home defense question.

Rottergotterdam wrote: I just have a question to ask regarding home defense... If you, in your home, have the option of chosing a handgun or a shoulder-fired weapon, why would you chose a handgun? A handgun fires a low-powered round with less accuracy than any rifle or shotgun (accuracy in this case will be defined as "hitting your target"). A handgun is easier to carry all day. It's short and light. But nobody I know would go into a fire fight with a handgun if they could brining a shotgun or rifle.

It's not like your picking him off, it would be room to room combat, maybe 20 feet at the most. Again, I have no doubt that you could do this on a static range or that the pistol will be adequite...

For that type of environment, a pistol is ideal. And yet SWAT and countless other military groups use sub-machineguns or carbines as a primary weapon for this same environment...not pistols for some reason.

It's easy to maneuver without a long barrel that would just get in the way; What do you mean get in the way? Does the barrel some how block your shot?

it's a waste, since that barrel provides tighter accuracy, which you DON"T need in such close quarters). If you have to shoot someone from behind cover, you may only get two inches of exposure...if they grab a family member, you may only get two inches...

A pistol isn't sparratic and shoots all over the place, you can still hit a person from such close range pretty easily. I never said that they did, I have shot a pistol before. And I don't doubt you can hit someone, but when you are shooting at a moving target while moving under stress...it's a bit harder. And statistically, you won't put more than two shots into someone (and they statistically will live) when using a pistol.

Accuracy is always good, but the difference at 20 feet is going to be negligible. So my 0.2" groups with my AR from 20 feet verses 3.0" from 20 feet using a 1911 is somehow negligible?

And you want a low powered round..No...A bullet has to be able to penetrate at least eight inches. You may only get a shot at a weird angle. If you hit their arm, you want it to get into their organs still, not stop on the bone...

high powered rounds go through people and can hurt innocents, low powered shmoosh 70% of the time, a hollow point round will expand in a pistol. And you worry about over-penetration but what about the bullets that miss your target? Are they less lethal to your loved ones than over-penetrating shots?

and do a lot more damage at close range: knock down power baby. Knock down power is a myth. By the laws of physics, every force has an equal and opposite reaction (recoil). Even without springs nad recoil reducing systems, the power of a rifle will not knock you down (okay, some may, but the basic 5.56mm and most 7.62mm won't). Actually, the only reason people drop is because they know they have been shot, and there are plenty of recorded incidencts where a person has been shot but has not felt the shot and continues without being knocked down. A pistol (or anything) will not, by force, knock someone down. You are aiming for the head or the heart, or you are trying to induce massive blood loss. A pistol, at 9mm vs. 5.56mm has a bigger chance to do this, yes, but...well, read below...

A pistol will not do more damage at close range. At 2700fps (up to around 70 yards on an M16 with a 20" barrel) the bullet, even FMJ, will fragment...these fragments can travel up to one yard (in the case of a pig being shot in the hind leg but the fragment that killed the pig was found in the heart). Even from beyond 70 yards, 5.56mm have a tendancy to yaw and tumble.