buying a gun

[cement]

so there is some thought that the second amendment may be going the way of the oil refinery, and there has been quite a run at the gun shops.

any ideas on a weapon that could be ostensibly represented as a hunting rifle / shotgun? I am woefully ignorant on such stuff, but would like to learn.

 

[wilheldp_PE]

My suggestion is DON'T BUY NOW! As soon as Obama was elected, the price of all firearms and ammo went up by at least 50% because of people with the exact same thought you are having now.

But, if you have to have something now, I recommend Savage for hunting rifles because they are cheap and insanely accurate right out of the box (www.savagearms.com). As for shotguns, a Remington Model 870 is the basic, no-frills, hard-to-break standard.

I would definitely recommend waiting until the dust has settled from the election before "pulling the trigger".

 

[Road Guy]

A good 12-GA always works for most anything. If you dont have a handgun you may want to think about it, if you want one.. remember Obama said "I dont have any desire to take your RIFLES away." <---- :0

I always wanted a good 270, but lost interest in hunting (renting land, time, money, etc) but I borrowed a remington 270 and that was a nice shooting weapon.

I only have a marlin 35 and a mossberg 12 GA both have been okay for me..

I need to go shoot sometime, havent done that in a while

But I may wait, he probably will not jump right into gun control until after the mid term elections

 

[Flyer_PE]

I have a 12-gauge pump shotgun for home defense purposes. The barrel is 1/2 inch longer than the minimum legal length with no choke.

The logic is as follows:

Light loads in the shotgun will not pass through two layers of drywall.

The 12-gauge is a zone weapon. I can aim the bastard even without my glasses.

At 3am, there is no mistaking the sound of a shell being chambered. If the intruder departs, great. If he keeps coming, he's on drugs or crazy. Either way your decision is made.

I'm sure there are other thoughts out there but that's my :2cents:

 

[wilheldp_PE]

I have a 12-gauge pump shotgun for home defense purposes. The barrel is 1/2 inch longer than the minimum legal length with no choke.
The logic is as follows:

Light loads in the shotgun will not pass through two layers of drywall.

The 12-gauge is a zone weapon. I can aim the bastard even without my glasses.

At 3am, there is no mistaking the sound of a shell being chambered. If the intruder departs, great. If he keeps coming, he's on drugs or crazy. Either way your decision is made.

I'm sure there are other thoughts out there but that's my :2cents:

Con: It's hard to sweep a house with a long gun while always pointing the gun in a safe and effective direction.

Con: You have a max. of 5 shots, and you have a trade-off between effective killing power and spread radius.

I'll take my .40cal Glock with 16 rounds over a shotgun any day.

 

[cement]

that's what I'm talking about.

 

[Road Guy]

this does remind me I need to get a new magazine before they change them to only allow 3 rounds / mag

 

[wilheldp_PE]

this does remind me I need to get a new magazine before they change them to only allow 3 rounds / mag

Again, be prepared to pay anywhere from 50 to 200% more than you would have last year.

 

[Flyer_PE]

Con: It's hard to sweep a house with a long gun while always pointing the gun in a safe and effective direction.Con: You have a max. of 5 shots, and you have a trade-off between effective killing power and spread radius.

I'll take my .40cal Glock with 16 rounds over a shotgun any day.

Con 1: I only have to defend two rooms and it isn't a long gun. It's what a buddy of mine referred to as a street sweeper.

Con 2: I'll take the spread radius problem based on my uncorrected vision (blind as a bat) and my likely mental state at 0:dark:30.

IF given time to get the mental wheels spinning, there's always the Colt 1911 with the federal hydra-shocks in it.

 

[cement]

I come from east coast liberal roots, and we did not believe in such things.

but I'm not east coast or liberal anymore.

we have mountain lions and bears in the neighborhood, and while we don't have local police (unincorporated county) I read about the Cali gangs moving into Denver, which is not that far. a shotgun in the bedroom closet might be just the ticket to ease my mind.

 

[Road Guy]

gun shows always haggle! of course those will also be illegal.......

 

[Flyer_PE]

I grew up in :wv: . The following is a recounting of a conversation one of my father's co-workers had at 2am with the local sheriff:

Caller: I think I have a prowler in my garage.

Sheriff: Is he in the garage or the house?

Caller: He's in the garage.

Sheriff: Do you have a weapon?

Caller: Yes. I have a shotgun.

Sheriff: Do you have shells for it?

Caller: Yes.

Sheriff: He's your prowler. <click>

It turned out the sheriff was gambling (correctly) that the 'prowler' was actually a raccoon searching the garbage.

 

[wilheldp_PE]

Con 2: I'll take the spread radius problem based on my uncorrected vision (blind as a bat) and my likely mental state at 0:dark:30.

I think you missed my point. The trade off is either having bird shot in your gun which has a huge spread radius, but absolutely no stopping power on a human, or having buck shot in there that has very little spread, but huge knock down power...not to mention that buck shot WILL go through the walls, eliminating one of your Pros.

This is a debate that has been played out millions of times, and I just happen to fall on the handgun side of the argument. I will say that if I wake up in the middle of the night and think somebody is in my house, I wake right the F up.

 

[Flyer_PE]

^^ Prior to having my son, I was solidly in the hand-cannon camp. With my son in the house, I'm gambling that the sound of that round going in the chamber will send Mr. Intruder off in search of easier pickin's.

 

[Dleg]

I'd go with the 12 gauge for home defense purel because of the wall penetration issue. Plus like Flyer said, the sound of chambering a round will probably run off most intruders.

If I was buying a weapon now (although I would probably wait for prices to stabilize) I would go for a Ruger Ranch Rifle - .223 automatic rifle, sort of based on the M-1 Garand design. I've always wanted one, and my most likely home defense scanrio around here would be some asshole shooting bulletes through my window to scare me, in which case I might be able to react quick enough to pick him off as he drives away, or at least mark his car up so the cops can find him. Can't do that with a shotgun - we're talking 20 to 75 yards. (although I haven't really thought this through in terms of legal ramifications - but as long as he shot first, I figure I'd be good to go).

 

[roadwreck]

I don't need a gun. I've got a Donk.

 

[Flyer_PE]

^ That's not a knife. THIS is a knife.

 

[roadwreck]

Con: It's hard to sweep a house with a long gun while always pointing the gun in a safe and effective direction.

Solution - pistol grip shotgun

Con: You have a max. of 5 shots, and you have a trade-off between effective killing power and spread radius.

Sweet merciful crap, what kind of prowlers are you anticipating? By the time I unload 5 rounds from a shotgun the intruder will be dead or gone. I don't know to many individuals that are going to hang around after you start tearing up the place with buckshot...

...except ninjas.

 

[dagget]

This is a debate that has been played out millions of times, and I just happen to fall on the handgun side of the argument. I will say that if I wake up in the middle of the night and think somebody is in my house, I wake right the F up.

As someone else said, I grew up east coast and liberal but am not either of those anymore. But that background left me with little (no) experience around guns. I had owned a SS revolver for offshore sailing but that had been stolen several years ago. My inexperience and lack of training with a pistol left me more in the camp of shotgun, since I doubted I'd be effective with the pistol.

Moving back to New Orleans after the storm, we avoided the debate and bought both: Remington 870 minimum barrel, synthetic stock 12 GA and S&W model 64 (Lady Smith) .38 special. The S&W happened because my wife really liked how it looked (the grips are very nice wood) and it is an excellent, hammerless, concealed carry gun.

Lately I've looking at the Sigarms P228 with the .40SW round. Its reported to be very accurate and crazy reliable, both things that I think an inexperienced shooter like myself should have. I also just don't like the look of the Glocks, even though they are cheaper. At about $800 the Sig is a little pricey, but if a cheaper weapon jams and all I can do it throw it at an intruder, its not much of a savings.

 

[Strickland]

For anyone looking to get a gun or even folks with them, I definitely would recommend taking a safety class as well as actually getting out to a range and using your gun. Not being familiar with a weapon is a bad thing.

just my two bits.... 010