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best home defense weapon
tone59
Member Posts: 673 ✭✭
What would be the best home defense firearm for a 51 year old woman?
She is in good physical condition(5ft 7in,140 lbs).
Thank You.
She is in good physical condition(5ft 7in,140 lbs).
Thank You.
Comments
Other than that, we need more information. What guns does she own? How experienced is she with guns? What training has she had? What size hands does she have, & how much grip strength? If she has guns but will buy a new one, how much does she want to spend?
Neal
If she has experience i would lean towards semi auto if not stick with a revolver.
A lot of things will work well, the question is what works best for her.
Fastcars +1
A lot of things will work well, the question is what works best for her.
Yes and no.
In reality, the only input needed from someone who has little to no experience with firearms is whether they can physically operate the mechanism and deal with it's recoil.
As a more experienced advisor your role is to direct them toward a type that's best suited for their intended use and level of training. For example, an AK, AR or repeating shotgun would make a fine home defense gun for many here, but not necessarily so for a non-gun person.
IMO, with house-gun situations where someone has little to no prior experience with firearms, they aren't inclined to train with their gun on a regular basis and it's expected that routine maintenance will be pretty much nonexistent, a revolver is a good idea.
Their long DA pull requires a very deliberate move on the user's part. That means less chance of an ill trained user AD'ing themselves while handling the gun after hearing a bump in the night.
They're very simple to use. No safety lever or chambering of a round involved, just aim/point and pull the trigger to fire. If necessary, simply repeat the first step.
A point that's rarely considered is that after any sort of activity with the gun has ended - whether a shot was fired or not - no actions are required to return the gun to it's normal and safe condition.
Due to short length it's tougher to take away from you than any long gun.
It can be loaded and put in a nightstand today and never touched again - but pretty much guaranteed good-to-go for a complete cylinder even 20 years from now.
EDIT:
quote:Originally posted by itchy300
What I do when helping someone choose a weapon, I like to take them to a gun show and let them see what feels good to them.The 'feel' when simply holding a gun ends with whether it's size is right for the person. That complete newb doesn't have the experience to comprehend what effect a gun's design details will have when actually firing it.
For example, newbies looking for a self defense handgun often choose the absolute smallest, lightest model they find and chambered in a powerful cartridge. They then end up unhappy with it due to harsh recoil. It's the more experienced friend's job to make them aware that a slightly heavier gun may not be as comfortable to hold but will be much more comfortable to actually shoot.
A comfortable feel can come with time and familiarity. A gun's shooting characteristics remain pretty much whatever they are.
For a combined home defense and carry weapon, I can personally say that my girlfriend LOVES my Ruger LCR .38 and Glock 23.
As to guns, I'm with TXS.
The medium frame .38./357 double-action revolver has stood the test of time as one of the easiest guns for novices to master, both in terms of learning to work the controls, and actually connecting with when shooting.
Its more reliable than any auto, has a simpler manual of arms, and (with .357 rounds) potentially more powerful. You simply pick it up, point, pull the trigger, and repeat as necessary.
Shotgun is considerably more powerful (and certainly intimidating), but also harder to operate under stress. A "short stroke" will jam most pump guns; and its easy to overlook the safety under stress. Shotgun also can't be operated effectively with only one hand, and the physically larger weapon also makes it easier for an assailant to get his hands on it.
Speaking from experience, some women (even of medium build) find the blast and recoil of a 12 gauge shotgun intimidating. Some don't.
EDITquote:Quote Gary Wray below:
"Most folks agree that a shotgun is best for home defense for general use as just the look of one is intimidating.
Stipulating that this is true, that doesn't by itself make this "conventional wisdom" correct, let alone correct in the specific case of a 50 year old woman who probably has zero experience or skill in using firearms, and probably lacks the interest in obtaining either.
In some places the shotgun is the preferred weapon, just because shotguns are commonplace, and/or handguns are unavailable or considerably more restricted.
For example, one of the secretaries who works in my office is a 70+ year old grandma. Her home defense weapon? 12 gauge side by side. Why? IT belonged to her Pa, and she has 60 years of experience with it. She knows I'm "into" guns, and asked me if she should get something else. I said that nothing else she could possibly get would ever be as effective as that particular gun in her hands. Enough said.
On intimidation factor, I think its nice to have that, but that shouldn't be a determinative reason to pick one weapon over a another. IMO pretty much ANY firearm is pretty intimidating when its pointed at you. Is anyone scared by a 12 gauge NOT going to be scared with a .357 revolver or .45 auto pointed at them?
Which brings me to another anecdote. . .one of my instructors recounted being mugged on the street by a crackhead with a .25, he said the barrel of that .25 pointed as his face looked as wide as a coke can.
IMO, if you're relying on the intimidation factor of the SOUND of a pump action being racked (which some internet wise-acres cite as a good reason to choose this weapon) you probably don't fully grasp the dynamics of home defense.
Anyway, to my knowledge there are two schools of thought on home defense guns. Some like shotguns, some like handguns (most typically revolvers). Without rehashing this argument, which has been done to death in 1000 other places, suffice it to say that while I think a revolver is the better overall choice for most people, a case can be made for a shotgun too, and that individual circumstances are important in making the decision.
quote:TXS
A comfortable feel can come with time and familiarity. A gun's shooting characteristics remain pretty much whatever they are.
This. In virtually no cases is someone completely unacquainted with shooting going to have a comfortable "feel" starting off doing so. For many its an unnatural act, and in virtually all cases it takes a considerable amount of practice and experience to do it well.
Also in many cases, the "feel" of a gun can be significantly altered with a few basic changes. For example, different grips can dramatically improve both the feel of a revolver, and decrease the perceived recoil. A recoil pad and properly fitted stock can likewise significantly alter the feel and perceived recoil of a shotgun.