Revolver or Semi Auto for non-shooters "House gun".

[WWB]

Taurus Judge with buckshot

 

[Biggsly]

Taurus Judge with buckshot

I think this would be a good choice too. My FIL has one. My kids shot it Saturday. My 15 year old can handle it with no problem. Like I said, my wife keeps a Gp100 on her side of the bed. I keep an 870, but she does not like to shoot it.

 

[RickN]

357 revolver hands down.

 

[purplehaze]

I will give a shout out my good friend jb and say a luger chambered in 7.62.

 

[ripnbst]

If he is like most of my friends take him to the range with you once or twice. Is he a competitive person? Have some sort of shooting competition in good fun and he will be hooked.

I am going to go against the grain here. If he is not going to practice I actually don't like the idea of the wheelgun due to its super long and heavy DA trigger. That takes some getting used to to shoot even remotely well, lots of getting used to is more like it. I know it first hand, I shot my buddies wheelgun and I am terrible with it. I normally only shoot autos. I think someone could pick up a Glock and be more accurate vs a revolver.

Ease of use and maintenance yes the wheel gun wins but if he plans to practically never shoot it what the heck is he gonna need to maintain it for? He won't, that only leaves ease of use and an auto is much easier to use effectively than a revolver. Since this is HD specific he can get a full size 9mm, have tons of ammo in the gun(comparatively speaking), and it will be very controllable. I know some may say that without prior knowledge operation of an auto is hard but I tell you what, if your friend likes action movies or cop shows, he already knows enough to operate a Glock and most others.

I say Glock because its the easy answer but it could be a full size M&P or Springer XD or whatever floats his boat instead.

Also, since price is no object, I would make sure that on the "One Day" to the range that you make sure to go with him and make him buy 400 rounds of ball ammo, tell him that's not a lot and make him shoot them all, or as many as he can comfortably. Buy 50-100 of whatever his HD load will be and at least run 3 mags through of that to make sure it functions without issue. If he's only going to go once make sure that he knows the gun's operation like the back of his hand. Have him load and chamber and fire two rounds quickly attempting accuracy and see what happens. Simulate malfunctions and teach tap, rack, and pull. IMO operating your specific gun is like riding a bike. Once you learn it you never forget it.

Some may say "Tap, rack, and pull drill??? Really??? He just bought the gun two days ago." I don't care. If it were MY friend going to the range only one time before putting their firearm into "use" I would want them to be as proficient with it as possible. Not just slow fire a box of ammo and call it good, heck, that's not even enough to make sure the gun has no issues.

I would really try everything I could think of while at the range to ensure he knew his gun well. Some may not spend as much time as I would but hey, I don't go around collecting friends. I find good ones and hang onto them. The people in my life mean a lot to me.

 

[twoguns?]

Taurus Judge with buckshot

Trying to defend yourself...with a 410...buckshot. These are your loved ones, your Home. I wouldnt want to get shot with one nor would I wish to piss someone off invading my Home.
I would want to Stop the threat ...immediatly.
The most obvious answer is 12 guage 00 buckshot the other suggestions good too...take them shootin

 

[Dale00]

Taurus Judge with buckshot

The non-shooter's neighbors and family members in other rooms would be much safer with this setup.

 

[ProBusiness]

The FBI rates the shotgun as the number one home defense weapon. Also tell him that he can be more accurate with a shotgun and that he can miss with a handgun.

Having taught a lot of non-shooters and people not really interested in practicing - questions arise such as: what is a slide lock and what does it do and when do i use it, it is very confusing for some people to understand why you rack the slide - yes really, why does the slide lock back when i am firing, and many more questions that a non shooter has. so i think if a guy that does not want to learn how to operate and practice with a handgun a semi-auto CAN be a big liability if it jams.

revolver - definitely easy to use.

A note on shotguns or judges with rifled a barrel - the rifling spins the wad and thus the shot is spun so the pattern get real big real fast - so for buckshot with only a few pellets, they are only good for a short distance.

 

[druryj]

Revolver in the 357 variety with 38sp +P ammo. But you already knew that.

Yep, pretty much the consensus it seems.

 

[john.beck49]

I can only answer this with my own personal experience. My neighbor who also is a friend of mine asked the same question. I told him I prefer a nice semi-auto because of the increased capacity. He went ahead and bought a S&W 38 special. He and his wife went to the range a few times and shot different loads to see what they liked best. His wife said she would never shoot the gun again and he said he really didn't care for it as well..

I let them shoot my Springfield XD as well as my Glock. She currently owns a Sig P238 with laser sight and he owns a S&W MP 9mm as well as a shotty beside the bed. They both couldn't hit the broadside of a barn with the revolver, but are both dead accurate with their semi-autos.. And they both have now joined the ranks as CCP holders. I turned them loose with a couple of 22lr pistols a few weeks ago.. Now they are in the market for a couple of those as well. :-)

Tell your friend he has tremendous will power if he can stop at just one handgun.