Any one of them and then wait quietly, crouched down at the top of the stairs to ambush the dumb ass that tried to make me and my family a statistic. The element of surprise will win this one, not the type of gun.

But if you need a definitive answer, the 12 gauge.

I would go with the 12 gauge, especially if it was a pump with an 18" barrel.

Depends what room I'm in. Yes I have a different gun in each room which covers all three plus. Then I would think I was dreaming since we only have one story house so there must be a black hole in one of the rooms

Given that scenerio I would probably grab the 12 ga and the 45, wait at the top of the stairs and rack the slide while my wife calls 911. The criminals have to figure you hear them unless they are idiots so the intimidation of the slide might help change their mind. If not I'll use the 12 first and have the 45 nearby.

The reality of my house would be a Ruger P94 in 40 S&W with an extra mag.

None of the above.

I live in a single story ranch style built by me. The doors are rather sturdy and a protective 90 pound dog resides within. What I would hear is a low growel, my cue to grab the M&P40. If a tinkle of glass was heard I would wait a few seconds for body parts to enter the house after which blood curdling screams would emenate from the BG as my gentle puppy compared his taste to the Elk legs she got last Sunday. If the entry zone was big enough for a man and the BG got loose my puppy would follow as would I. When puppy tired of the play I would hold the BG at gunpoint till the Sheriff arrived (Wife would call him). We have one Deputy covering a rather large chunk of mountain so the BG might lose a little more blood while waiting.

I know how my puppy would react because an aquaintance decided to enter uninvited a few months back. He saw through the window I was talking on the phone and decided to enter without knocking. He assures me he will never ever do that again. i don't know if he shows off the scars on his butt or not but I do know he didn't close the door fast enough.

If you want to scare the perp off, jackin' a round in a 12ga. is almost a sure thing unless the perp is totally stupid (as in Dumb Crook News).

If you are wanting to rid society of a burden, a wheel gun makes a lot of sense. You can keep it under your pillow and cock the hammer back without it being heard. If you sit up in bed and wait for them, they will typically come to you. This has happened to 2 people I know. One is a veteran. A veteran of growing up in Miami! Both waited for the perp to come down the hall and then...

By waiting in the dark with their eyes open, they said their eyes grew accustomed the seeing in the dark. Both also said if they had charged out of the bedroom immediately upon being startled awake, they doubt they could have seen well enough.

I got a S&W .40 that stays under my pillow.

I generally just have my Glock carry gun next to the bed. Ditto the wife on her side of the bed. Long gun of some type is in the walk-in closet - used to be an M4gery, but I sold that so I will default to the 870. I have a house alarm and a dog, which should buy me enough time to get to the big gun if necessary. If I feel a need to go roaming through the house, a pistol and a flashlight will do fine while the wife guards the sleeping area with the 870.

Just my .45...

I've got a dog, so he'll let me know if someone is trying to get in way before I'll ever hear anything.

Of your choices, the .45. I don't have one,so it would be my .357. Just as important, the cell phone. I live approx 2/10s of a mile from the Sheriffs Dept. If I called and mentioned I was armed and hearing an intruder, they'd be here A.S.A.P.

I have a 45 in my nightstand and a 12 ga behind the bedroom door. I guess it would depend on how much time I would have to reach. I do think a 12 ga. make for a great home defense gun but I would rather have a 45 in my hand if the bad guys pick the wrong place to look for their dope money

My G/F's daughter's dog (which currenty resides with us... grrrrrr) is a massively huge, viscious, and intimidating "expensive-pure-bred" dauchshund... Yes, a weiner-dog. But the little bugger "screams", yelps and whines psychoticly when a stranger comes in the house... Usually stranger-number-one... her real owner.

I don't need an alarm system... There's no more piercing and annoying sound than a high-pitch yelping dauchshound...

If he doesn't scare away any potential purp... or make him bleed to death from the ears... The 870 action will... And my G/F is very proficient now with my XD45.

For my sanity, the daughter (and her dog) are gone November 1st... I don't really care that the daughter moves out at this point... I'll rent an apartment for that damn dog...

Any of you who are religious, please pray for my sanity, and for accepting landlords, who take 21 year old "children" and their pets away...

JW

Originally Posted by JeffWard

My G/F's daughter's dog (which currenty resides with us... grrrrrr) is a massively huge, viscious, and intimidating "expensive-pure-bred" dauchshund... Yes, a weiner-dog. But the little bugger "screams", yelps and whines psychoticly when a stranger comes in the house... Usually stranger-number-one... her real owner.

I don't need an alarm system... There's no more piercing and annoying sound than a high-pitch yelping dauchshound...

If he doesn't scare away any potential purp... or make him bleed to death from the ears... The 870 action will... And my G/F is very proficient now with my XD45.

For my sanity, the daughter (and her dog) are gone November 1st... I don't really care that the daughter moves out at this point... I'll rent an apartment for that damn dog...

Any of you who are religious, please pray for my sanity, and for accepting landlords, who take 21 year old "children" and their pets away...

JW

We have two viscious dachshunds in our house: a mini for concealed carry and a full sized for home defense. Both will bark and shatter ear drums. The mini will pee on the BG's leg when he bends over to pet him, and the full size will roll over and demand a tummy rub, keeping the BG occupied while I load my shotgun.

WM

Originally Posted by TerryP

Given that scenerio I would probably grab the 12 ga and the 45, wait at the top of the stairs and rack the slide while my wife calls 911. The criminals have to figure you hear them unless they are idiots so the intimidation of the slide might help change their mind. If not I'll use the 12 first and have the 45 nearby.

I wouldn't even give them the "courtesy" of hearing the slide being racked and the opportunity to change their minds and then move on to someone else. IMO, burglars who come in to a home in the middle of the night are the same as home invaders; they both know damn well that people are going to be home and don't fear (and probably are looking for) a confrontation. Screw 'em! Let them walk into the ambush they were hoping to spring on me. No warnings.

Originally Posted by Wandering Man

We have two viscious dachshunds in our house: a mini for concealed carry and a full sized for home defense. Both will bark and shatter ear drums. The mini will pee on the BG's leg when he bends over to pet him, and the full size will roll over and demand a tummy rub, keeping the BG occupied while I load my shotgun.

WM

Mini viscious attack dogs...


The brown one is the half-wit... The black one protects the portion of the house under the covers on my bed...

Originally Posted by JeffWard

Mini viscious attack dogs...
The black one protects the portion of the house under the covers on my bed...

Good to see he has his priorities straight.

WM

.38 special with Glazers, this way I do not put family members or neighbors at risk of being hit by a stray round while sleeping. (I know a single round is not always a death dealer but thats why we use the two to the belly one to the head method.. you know the rest, if you don't well you aren't prepared to make this sort of judgment as a gun owner and are better off using other means to protect you, and your loved ones)

Shotgun is a horrible choice, cause in a one on one struggle it can be used as leverage against you. Especially if the assailant(s) use the element of surprise or has an advantage in height/strength.

.45 risks to be too powerful, and can go through an attacker, a wall and into someone else that you don't want it to.

~Bobby

12 gauge is clamped to the bottom of the bed frame. BG will hear no warning from me. if they break into my home, they are a direct threat towards me and mine and the threat will be eliminated no matter what their 'intentions' are.

I go for my sw 45

My Five Seven is my new nightstand gun. But, in your scenario - I'd go for the 45 given your 3 choices.

Fortunately this has only happened once - and it was just my stupid cat getting tangled up in a plastic bag, getting scared, and knocking things off the counter.

Anyway, I gave my girlfriend the 92FS and grabbed the 45XD for myself.

We have two Australian Shepherds that would be barking their asses off. My wife & I both have full size 1911's in 9mm loaded on each side of the bed and my AR15 is loaded in the bedroom closet.

I would want the .45 for it's one stop power. I don't like the idea of a shotgun for home protection inside the house because I don't want stray shot hitting one of my family members.

Also, as far as a wheel gun and cocking back the hammer- don't do it! When I was training on my Air Force special operations team (Emergency Services Team) we did a training exercise involving a hostage rescue. I was the number two man on the entry team on this one (normally I was the marksman/sniper). Our point man had cocked his .38 (ya, that's what we had in the early 80's). As the exercise evolved we heard a click. The point man had squeezed the trigger a little to tight since it was in single action mode and he ended up shooting the hostage. He was told that this was a no, no but had cocked it anyway.

A lesson well learned without casualties.

Originally Posted by khellandros66

.38 special with Glazers, this way I do not put family members or neighbors at risk of being hit by a stray round while sleeping. (I know a single round is not always a death dealer but thats why we use the two to the belly one to the head method.. you know the rest, if you don't well you aren't prepared to make this sort of judgment as a gun owner and are better off using other means to protect you, and your loved ones)

Do you mean by going through a bad guy, or going through walls? Glasers generally do stop in bad guys, though with what many (including me) consider questionably inadequate penetration levels. However, Glasers will usually sail through typical building materials, like most bullets. You can read about it here: http://www.firearmstactical.com/briefs5.htm, among other places.

Shotgun is a horrible choice, cause in a one on one struggle it can be used as leverage against you. Especially if the assailant(s) use the element of surprise or has an advantage in height/strength.

Geez, you'd better not tell that to the tens of thousands of people who have successfully defended their homes with shotguns over the past couple of centuries.

Properly employed, a shotgun is no more likely to be used against a home defender than any other gun. Yeah, if you don't know crap about weapon retention and decide to take a stroll through the house with your 28" barreled bird gun, the bad guy might take it. However, a trained and tactically aware person can move through a house pretty safely with a short (18"-20") shotgun. I can certainly do it with an M4, which isn't much shorter than a short shotgun.

.45 risks to be too powerful, and can go through an attacker, a wall and into someone else that you don't want it to.

A good .45 JHP load is no more likely to perforate a human body than a good .38 Special, 9mm, or whatever else. Just look at the penetration depths. You can start at www.firearmstactical.com again.

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