a very good job of soaking up recoil even on magnum loads. So I don't know that I can agree with you there, unless you're talking about those lightweight snub nose revolvers that people use for concealed carry. Recoil on those can be nasty.

And yes, a shotgun, whether pump or semiauto can be a good choice. But the idea that you can just point in the general direction of a bad guy and expect to hit them is a myth. Take your shotgun out to the range and pattern the thing at across-the-room distance...say, 10 feet. You may be surprised at how small that shot pattern actually is.

a reply to: semperfortis

Not trying to pick a coveted ATS-thread fight, here, but in my experience while in the legal field (paralegal for both prosecution and defense...currently working with AUSAs and federal special agents), police officers, including Military Police, with whom I worked closely for many years, assume that they know the law when they really do not. I don't mean that all are absolutely ignorant to individual laws and how to cite people for breaking them, but the vast majority think that a charge is correct for a given situation when it may not be.

I only bring that up to say that just because someone on the internet says that they were an LEO for 28 years doesn't really prove anything about their knowledge of the law and how elements and specifications of different offenses actually apply to a charged crime.

And just for the record, the internet is not a bad place to look for clarification on legal matters (both lawyers and paralegals use that resource often), but the problem with rockpaperhammock's "proof" is that they are statistics derived from one month in one town in America, and does nothing to show a broader picture. But at least he backed his claim with some sort of evidence, so there's that.

Please don't take this as a personal attack, I'm just letting you know why there may be people out here who don't exactly think that being a law enforcement officer makes you an expert on the law...maybe on enforcement, but not on interpretation and prosecution.

And to keep this on-topic, I agree with your assessment of simplicity and reliability of a revolver, but I've never had an issue--at all--with my semi-auto, but I know very well on how to maintain and care for it, but I have zero reason to believe that it would fail in that one situation when it hasn't failed with nearly 1,000 rounds through it so far (barring a bad round or two, but that's not the pistol's fault).

There is so much wrong with this whole thread its hard to pin down just a few things to respond to.
I will start with the anti-gun posts.....No just shut up and move on your opinion is clearly not worth even getting more specific than that. You don't know what you don't know.

As for the rest, you also don't know what you don't know.
No the sound of a shotgun is not going to send criminals fleeing into the streets. Has it happened in the past? Sure it has but what if?
No wheel guns with 6 rounds are not better than semi-autos. Yes they are reliable, but so are modern semi autos. All man made machines will fail. period. stop. end of story. Buy a modern semi auto. From a reputable manufacturer and take it to the range. Run several hundred rounds of factory loaded ammo through it. then run at least a few magazines of your preferred self defense ammo through it. Take it home. Clean it and reload it with that same defense ammo. Is that ALL you should do? No if you are serious about self defense then you should also attend as many classes as you can afford to take from the best instructors that you can afford. If all you can do is the course of action I laid out then you will still be better off than the geezer with his trusty J frame.
We can look at all kinds of statistics and all kinds of trends and they will not prepare you for what is going to happen.
What is going to happen is that in the middle of the night you will be at home, you will be relaxed and at the most comfortable that you can be. You will be in night clothes with no shoes on and most of the lights will be off.
You will be watching TV or reading a book and then you will hear it happen.
You will have very little time to react when the door is smashed in and multiple attackers enter your home.
They will be armed and they will be intent on hurting you or your family. Why? Because if all they wanted was your stuff then they would have entered your home when you were not there! They want rape and murder and they want to get it from you and yours. There will be two to three men with evil on their mind and you will need to kill them to stop them.
Given that situation do you REALLY think 6 bullets will be enough to ensure that you can hit them or scare them off?
Do you REALLY think that you will have enough of a site picture to ensure shot placement?
Do you REALLY think there will be enough light to see exactly who and what you are dealing with?
Its not going to be the way you think its going to be.
You're not even going to use your sights and you are going to be shooting for center of dark blob.
You pull the trigger until they run away or they are bleeding out. Thats it.
Your wheel gun is not measuring up in these situations. There is always a case where it did or does just like there are plenty of dead guys who got shot with .22 and .25's but we have to try and stack the odds in our favor.
This is not 1895. We have better options. 15 rounds is better than 6.
There have been plenty of times that I have seen new gun customers being sold guns that I felt were clearly too much for what they asked for. I have seen retailers recommending Kimber .45's to folks who have never owned a gun. That's just as bad as selling someone a wheel gun.

originally posted by: babybunnies
The correct answer to "Which gun should be used for home defense" is NONE.

Statistics prove time and time again that you're six times more likely to have a gun used against you than to actually use one correctly when the situation warrants it.

You are Parroting the CDC Dr. Kellerman nonsense. His alleged research was so utterly flawed he REFUSED to release the data. However you are certainly free to believe any ( babybunnies )fantasy that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy.
Cheers

One round is all that is needed. As they come up the stairs the automatic light comes on. A single 50 mag to the chest to the first one knocks him down the stairs and splatters the others with his gutts, unless they were dumb enough to follow and that one round splatters them as well. The living intruders run for their lives. Get a revolver. Case closed.
PS stay away from plastic guns, Stainless lasts several lifetimes. Would you buy a 100 year old plastic gun and trust it? Nope!

OP.

I am going to have to disagree with you... And actually you are dead wrong, a revolver is not the best home defense weapon... for several reasons and in fact, someone who is inexperienced with firearms could hurt/kill someone with the advice you have given and if you truly are a firearms instructor, I would reevaluate your statements.

First and foremost, my "home defense" weapon in the scenario being described (awoken, in the "Dead of night") would never be a .357 magnum. The round is just far too powerful with a velocity much too fast for me to justify the risk of an errant round going through the wall and hitting an unintended target (family member, neighbor). This in of itself is enough to warrant this thread complete, and utter bogus.

Sorry if i seem steamed, but this is misinformation is what gets people hurt and or killed.

Its my opinion (And i am open to counter-arguments) a shotgun is best for home defense.

1. Loaded with bird/buck shot significantly reduces the risk of collateral damage or unintended targets being hit by being absorbed into the drywall
2. Many people prefer to keep their firearms without one in the chamber, a racking of a shotgun is an audible determent that may avoid the use of a firearm all together
3. Plenty of stopping power with less of a chance of missing
4. Pump action shotguns will force the user to pick their shots more carefully and think about the business end instead of just squeezing the trigger until they hear click
5. Small Children are far less likely to get a shotgun into a position where they can hurt themselves. They are larger, and more difficult for a child to operate.
6. In a situation that you describe, in the dead of night, a shotgun creates distance between yourself and a possible perpetrator.

I just think the OPs advice is terrible and I didnt get the chance to read through all the responses.

a reply to: YayMayorBee

The Smith and Wesson Governor is the best of both worlds...

You can shoot .45 acp, .45 long colt, and any number of .410 federal shell loads that make it perform similar to a sawed off shotgun that won't blow thru the wall to the next room...

a reply to: semperfortis

I still truly love my Glock, but you make some sound points. Overall, for the average person, a revolver is a good choice. I know the hubby wants to replace his (sold to move to where I lived).

'cause you can hammer nails all night with it and it'll shoot straight in the morning.

originally posted by: semperfortis
a reply to: James1982

NOW I THANK YOU FOR THAT

I have not laughed so hard in months..

Wrong, but great entertainment value..

Thank you again

The reliability of revolvers is a universally accepted paradigm... No proof is needed in that arena..

As a former Marine, I can assure everyone I am not discussing combat... Totally different concept...

You are welcome! My goal wasn't to entertain (anyone but myself) but I truly am happy I could spread a bit of joy to someone!

Universally accepted paradigm amongst whom? Not mechanical engineers for sure? Do you think American'-lead military combat is the only situation where a firearm is useful or relevant?

As a person with no military experience I ask you, why does the military not use revolvers as it's standard sidearm if they exhibit such an exceptional record of reliability? Politics aside (is that possible?) I doubt many military folks would deny that an autoloader is a better pistol than a revolver. Not speaking from ignorance, I know more than a few current and former military and none of them have every extolled the virtues of revolvers to me, in fact they all prefer Glocks and even more modern designs as scary an idea as I'm sure you find it.

originally posted by: 5leepingWarrior
That is equally as ridiculous. My suggestion? Let your Faith be your Shield. As for the non believers? Unless you are faster and more skilled than the other guy, your SOL. Let the flaming begin... a reply to: seagull

I have no desire to flame you, but don't you think the idea of relying upon divine intervention for protection is a bit outdated?


Source: History