As a gun writer, I am constantly asked, by friends and family, what gun they should buy for home defense. Some are new to shooting, and they hear all sorts of things. Usually what has happened is that they were given “expert advice” by someone who may not be an expert and were told, “Just go buy a 12 gauge. That’s all you’ll need!”
Oftentimes when proffering advice on what gun to own if you’re only going to have one for self-defense is a shotgun. The thought being for the novice gun owner, they don’t really need to worry about aiming all that much.
But is that true, and is a shotgun the ultimate home defense gun? No, it’s not always true. Do I think that a shotgun COULD be a great home defense gun? Of course. It’s just that it’s not the only type of gun you should consider when deciding on how best to protect your domicile.
Shotgun Considerations
Let’s examine some of the common reasons given that support a scattergun for home defense, then we’ll dig into them to see if they “hold water.”
- You don’t need to aim – it’s a shotgun, right?
Hooboy. If I’ve heard that once, I’ve heard it a hundred times. Even when fired across your living room (let’s say 25 feet), the shot column from an improved cylinder choke (one of the most open chokes you can get) is going to send the shot into a tight group of pellets not quite the size of a fist if that. (It can be even smaller for a 20 gauge, which launches its load from an even narrower muzzle.) Even if that 12-gauge spreads more, it’s not going to be very wide pattern in the space of a room or hallway. In other words, you can surely miss with a shotgun at close range.
- Just seeing that big ol’ 12 gauge will make a burglar run!
That could be said of just about any gun. Folks who are not “chemically altered” will most likely see reason and will depart when faced with ANY gun, particularly when they are unarmed.
- Just hearing a round racked into the chamber of a shotgun will make a burglar run!
One of the most oft-quoted defensive shotgun tropes suggests having a pump shotgun and simply rack a round into the chamber when a threat appears. The metallic che-chunk-chunk sound of the pump action working is the universal signal to “run.” This is only really works with a pump gun. And don’t always count on it to work. That round could bring pre-emptive fire your way as well, so you better be ready to go to the next step and actually fire if you’re going to introduce a gun into the situation.
- You need buckshot to be sure the perp goes down!
No, you don’t. The problem with buckshot is potential overpenetration, particularly through a wall if you miss. If you live in a typical home or apartment with ½-inch dry wall for the walls, whatever misses the bad guy or the couch may keep going into the next room(s) or in an apartment setting, the next apartment.
Speaking of buckshot, let’s look at one of the most common sizes of buckshot, 000 (triple aught). It uses pellets that are just over 9mm in diameter, 9.14 mm to be exact. If there are, say, 8 pellets in a shotshell, that’s like launching eight light 9mm bullets at once. You’d better be sure of your target and what’s behind it!
I’m not saying you need to load birdshot in the gun, but something along the line of No. 4s with a modern wad design works great. They will do the job without the penetration of 000.
Additional Drawbacks
Aside from dispelling these defensive-shotgun myths, the three main drawbacks to a shotgun for some shooters is going to be recoil, recoil and recoil. For some smaller shooters, female shooters and let’s face it, simply recoil-sensitive shooters, shotguns produce more felt recoil than any light rifle load or semi-auto handgun in typical defensive calibers. The roar can also be intimidating, though it isn’t much worse than anything else being fired on a range larger than a .22 LR or unsuppressed.
Before attempting to use any firearm for self-defense, you need to practice with it—and a lot more than most people actually do. But bad habits aside, if a person is apprehensive about shooting a gun at a range or the gun is a standard sporting shotgun that is too big or unwieldy for them, then that shotgun is going to be a poor choice for “them.”
Light shotgun loads such as Winchester AA Light Target loads or Federal Top Gun shotshells will help reduce the kick associated with firing a shotgun. So will using a 20-gauge instead of the more common 12-gauge. With the right load, a 20-gauge is more than sufficient to stop a threat, while also making training for that use more comfortable.
None of this is meant to trash a shotgun as a defensive tool in the home. A shotgun is in fact, a great, defensive firearm to have on hand for the right people. In fact, solid options for defensive shotguns include:
Mossberg 940 Pro Tactical Thunder Ranch (new semi-auto that is great performing at a great price)
Benelli M4 Tactical (elite, reliable semi-auto performance a little higher on the price scale)
Remington Model 870 Home Defense (tried and true pump-action, solid value)
Stoeger M3K Freedom Series Defense Shotgun (top value semi-auto)
Winchester SXP Marine Extreme Defender (tricked out defensive gun won’t break the bank).
Another cool little shotgun that has made waves since its initial introduction is the Mossberg Shockwave.
This inexpensive 12-gauge is based on Mossberg’s tried-and-true Model 500 pump gun and is available in both 12 and 20 gauge. The Shockwave shortens the traditional 12-gauge pump gun by including a bird’s-head grip and shortened barrel. Holding 5 in the magazine and one in the chamber, you should be ready for just about anything that could go down at home.
One word of hesitation on this for inexperienced shooters, however, the lack of a butt stock makes shooting this gun accurately more challenging, as does maintaining control with the recoil.
Again, shotguns aren’t the only answer. Here are the additional considerations you need to take.
Handguns For Home Defense
For both defense in the home (and for carry) a handgun is a great option. For carry, it’s really the only option unless you want to be stopped by police and freak everyone out every time you walk down the street or into a store.
For my top home defense options, I keep a full-size 9mm (Bear Creek Arsenal Grizzly, to be exact) and a compact 9mm (Springfield Armory Hellcat RDP) pistol in a bedside handgun safe. They are quick to get to if needed, yet store compactly within arm’s reach when I sleep, yet are still safely stored when I do. We live out in the boonies—five acres of mostly woods, alongside a major two-lane highway, surrounded by more woods. We get all sorts of folks turning around in our drive, stopping for directions, flat tires, etc. I’m used to that. This means that I have had to hone my door-answering skills…if the person or situation looks sketchy, I’ll be discreetly armed. My 9mms allow me to have a gun handy but not freak out the person knocking on the door—they never need to know I have it. Yet I can unholster in a moment’s need and it delivers the power I need to stop a human threat should I have to.
A note on choosing a 9mm, and why I like that as the top recommendation for a home defense handgun caliber. First and foremost, ammo and gun availability are probably as great for this caliber as for any other you can buy capable of reliably delivering the stopping power needed to put an end to a threat. Walk into any gun shop in America and they are going to have 9mm handguns and 9mm ammunition. Thanks to its low recoil, it is also pretty easy for most anyone to shoot. The ammunition, particularly for practicing, is also less expensive than larger popular defensive calibers such as the 10mm and .45 ACP. Some people like the smaller and less powerful .380, but it’s stopping power, while adequate in most situations, still gets debated by self-defense professionals to this day.
I also recommend the 9mm semi-auto over a revolver for a couple of reasons. A semi-auto typically delivers less recoil than a revolver for someone sensitive to recoil. If shooting a double-action (trigger) revolver, it takes more to squeeze the trigger than a semi-auto, which can make delivering accurate shots more difficult for someone who doesn’t train regularly. A semi-auto also holds more bullets, plain and simple, and more bullets are good when you are frightened and potentially have a threat moving toward you and maybe miss on some other shots. A semi-auto is much faster to reload as well. It’s simpler to shove another magazine in. I can’t image the average person trying to quickly reload their revolver, even if using speed loaders, in a dark, frightening and threatening environment.
All of this makes the 9mm semi-automatic the optimal choice for home defense if going with a handgun.
As mentioned, the two guns I like for this task are the Bear Creek Arsenal Grizzly and the Springfield Armory Hellcat RDP.
The Grizzly is based on the Glock 17 in terms of size (duty) and capacity (17+1). I find that it works reliably as expected and, with a light mounted (it’s cut for one), makes for an excellent home defense gun. Another plus is that its full list price is only $295. At that price that is a real bargain.
Those are two of my current choices for home defense handguns but there are any number of great options that work great for home defense. Top models to consider include:
Stepping up to the next level in price and performance, the Springfield Armory Hellcat family is another great choice, especially due to its compact size. I have the RDP (Rapid Defense Package) model. This gun came with both a muzzle compensator and a red-dot sight. Add a light below and you’ve got a perfect package. Capacity is no problem, even with the shorter RDP in which I use 13-round mags. If that’s not enough for you, the Hellcat Pro models hold more with a capacity of 17 rounds in the mag and one in the chamber.
- Smith & Wesson M&P 2.0 Metal (a full-size semi-auto handgun that will last longer than you)
- Glock 17 (safe, easy and quick to use and sets the bar for reliability)
- HK VP9 (red-dot ready and can hold 17 rounds in the mag)
- Ruger Security 9 (15+1 capacity, reliable and value priced).
Rifles For Home Defense
For easier aiming and accuracy, a rifle or carbine can be a great option for home defense, particularly if you live in a rural environment like I do, where my wife and I have lots of open space around our house.
So, what type of rifle is best. A good friend of mine inherited a number of collectible military rifles, including an M1 Garand and an M1 carbine that he likes to keep handy. I like the .30-caliber carbine as the near-perfect home defense weapon as it fires a 110-grain bullets at reasonable velocities, so overpenetration isn’t much of an issue and modern ammo selection allows for some effective bullets. It’s also not as long as the Garand making it more maneuverable in the tight spaces common to most homes. But most of us aren’t going to go out and buy a collectible firearm to use in a home defense situation. Similar rifles in this class might include the Ruger Ranch Rifle or the Ruger Mini-14. They are available in multiple calibers and are compact enough to be easily maneuverable, yet still provide additional utility in the realm of hunting and target shooting. But for a true all-around home defense performer, it’s hard to beat an AR-style rifle.
The AR-pattern rifle is one of the most ubiquitous rifle platforms today with millions of Americans owning them. Based off the model rifle our modern military uses in combat and has used since the Vietnam War, they just work. For home defense, a rifle or carbine in .223/5.56mm is very handy. It is also so versatile that you can configure it however you like, particularly when outfitted with rails so you can mount red-dot sights, laser optics and even lights on the same gun. They are lightweight, easy to load by simply inserting a magazine in the mag well and feeding the chamber with the push of a button. They are accurate, and for ARs with a collapsible stock, it can be adjusted to fit any size shooter. They are also very low recoiling. When chambered in 5.56, you can also find that ammunition virtually anywhere and it won’t break the bank.
Great options chambered for 5.56 include:
- Smith & Wesson M&P 15 Sport III Series (plenty of rails for accessories and won’t break the bank)
- Palmetto State Armory PSA PA-15 16-in. Nitride M4 Carbine (super maneuverable and affordable)
- Ruger AR-556 MPR Model No. 8542 (a great buy and high reliability)
- Colt MSR Magpul SL Black (affordable and versatile)
- SIG Sauer M400-Tread (increased performance in one of SIG’s most popular rifles)
- Daniel Defense DD4 RIII S (high-end AR with flawless performance)
- Yankee Hill Machine Black Diamond Specter XL-Carbine (also a high-end, high-performing AR).
My go to ARs in my home includes a Bear Creek Arsenal (BCA) AR, they shoot great and are super affordable at less than $500 for some models. A solid choice for a basic AR that can do the job is BCA’s BC-15 with an MSRP of only $377.69. I also like the fairly true-to-the-original M16 (minus a full-auto mode) Springfield Armory SA-16A2 Rifle, which I recently reviewed for TTAG and to for the ultimate in versatility, the Diamondback DB9R Series rifle DB1418P001. The DB9R is chambered for 9mm, so my ammo can pull double duty in conjunction with my handgun, with the same basic ballistic performance but with added velocity and easier aiming courtesy of a longer barrel.
We live in unsettling times and the police will not always be able to get to your home as quickly as you’d like should you need them. Be ready to defend yourself and protect your family responsibly by choosing the firearm that is right for you, storing it properly and then getting out there and practicing. Even take a training course for the type of firearm you choose.
If you have a place to shoot where you can emulate having corners to hide behind and go around, so much the better. Handling and shooting your chosen weapon should become second nature to you. Also, the more you have a defense strategy for your particular home worked out, the better. Know what you would do if someone came through that particular door at 4 am. Have a plan. Work it out with your safe, unloaded gun in your hand, so you have an idea of what it might feel like if something bad went down. You can never be too prepared.
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