Marlin 60 for home defense

Now I know this isn't the ideal forum for this sort of question, but I'm registered here already so I thought I'd give it a try.

I own one firearm, a Marlin Model 60. For those of you who don't know, it's a .22lr semiautomatic rifle. It's tube-fed and holds 15 rounds. At this point buying another gun isn't really an option, and training with any ammo more expensive than .22lr would just be too expensive. So, I have the Marlin loaded with the Federal hollow point ammo that you can buy in bulk at Wal Mart, and right now that's our home defense weapon.

Just tell me, is this at all an acceptable home defense weapon for the time being?

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Originally Posted by slantroutes

Now I know this isn't the ideal forum for this sort of question, but I'm registered here already so I thought I'd give it a try.

I own one firearm, a Marlin Model 60. For those of you who don't know, it's a .22lr semiautomatic rifle. It's tube-fed and holds 15 rounds. At this point buying another gun isn't really an option, and training with any ammo more expensive than .22lr would just be too expensive. So, I have the Marlin loaded with the Federal hollow point ammo that you can buy in bulk at Wal Mart, and right now that's our home defense weapon.

Just tell me, is this at all an acceptable home defense weapon for the time being?

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anything is better than nothing......

BUT this is less than ideal unless you are defending against squirrels, paper plates and empty soda cans.

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Originally Posted by slantroutes

. . . Just tell me, is this at all an acceptable home defense weapon for the time being?

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I think you may have missed the place in the Marlin manuals for all their .22 LR guns with the recommendation "how to use for home invasion defense".
"1. Pick up gun".
"2. Point in the general direction of any perps".
"3. Scream as loud as possible I have a gun ! ! ! and I've called 911 ! ! !".
"4. Repeat step 3. until no longer needed".

But seriously. Your gun is what you have. And as always, anything is better than nothing. Especially 15 rounds of "anything".
After all, the first requirement is making them want to leave. Killing them and waiting for the police white outline and cleanup is optional.

A .22 will, believe or not, kill a human. One of my former "honor students" got himself killed a few years ago with one during a home invasion. Homeowner shot him in the chest and he ran outside and died in the front yard. However, the hollow points may not give you enough penetration on humans, especially trying to go through the chest cavity. You may want to try some fmj or something until you can get a larger caliber, or a shotgun.

As others have stated anything is better than nothing. Call 911 and by all means let them know you are armed. You really don't want to shoot, do you? Best case they leave and you hit didn't hit them - so you now have holes in your house and such to deal with. OK, you missed them and shot a neighbor (or their house, car, etc). You will have issues to deal with. OK, you hit the unarmed bad guy, now what? Empty the gun into him of course (easier to defend the 'i was scared and just kept shooting' than anything else). And if he's big and mad and you just wounded him you will need to keep shooting. OK, say you hit him and he leaves...crap! Blood to clean up, lots to explain to the cops and now someone is really mad at you and may come back...with a gun for sure. Killing him may be a good option, but he better be an armed drug addict with a criminal record. Killing the alzheimer dad from down the street or some thrill seeking teen kid won't go down well, no matter how 'clean' the shoot is.

My feeling is I"m not likely to shoot until face to face with the bad guy - I want 100% certainty of who I"m trying to kill. I know I won't freeze and I"m good enough to put em all in the chest from my pistol ( a ruger mk 1 22, but I'm shopping for something bigger). Since my gun is in my BR safe that's where I'll be making my stand and most likely if I empty the clip into someone there they'll be dead and I'll have enough evidence in my favor that self defense won't be an issue (the guy won't be crawling back outside)

prof_fate, that is exactly what happened to the SOB mentioned above. He broke into the house and the homeowner ran into his bedroom and locked the door while calling 911. When the SOB kicked in the bedroom door the homeowner shot him with his 22 rifle. The perp had just been released on bond a day earlier and was awaiting trial for strong-armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.