Best gun for home defense for a novice shooter?

[jay]

rig your house to trap the intruder inside until police (or u with firearm) get there

[Jayhawk]

rig your house to trap the intruder inside until police (or u with firearm) get there

Do not do this!

[Vulcan]

If I lived in the USA nothing short of this would do (going by what you guys tell me):




 

[Masherbrum]

Eagl.  Mayhem is the act of emptying a magazine into a perp when the M.E determines the first round of 12-17 killed him.  Llogan got what said. 

[mechanic]

[Delirium]

I am glad this discussion came up, I live in the state of the Petit family (well, at least the good doctor is still alive). I would like to get a gun but I am hesitant in a house with 2 kids, not to mention I am concerned an intruder could obtain the weapon.

Has there been ANY progress on the 'smart guns' (either biometric or even a simple RF tag device) being made available for the home market? If so, how reliable are they?

[TOMCAT21]

I have a Colt Government Agent in .45 ACP for home defense . it is basically a compact 1911 loaded with jacketed hollow points.

[Babalonian]

Yea i guess if 50cent can get shot 9 times by a 22 they must suck


but seriously I'll take a 22 over a 45 anyday because I've shot a 45 quite a few times and they arent nearly as accurate

With exception to recoil factors in a rapid fire situation (spray and pray), I find your assesment extremely false.

[Babalonian]

Nah Ive shot alot of larger pistols we own a .357 magnum revolver...kicks like a mule but it's pretty accurate.


The thing with 45 is it isn't accurate at least from what I've seen...I was shooting a prison guards and I wasn't impressed at all.


Maybe because our .357 has about a 6inch barrel and the 45 is like 2 inches.


The thing literally couldn't hold a 24" spread at 25 feet.
And it wasn't just me shooting it the owner of it couldn't even do any better and he was in a war and a guard.
I expect a gun to hit exactly where I aim it and I know my 22 does

Most .357s are quite inacurate for most shooters.  To properly control the forces of the magnum round the gun needs to be usually heavy and have a long barrel - a heavier and larger handgun is usually harder to control with one hand than a lighter and more compact one.  Short barrels are less wear and tear on the gun, but reduce accuracy greatly.

A two-inch barrel for a .45 is the equivalent of a sawed off shotgun (it's likely a handgun designed to be CCed for personal protection), anything you aim at beyond 25-feet you'll probabley miss - anything "attacker-sized" you aim at within that distance, you'll likely one-shot.

Most .22s are very accurate due to a mix of the rounds velocity to mass ratio and the length of the various gun barrels.  IE: a fair comparison to your 2" .45 would be a 1" barrel on a .22... a combination so inaccurate and inconsistent (not to mention too short for the .22 to reached its prized high-velocity) with such a small and light round that you're actually better off using a sawed-off shotgun.

[Twizzty]

I didn't go through the entire thread so forgive me if this was mentioned already. Take a look here:

http://www.taurususa.com/video-theJudge.cfm

A friend of mine just bought this for home/car defence and it works very well.

Good Luck

[Babalonian]

I am glad this discussion came up, I live in the state of the Petit family (well, at least the good doctor is still alive). I would like to get a gun but I am hesitant in a house with 2 kids, not to mention I am concerned an intruder could obtain the weapon.

Has there been ANY progress on the 'smart guns' (either biometric or even a simple RF tag device) being made available for the home market? If so, how reliable are they?

Smartguns are progressing but nothing I'd write home about yet....  now trigger-locks and the many good and inovative varieties that have come out in the past decade is another story!  Any good shop around would likely love to take all the time needed to demonstrate to you all your options for trigger locks, especialy taking into acount ones that are child-proof.  It's not 100% - a thief could steal the gun, take it home and tool the device off - but by then he'd be long gone from where you or your family is and the police will most likely of been informed.

[Babalonian]

I didn't go through the entire thread so forgive me if this was mentioned already. Take a look here:

http://www.taurususa.com/video-theJudge.cfm

A friend of mine just bought this for home/car defence and it works very well.

Good Luck

That's actually pretty genius for personal defence, a legal mini sawed-off hand-held shotgun.  Will definetley stop flat any attacker within ~25 feet without going through that cafeteria wall 50+ feet behind them.

[Jayhawk]

I am glad this discussion came up, I live in the state of the Petit family (well, at least the good doctor is still alive). I would like to get a gun but I am hesitant in a house with 2 kids, not to mention I am concerned an intruder could obtain the weapon.

Has there been ANY progress on the 'smart guns' (either biometric or even a simple RF tag device) being made available for the home market? If so, how reliable are they?

I have no experience with these, but I've heard of Magna-trigger before.  You would have to wear a ring (that I believe is magnetic) and when you grip the gun, the ring turns off the extra safety.  So, someone without the ring on, would be unable to fire the weapon.  However,  I think they are only available on certain firearms, not to mention having to wear the ring.  

There are many fingerprint gun safes available though.  This would allow you to have the firearm easily and quickly accessible to you or your wife, but not anyone else.  As for keeping the gun out of any attacker's hands, I'd say it just takes training.  The NRA offers multiple classes about self-defense handgun, and home defense with a firearm.  A firearm is not the end all solution, but can be a great tool if you train properly.

[Somerled]

Well, spoke with my friend today and he's giving up on the gun idea, he said he's going to invest in pepper spray and a house alarm.

[Serenity]

Well, spoke with my friend today and he's giving up on the gun idea, he said he's going to invest in pepper spray and a house alarm.

Maybe talk to him about getting interested in firearms in a sane way? Shooting can be great fun and very therapeutic, and if he can get familiar with the weapons, a concealed carry permit and a nice hand gun is both a good source of protection for yourself and family (Not only in the house, I know the Castle law here extends to cars, and I  have a friend whose father has had to brandish a gun to prevent a road-rage incident from turning deadly) and just a nice little tool to have around.