Too Much Tacticool: What is Truly Needed on a Home Defense Rifle?

[Talyn]

What accessories are practical and useful and which ones are useless at best and dangerous in the worst case?

Too Much Tacticool: What is Truly Needed on a Home Defense Rifle? | Shooting Wire

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[Sld1959]

Cartridges are my number one must have everything after that trails behind.

 

[Belt Fed]

A weapon light that can be deployed quickly with a on and off button. if someone is in my house i want to flash them quick to see who im about to shoot. don't want to shoot family. anything else that requires a battery i don't want.

 

[Snake45]

Does this guy know what he's talking about? For me, here's the money line:

As for furniture, we keep it simple and robust. The stock is a fixed M16A1 length version. Home defense guns do not need infinitely adjustable stocks. My beloved Corps erred when they lengthened the M16 stock, the A1 length is the right one. Aluminum rail systems are unnecessary for our home defense gun and they add weight and cost to the end unit.

PREACH IT, Brother Paul! Can I get a AY-men from the choir?

 

[Talyn]

Home defense guns do not need infinitely adjustable stocks.

This is the only point I disagree with the author on. Adjustable stocks are much more versatile than the "old" fixed A1/A2 stocks.

I only retain fixed stocks on three ARs for specific reasons, two CMP competition rifles & my first A2. Everything else have adjustables.

 

[southtex]

I have a Red Dot on my 44 mag rifle loaded with Hollow Points.

 

[Recusant]

A light on a firearm is nothing more than a beacon in dark. Be smart, call 911, hunker down behind a piece of furniture and wait for the calvary to arrive. That way you are less likely to become a victim. Should the perp enter your room before the calvary gets there then you'll have a choice to make.

 

[Recusant]

Home defense guns do not need infinitely adjustable stocks.

This is the only point I disagree with the author on. Adjustable stocks are much more versatile than the "old" fixed A1/A2 stocks.

I only retain fixed stocks on three ARs for specific reasons, two CMP competition rifles & my first A2. Everything else have adjustables.

and I might add a long gun with an adjustable stock is much handier when in a vehicle

 

[Marek71]

This works for me

 

[Snake45]

and I might add a long gun with an adjustable stock is much handier when in a vehicle

Your home is big enough you can drive a vehicle inside it? RESPECT, Brothah!

 

[Bassbob]

My “ Home defense” AR, which is about 3rd or 4th in line behind a couple handguns and shotguns, is not strictly for home defense. In fact if I grabbed an AR for home defense it would be a pistol with no stock or brace. Laser hand stop, 510c and flip ups. And a 4 lb PSA EPT trigger.

 

[Snake45]

This works for me

View attachment 52764

 

[old but still kicking]

Is it me or is a 223/556 not the best call for home defense ? Seems like you’d be as likely to ventilate your neighbor’s walls also even if you hit your home invader/s center mass, yeah ? If you don’t have ur neighbors homes within 100 yards or so, fine. Even a 9mm pistol sends 124 grains of JHP out over 1100 fps & that’s easily a bad thing to my closest neighbors only 60-75 feet away!!
Someone else posted it’s smarter to call 911 to record it all, hunker down barricaded & wait 4 the threat to threaten you. 100% agree. Legally & practically tactical-wise you’d be safer unless you’ve been trained how to correctly pie corners/entryways & navigate fatal funnels aka stairways & hallways.
Says Mr Prosecutor, ‘isn’t it true you, Mr Vile Vigilante, grabbed a firearm & went LOOKING to shoot another person ??’ Blah, blah, spin, ignore facts, etc. Just cuz they’re breaking in my garage full of expensive tools doesn’t mean I SHOULD exercise deadly force despite what our emotional response to that violation might be.
Having a pump action Mossberg 590 mariner ss 9 rd cap with attached 6 rd sidesaddle shell holder & Surefire pressure activated foreend gives me peace of mind. The alternating 00 buck & birdshot shells ease my over penetration fears a little bit at least.
Guess it depends on our individual circumstances & common sense maybe.

 

[HansGruber]

Is it me or is a 223/556 not the best call for home defense ? Seems like you’d be as likely to ventilate your neighbor’s walls also even if you hit your home invader/s center mass, yeah ? If you don’t have ur neighbors homes within 100 yards or so, fine. Even a 9mm pistol sends 124 grains of JHP out over 1100 fps & that’s easily a bad thing to my closest neighbors only 60-75 feet away!!
Someone else posted it’s smarter to call 911 to record it all, hunker down barricaded & wait 4 the threat to threaten you. 100% agree. Legally & practically tactical-wise you’d be safer unless you’ve been trained how to correctly pie corners/entryways & navigate fatal funnels aka stairways & hallways.
Says Mr Prosecutor, ‘isn’t it true you, Mr Vile Vigilante, grabbed a firearm & went LOOKING to shoot another person ??’ Blah, blah, spin, ignore facts, etc. Just cuz they’re breaking in my garage full of expensive tools doesn’t mean I SHOULD exercise deadly force despite what our emotional response to that violation might be.
Having a pump action Mossberg 590 mariner ss 9 rd cap with attached 6 rd sidesaddle shell holder & Surefire pressure activated foreend gives me peace of mind. The alternating 00 buck & birdshot shells ease my over penetration fears a little bit at least.
Guess it depends on our individual circumstances & common sense maybe.

Most 5.56 defensive loads will go through fewer walls than a 124gr JHP; they have thin jackets, and tend to fragment when they hit drywall or plaster, where the 9mm just makes a hole and keeps going.

 

[old but still kicking]

Most 5.56 defensive loads will go through fewer walls than a 124gr JHP; they have thin jackets, and tend to fragment when they hit drywall or plaster, where the 9mm just makes a hole and keeps going.

Most 5.56 defensive loads will go through fewer walls than a 124gr JHP; they have thin jackets, and tend to fragment when they hit drywall or plaster, where the 9mm just makes a hole and keeps going.

Hmmm okay. Wouldn’t a speedy 50ish grain bullet still pass thru windows or walls more or less intact (avoiding studs) & be a keyholing, tumbling threat even so? Don’t know so hence the questions

 

[Sld1959]

Most 5.56 defensive loads will go through fewer walls than a 124gr JHP; they have thin jackets, and tend to fragment when they hit drywall or plaster, where the 9mm just makes a hole and keeps going.

At the mobile home park where my sister lives a guy had a discharge with his .380 acp pistol. It went though his drywall, insulation and siding, and through siding, insulation, and drywall on both sides of the house next to it then went into a field somewhere on the other side.

I was told, second hand so take it for what it's worth, it was a jacketed hollow point. It's a mobile home sure, but damn he was lucky no one was in the path.

 

[Snake45]

Having a pump action Mossberg 590 mariner ss 9 rd cap with attached 6 rd sidesaddle shell holder & Surefire pressure activated foreend gives me peace of mind. The alternating 00 buck & birdshot shells ease my over penetration fears a little bit at least.

Dave Chappelle, is that you? LOVED your comedy routine about buying that thing and then confronting a home-invading dirtbag with it!

BAD LANGUAGE ALERT. Jump ahead to around 3:35 to get to the shotgun part. (Mods, feel free to delete if this is deemed over the line, or whatever; no hard feelings.)

 

[old but still kicking]

At the mobile home park where my sister lives a guy had a discharge with his .380 acp pistol. It went though his drywall, insulation and siding, and through siding, insulation, and drywall on both sides of the house next to it then went into a field somewhere on the other side.

I was told, second hand so take it for what it's worth, it was a jacketed hollow point. It's a mobile home sure, but damn he was lucky no one was in the path.

You’re not kidding. It’s one thing to intentionally aim at a perpetrator of dumbassery- ya get what ya deserve- it’s a diff story when you risk ‘collaterals’ minding their own biz.

 

[HayesGreener]

I have an AR suitably equipped in my home, but my primary home defense gun is an 870 with mounted light. If the 870 and 1911 can't get the job done I can fall back on the AR but it is highly unlikely

 

[old but still kicking]

Dave Chappelle, is that you? LOVED your comedy routine about buying that thing and then confronting a home-invading dirtbag with it!

BAD LANGUAGE ALERT. Jump ahead to around 3:35 to get to the shotgun part.

I only wish I was that funny !! How smokes, bro that actually brought the wife & daughter in asking me what was so hilariously funny !! Even my dog was side eying me, wondering what had me cracking up !! Thx that was grrrrr-eat !!!