AR vs Shotgun for HD

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Shotgun, AR or Handgun?

  • Shotgun

    Votes: 27 50.9%
  • AR-15/semi-auto rifle

    Votes: 11 20.8%
  • Handgun

    Votes: 15 28.3%

  • Total voters
    53

GlockPride

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Any one of them is going to sound like a cannon going of inside of a building. My trusty Mossy 500 sits next to the bed and has a flashlight mounted on it.
That is easy enough to mitigate these days. Keep a pair of earmuffs with active listening on your long gun or stored nearby. Thrown them on in a second as you’re grabbing your gun. Power them on if you have an extra couple seconds and hear the baddies even better. Still be loud but it will protect your ears a lot better than nothing.
 

Slim Deal

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Both and add several handguns. If you the ability and capability add a few other items as well. Use anything you can think of that can take the life out of a home invader.
 

HoLeChit

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I’m in the handgun group. The extra hand available, option of one handed manipulation, small size, and availability of a built in flashlight makes it a sure win. Also, with 15-20+1 rounds of ammo, a 9mm will be sending roughly 1000 grains more aggression towards the intruder than an AR with a 30 round mag. I hate to be that guy, but from a liability mindset, it looks a lot better when a homeowner “shoots an intruder with a handgun”, as opposed to “unloads a dangerous assault rifle into an intruder”. It shouldn’t make a difference, but you can find examples of this all day in the news. With all this being said I do have an AR pistol hidden in the house with an extra mag and a flashlight attached, so if things were especially ugly I definitely could access it if desired. I am much more proficient with that platform than a pistol, both indoors and outdoors.

I feel that suppressors, while great for protecting the residents of the home from hearing damage and stress, are counterproductive. One of the biggest psychological advantages of firearms is the noise, and it’s preferable to shoot one guy and scare his buddies off rather than running around my house playing mission impossible with a bunch of guys who “heard something, but I dunno if it was a gun”.
Shotguns, with issues revolving around needing two hands to manipulate, length, limited capacity, heavy recoil, and malfunctions revolving around imperfect shouldering and short stroking in high stress situations, make them a no go unless it’s my only option. You want something for hunting or blowing through door locks/hinges? A shotgun is a fine tool for the job, I don’t feel it’s the best for HD though.
 

okcBob

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If you live in the city or an apartment, AR is prob not prudent due to wall penetration as you are responsible for where that round ends up. Shotgun with BB load is plenty lethal in the short range of a home.
If rural scenario, whatever you are most comfortable with.
 

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