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Home Defense/Invasion Preparation

54K views 52 replies 29 participants last post by  tornadochaser 
#1 ·
**This thread is to list ways to properly and safely prepare your home against burglary, to properly prepare against an armed home invasion, and to protect yourself or your family inside your home. Please only add to the list, comments should be started in a new thread, thank you**
 
#2 ·
Practice clearing your house before someone breaks in or you think someone has broken in. Go through with your UNLOADED pistol or shotgun and clear it. I do it every week. Sometimes when I come in and the house is empty, I go through with my loaded pistol and clear it (keeping my finger off the trigger of course). Prepare for what might happen so you know what to do. Don't just think you know how to clear your house beforehand.
 
#3 ·
always carry a separate flashlight and store it with your self defense weapon, it's safer practice and allows additional lighting.
 
#4 ·
Montanafowler said:
always carry a separate flashlight and store it with your self defense weapon, it's safer practice and allows additional lighting.
Along with that, if you wear contacts or glasses, keep them near your firearm or by your bedside. You might have your gun on your night stand, but if you don't have glasses or a light your outta luck.
 
#5 ·
May be obvious, but an unloaded weapon is about as useless as a hammer. Keep weapons in multiple places of your home, and keep them loaded. understand with kids there is an added risk, but the one time it takes you to track down ammo and load it could be your last.
 
#6 ·
In a case like mine, where my wife and I have no kids in other rooms to worry about (yet), arm yourself and hole up in a room with only one entrance. Property be damned; there is nothing in your house worth losing your life and depriving your family of yourself forever.
 
#9 ·
Keep any and all SD weapons at least 3 steps from your bed to afford yourself that little bit of time to clear your head after being awakened from a dead sleep...you don't want to shoot the cat or your wife sneaking back to bed after raiding the fridge at 3:30 am.
 
#10 ·
Get a Dog
Get a Strobe flashlight- itd be a lil dificult for a thief to rob you if his vision is interrupted or better yet if he gets what he deserves and strokes out
 
#11 ·
Add alarms on all doors, and windows if you can afford it. Be it professional systems that are monitered, or individaul door alarms on each door. They have several kinds from 15-30 bucks per unit. I keep both my front and back porch lights on all night. The cost of 8 hours of use is nothing comparded to the secutiy and peace of mind it brings me. If they are breaking in, they have to do it in broad daylight. .9mm on the nightstand, 18.5" 12 gage by the bed. hold up in your room til help arrives. Unless you must leave your room (children, family, etc) dont turn on a light, stay hunkered down with weapon in hand, and dont hesitate to stop a BG should he come in that room. make them come to you. But remember target identification. A tac light is a must. You must KNOW that the shadow in your livingroom is a threat to your life before you pull the trigger, not your wife getting a midnight snack.
 
#14 ·
In addition to clearing your house, you need to know where all the "fatal funnels" or choke points are in your home. For those of you that don't know what these are, they are places where there is no choice to move out of the way once committed to the area. (i.e. a hallway with no doors, door ways, stairwells, etc.) You need to know this not only for where they are for an intruder but for yourself as well. Cause remember, anything you try to make harder for an intruder can backfire and hinder you as well. ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, play devil's advocate.

Also, you need to also know where a first aid kit is and make sure it is properly stocked and how to use everything. Make sure you can treat everything from scratches and nicks all the way up to gunshot wounds and artery hits. Hint: tampons (preferably unscented ones) work great for bullet wounds and belts work great as tourniquets for an artery or severe bleeding.

Hope some of this info can help someone and maybe save a life someday.
 
#15 ·
Preacher1011 said:
Practice clearing your house before someone breaks in or you think someone has broken in. Go through with your UNLOADED pistol or shotgun and clear it. I do it every week. Sometimes when I come in and the house is empty, I go through with my loaded pistol and clear it (keeping my finger off the trigger of course). Prepare for what might happen so you know what to do. Don't just think you know how to clear your house beforehand.
Why in the heck would you even think about doing a clearing drill with a loaded gun at any time ? :fingerhead: :help:
Yeah I know your finger is not on the trigger ! :fingerpt: :fingerpt: :fingerpt: :lame:
Good on you for practicing clearing your home though ! :thumbsup:
Next time you practice clear your weapon first please, there is no reason at all to train inside or outside your home or anywhere for that matter unless you are preforming shooting drills. :no:
 
#16 ·
If you have family members in mulitple rooms of the home consider using 12 ga with #7 shot for your inside the home self defense. This way if you engage a BG and miss the shot would not go through a wall and injure someone on the other side. 9 mm, .45, OOBuck all will.
 
#20 ·
War Wagon said:
Going to give them a WELCOME they will not forget....
Two suggestions for your HD gun. 1) Put some rail covers on your fore end. The first time you actually have to rack that gun, your hands are gonna get sliced open by the rails. I would suggest rail covers with some grip tape on them. 2) On your side saddle, turn your shells with brass to the grass. When doing a tactical reload, it's all about conservation of movement and fluidity. Whether you reload from the high ready position or if you flip the gun over to see your magazine entry, it will be a quicker and smoother reload. If your brass is down, your drawing down and already that much closer to the magazine for a tactical reload. I know it may seem small, but trust me, all the little things make a difference. It's just advice, but hope it helps.
 
#21 ·
Hey thanks for the help. Yes I'm trying to buy covers, I bought the forearm from Brownells and guess what, they dont sell anything that goes with it. :mad: I had to contact the company that made it and I'm hoping to put a strobe light on it. Thanks again on the shells, they are now "Brass to the Grass" :smile:
 
#22 ·
If you want a good website for cheap tactical gear, go to www.lapolicegear.com. That's where I'll buy a lot of my stuff before deployment if I need it. There are literally hundreds of sites for tactical gear. Also, they're a bit pricey, but Tango Down grips are very nice as well. One of their rail covers already has the cut out for the pressure pad for a light. Again, pricey, but who can put a price on your life. Hope it helps.
 
#23 ·
Teach your children and wife about how to use each gun you have in your home. I have a huge range of firearms from a 1911 to an AK47. My wife knows exactly how each one works. It is important that children know how to use them as well. I shared a story in a speech I gave in college. A 9 year old kid, his little sister, and his mother ran into a closet when their home was broken into. The burgler fired into the closet and hit the kid in the groin. The boy began to fire back and hit the guy in the throat. Both burglers were caught.

Something else I have seen is a tactical flashlight that flickers. It was extremely distracting and painful to look at when my buddy flashed me with it. I could see this being helpful.

And call the police or have someone call ASAP. .45 is faster than 911.
 
#24 ·
If you're going to use a shotgun inside your home most definitely use bird shot some will disagree but it will stop over penetration. A lot of tactical teams are going to this for dynamic entries it reduces the likely hood of wounding someone in another room. Most gunfire exchanges inside homes will be very up close and personal and you can imagine what 2 oz of lead will do to the body at close range. High velocity 3 inch #5's turkey loads or Heavyshot are the most ideal. Even if the bad guy lives and makes it to the hospital there want be a lot a surgeon can do for them if they are hit center mass (just too much shrapnel). This was recommendation that came from a trauma surgeon that was assigned to a Swat Team in a very large city on the east coast.
 
#25 ·
rivercountry said:
If you're going to use a shotgun inside your home most definitely use bird shot some will disagree but it will stop over penetration. A lot of tactical teams are going to this for dynamic entries it reduces the likely hood of wounding someone in another room. Most gunfire exchanges inside homes will be very up close and personal and you can imagine what 2 oz of lead will do to the body at close range. High velocity 3 inch #5's turkey loads or Heavyshot are the most ideal. Even if the bad guy lives and makes it to the hospital there want be a lot a surgeon can do for them if they are hit center mass (just too much shrapnel). This was recommendation that came from a trauma surgeon that was assigned to a Swat Team in a very large city on the east coast.
This is about as wrong as you can get!!! :no: Why on earth do you think you need a heavy turkey load to put an idtruder down??!! Recoil would be rediculous in a light, short, purpose-built home defense shotgun, making your fisrt shot likely your only shot!! A high brass 1 1/4 ounce load of #4s through a short barreled, cylinder choked shotgun is the most recommended combo for a shotgun in urban/built up situations. Recoil is very managable, you won't over penetrate interior walls and your chances of getting hits even down a fairly long hallway and then back on target goes way up. You armchair experts would make me laugh if you weren't so wrong it was scary.
 
#26 ·
I can agree with you that the average person would proably handle the recoil of a 2/34 shell better. There still is not alot of difference in our opinion except shot size and shell lenght. I am not a arm chair expert as you would say, the OP ask for an opinion and I gave mine as did you. I repect yours and think both methods would obtain the results deisred by anyone defending their home or family.
 
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