Maggie's Farm

shame, shame B -- selling whiskey to the comanches

http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/archives2/019308.php

"Revolutionary Defeatism"

you should have more faith in the art of that poster. he strikes a pose, and that pose fixes the mind on the issue -- as it has yours, which then resulted in your thinking thru the principle and reducing it to the essentials in order to write the persuasive comment just above.

i cain't believe de missus want a bafroom. whut rong wit dat bucket?

sean, you can get good with a 12 or a 20 gauge pump fast -- run a box of shells thru it and you'll be ready for most any trouble. No muss no fuss, a weapon that is usually the best all-around for most situations, safe against accident, easy to use well, easy to maintain, easy to resupply ammo, flexible and mission adaptable per type of ammo, and the last thing the blue meanies will try to take away from you. $200 and you're done, safe as you'll get, most likely, and a good weapon addition to any neighborhood protection unit.

rifle & pistol get you greater range but at greater skill demand -- plus in urban enviro penetrate walls that shotgun pellets won't -- plus the shotgun range is far shorter and thus safer in regards to stray shots hitting an innocent. best of all the spread pattern of shot shells makes missing your target a whole big bunch less likely.

whooee -- you gettin' rich just waking up in the mornin', gunsmith. Few things is quite as satisfying as having gotten youself pre-positioned before a market run.

i have a couple of old home-defense bangers, one by JC Higgins (Sears) and other by Montgomery Ward. Stevens, i think, or Savage (it's way out in the barn, for if i get home invaded and have to dive out the winder, i can grab that old 12 in the barn and wait for bad guys outside, where i get to be the hunter). Old guns. These were called ''hardware guns'' back when, because hardware stores sold 'em, and they were strictly utilitarian. But they're good guns, and you can find 'em nowadays as Savage, Stevens, JC Higgins, IIRC. either 12 or 20. A 20 will reach just as far and hit just as hard per unit of shot as a 12, but with fewer units of shot (tho a heavy 20 shell will have more than a light 12 shell -- but not to get too detailed). i just looked at (link) and quick scan saw two of 'em @ ~$200:

http://www.gunsamerica.com/Search/Category/670/Stevens-Shotguns.htm

But try a gun store so you can hold one. Then shop price. -- would be my advice. Mossburg, too, and remington, make great pump shotguns -- google 'em. Lots of used ones available.

duh -- i was hooked on finding a $200 gun, and forgot to mention the hi value moderate-price very popular Remington 870. I even have one, tho it's not in my mind as a home-def gun -- it's a birder. anyhoo there'll be a lot of 870s at any gunstore of any size.

tips: take out the plug and it'll hold more shells (unsure of legality, but inside house, for emergency, so what). Also you can shorten the barrel (hacksaw) if you're really into optimizing handiness for home defense. you can reinstall the front sight, if you want, with a drill.

you're welcome. be sure and search [ shotgun shells ] and get the fundies down. be aware magnum shells may damage a pump not designed for 'em. for a quick ref, think of shells as in a three group in regards to powder charge, heavy (''magnum''), medium ("standard"), & light ("field").

with an older pump, stay medium, or "standard", imho.

Magnum is the power end of the scale, so is tops for defense, but a magnum 12 is pretty horsey in a home setting and will surely jolt a lighter body-weight inexperienced shooter. (tip, the tighter you hold a long gun, the harder you press the butt into your shoulder, the less kick you feel) And be sure the gun is designed for the magnum -- not all are.

Field loads are easiest on recoil ("kick") but surrender some close-in stopping power.

then you have one more choice, the size of the shot. all-around quickie for home defense, most would say #4, tho #00 ("double-ought buckshot") can't be faulted.

of course, in an apartment house, and/or with kids in other rooms, etcetera, you may want to go light, toward a field load with #71/2 or #9 ("birdshot"), which will defend your family as well as magnum double-oughts in all but the extreme cases. All-else-equal (in range, load, and strike zone) birdshot is more 'wounding' and less 'killing'. but nary a soul wants a to be hit by even a lite field load of #9, and it the safest end of the spectrum in regards to hitting a bystander.

re habu's warning, in-court defending a shooting, couldn't hoit to splain to the jury those lite shells mean you went minimal force -- even if the intruder was killed (which a field load of #9, in close, will surely do).

Conversely, to a jury, the heavy load say #00 magnum might confuse the issue.

LOL -- all this jury stuff is the rankest of rank speculation -- maybe there is some case somewhere but i dunno. i DO know i could do wonders with the shotshell in a court, on either side, prosecution or defense -- if my client or the people was aligned with the helpful end of the shotshell power/lethality scale.

But, all in all, imho, you should make that training box o shells "standard load, #4 shot".

all this time i thought we had been talking about home defense --

queen of hearts -- supremely empathic, filled with spirits, representative of the Grail.