New shooters are often given some pretty terrible advice. Here's an article I wrote for beginners to help them sift through some of that bad advice. I'd like to hear what you think I left out. Any advice for a novice author?









The rest of the article is hosted here

Not sure if serious because of your screen name

Lol. Either you get it or you don't, and you get it.

The biggest striker fired 9mm with standard capacity mags you can afford.

For home defense? No. Pistols suck. The only thing they are good at is being small enough to conveniently carry.

You know a shotgun is great if I ducks do a home invasion . Until them it is a 9mm pistol or a 223 rifle.

Ok, who screwed with the timer on the portal generator?  It can't have been the required 60 days since the last invasion.

Got some tard comments on your site

Pretty cool website, nice job on the article. I have nothing to add other than I hear a shotgun vs rifle debate coming.

 

Greasy hillbilly?  I bet you hate flags but not fags.

Yeah...read that and said "bye".

The article is mine but the site is not. I just contribute from time to time.

 Well, I stumbled through the article.  "Meat from bone" was a nice touch.  You even managed to work in "crew served weapon."

Here's something that might blow your mind: It's actually possible to not hate either.

 

Did I make it in before taurus judge?

 True, but who is more likely to be greased up, hillbillies or fags?  Ned Beatty is eagerly awaiting the answer.

You gonna try it?

home has pillboxes at the ready

A buddy of mine who works at (manager actually) a gun store recently told me an AR was "a horrible home defense choice" and that #8 shot was good.

FPNI?

My uncle says that all the time.


Ugh.

The guys from Box O Truth might argue with the whole rifle/shotgun overpenetration myth.  A 55-grain BB is not going to pass through 6 sheets of drywall.



Should've started with this sentence, since it's probably the best one in your whole article.

BB sized shot does not reliably penetrate deeply enough, but you probably didn't mean BB, since 55 gr is a touch heavier than a 00 size pellet.

Any projectile that is capable of penetrating deeply enough for reliable incapacitation is also capable of passing through multiple walls. Higher velocity bullets tend to use and then impact sideways, showing more quickly and sometimes fragmenting, depending on a number of factors. The difference is not great, but .223/5.56mm does tend to potentate fewer walls than 00 buck.

Read here.

Not bad at all, seems well written to the target audience.

G19

 

Mysterious double-tap!  (Good for post count!)  

My thoughts exactly, well done

Greasy hillbilly?  Tighty whities?  I resemble those remarks



Unrelated... when did you retire from the Guard?

 Since when can't you buy birdshot at Walmart?  That's like 75% of the shot shells Walmart sells!  'Greasy hillbilly' is a little too derisive; don't ya think?  I built our home; and I'll be damned if I want anyone opening up inside the, 'old homestead' with either an AR, or a shotgun.  The other thing you can't do with a shotgun is deliver precision fire on a bad guy who's taken a family member hostage, and is standing at the rear, peaking out, while he covers you with his muzzle.  

The usual rules remain valid:  

(1)  Be ready.  

(2) Have a plan. (Something you forgot!  )  This plan should include an alternative egress route from your home.

(3) Know the prime ambush and engagement spots inside your home.  

(4) If you don't live alone then include all other (adult) family members in your home defense plan.  

(5) Be practiced with your weapon, and very well able to hit what you aim at.  

(6) Keep your nerve, and be 100% ready and willing to kill, or be killed.  

(7) You should be the primary defender; however,

(8) See to it that all other (cognizant) family members know what to do, and (ideally) are trained, and proficient with weapons.  

(9) Keep a cell phone, tac light, and (Ready?) house keys with your gun(s).  

(10) You should never begin firing inside your own home unless you have previously considered all the available, 'angles-of-fire', and know exactly where the, 'pass-throughs' and misses are going to go whenever or wherever you, 'cut loose'.  (The angles-of-fire are every bit as important as the backstop.)  

I'm going to add an 11th rule:  Mark your target, AND know exactly who you're shooting at!   At our house it's just me and my wife; so any third party is already gone; but this isn't acceptable self-defense behavior for a family with multiple adults and/or children; nor is it entirely useful to anyone who has a landlord, or might expect maintenance staff to have (reasonable) access to the inside of the dwelling.  

True, every home should have, at least, one gun in it; but I am, also, convinced that one or two dogs are of equal importance with a gun.  In fact, two Pit Bulldogs once saved the lives of, both, my wife and myself.  There were plenty of guns in the house; but I was on crutches and unable to get to them; so the Bulldogs took care of our home invasion for us without any additional help from me.  

(I guess we were just lucky the Pitbulls weren't out terrorizing the neighborhood, or eating the neighbors' children when our break-in occurred!)    



ADDED:  Oh, yeah!  I don't care what gun I use for home defense.  Put any gun in my hands; and I'll promise to do well with it.  Personally, I think many people would be well served by a 22 LR carbine; and I don't give a lot of credence to insisting that an average homeowner needs a, 'death ray' in order to successfully defend himself or his home.  Home defense is only rarely a rip-roaring gun battle; and, even then, any bullet is going to hurt!  (I would know; I've been shot twice, and on two separate occasions, by a 22 LR arm.  The second time this happened I wasn't expecting it; and the shot knocked my right leg out from under me; and I fell down.)

This.

 

Biden knows best.

  Wat?

I received a medical discharge in 2011

Mossberg factory AR style collapseable stock.  I've seen one and according to a classmate, it's airsoft quality.

I notice you left magnum handguns and PCC's out of the conversation...intentional?

That would have thrown a little kink into at least some of your reasoning/argument.

Good blog/website layout, better than mine.  Not good information on rifle penetration and terrible overall advice for anyone with children.

Thome

Well magnum hand guns are always good if you're involved in a mall shooting you can kill everyone in the place if you can get them to line up correctly. Sorry can't comment on the PCCS as I don't know what they are.

870 Police with fore end light and 00 buck, with 6 round mag and side saddle.  And knowing how to use it.  


And many other guns available.

Good article.  

Agreed

The one thing I have the hardest time getting through to folks is to have more than one partial box of ammo in the house.

you can never go wrong with a shotgun!

I dislike pump shotguns mainly because I have seen them short stroked during combat shotgun quals by guys who have way more training than your average homeowner. And that is just training, imagine real world conditions. But I realize it is still an immensely popular tool for home defence.

My advice?

Get anything. Get your foot in the door of gun ownership. You'll get smarter as you go along. Not like it'll be the only one you buy.

My apologies.  My sarcasm got the best of me.  The 55-grain BB was a sarcastic reference to the 5.56 round, not buckshot.  One of my pet peeves is when people claim a 5.56 round will go through three houses.



Rifle is my first choice for HD, but it's all about training and what you can operate under stress.  For most folks, an autoloading shotgun or revolver are the best choices - simplest to operate.



 

You can't buy rock salt rounds at Walmart.

I did cover PCCs. Magnum handguns have their own problems. Still hard to hit with compared to a long arm but they also have heavy recoil and muzzle blast.