Shotgun or pistol in your home: Which is better?

I say: Why not use both? 

Let’s look at what each does well and doesn’t do well. 

Pistols are handy to have on you and are good for moving about and performing other tasks where a free hand is needed,  such as opening open doors, leading other people to safety and/or holding a flashlight. But they’re kinda lacking in the firepower department compared to a long gun. 

 A shotgun or a rifle brings A LOT more firepower to the table that a handgun just can’t match, but unless you’ve got an Ithaca Auto & Burglar by your bedside, you’re going to need both hands to work the gun. An AR-15 makes a dandy home defensive firearm, but be warned: They are LOUD in enclosed spaces. If it’s legal to do so where you live, consider buying a suppressor, elsewise, some active hearing protection for you and your loved ones might not be a bad idea if you’re thinking about an AR-15 for home defense. 

I have a Mossberg 500 in my safe room loaded with #4 buckshot, and I have a pistol (usually one of my CCW guns) on or near me at all times. The shotgun is for defense of the safe room, and the pistol is there to move around the house if needed. On my shotgun, I have a shotshell holder with extra buckshot and a few slugs. I figure 13 rounds or so rounds of #4 buckshot*, a couple of slugs plus the content of my CCW pistol(s) will be enough to stop most threats outside of a rampaging bungalow or at least enough to hold them off until help arrives. 

I consider both a shotgun and a pistol to be integral parts of my home defense plan, much like I consider a fire extinguisher and a smoke alarm to be parts of my plan for a home fire. Each has its role to play in keeping me and my family safe. My primary plan is to get everyone to the safe rom ASAP and wait there with my shotgun until help arrives. If for some reason I need to move about my house, it’ll be with a pistol and a flashlight if it’s at night. I don’t want to go from room to room clearing my house: I’ll leave the professional tactical work to the professional tactical people. 

Recently however, I noticed a flaw in my thinking. In my safe room, I had the means to stop a threat, but I didn’t have the means to stop bleeding. The nearest first aid kit to my safe room was downstairs in the hall closet. 

Whoops. 

Now in my safe room, I have a first aid kit and a bunch of Israeli field dressings and copies of my driver’s licence and CCW permit for easy identification if (God Forbid) I needed them. I keep an old unused cell phone nearby as well, because any working cell phone can call 911, regardless of whether it’s on a current plan or not. 

I keep all this stuff in our safe room because I don’t want to clear my house, going from room to room with catlike stealth: I want to get my family to my safe room ASAP and keep them safe, healthy and secure until help arrives. 

So what’s your preference? Pistol, shotgun, rifle, or some combination of all three? 

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* Why #4 instead of 00 buck? I live in the suburbs, and over-penetration through thin drywall into other houses is definitely a concern of mine. 

Carry Often, Carry More Than A Gun

So you’ve decided to carry a gun on a regular basis. Good. Deciding to take care of your personal safety yourself is one of the most important decisions you can make, because you are, and always will be, your own first responder. Carrying a pistol with you, concealed or not, creates options in defense of your life that you just cannot have without having a firearm on you.

But a gun is not enough. In fact, a pistol is just the end of the journey, because chances are you’re not going to need it, thank God.

So what should you have with you besides your gun?

1. A Flashlight. We spend half our lives in the dark, a flashlight isn’t just a good idea, it’s an aboslute necessity. In the past, I relied on the flashlight app on my iPhone, but after some testing, I found the flashlight app just isn’t anywhere near as powerful as even the smallest dedicated flashlight. After filting around with a few different lights, I’ve settled on a Streamlight Microstream, and I absolutely love it. Why?
   • It’s small, which means you’ll carry it with you more often
   • It’s BRIGHT for it’s size, brighter than a AA Maglite, and bright enough to light up a doorway from across the street.
   • It’s cheap, so you won’t be heartbroken if you misplace it
   • It’s rugged. Mine has survived two trips through the washing machine and the dryer (don’t ask why) with no issues whatsoever
   • It takes one AAA battery, which means you can find spare batteries for it everywhere, and if you want the longer-lived (and more expensive) lithium batteries, they’re also available.
2. A Knife. Quick! Open up that clamshell plastic packaging without a sharp object, I dare you! Oh, what’s that you say, you can’t quite lever out the jammed paper in the photocopier? And now you’ve ripped the “easy open tab” off your microwavable entree, and you’re faced with the prospect of an unintentional day-long fast or a jaunt outside of the office for lukewarm, lackluster fast food. Knives make too much sense not to have one on you, and I understand they’re a pretty decent self-defense tool as well (sarcasm). As I work in an office and I don’t want to carry something that screams “TACTICAL!”, I usually have a CRKT Pazoda unobtrusively clipped to my pants pocket. It’s small, lightweight, sharp and doesn’t stick up over the pocket much at all. 
3. Extra Ammo. Make a quick list of everything that can go wrong with a modern semi-automatic pistol. No, go ahead, I’ll wait.
   Done? Good.
   Now, how many of the items on your list are related to the pistol’s magazine? And you don’t carry a spare magazine on you because….?
   I use a Blackhawk! Single Mag Pouch when I carry my CZ P07, and it works like a charm. I’m not planning on shooting 32 rounds of 9mm in a defensive situation, but I figure if something goes wrong with my gun and I have to reload, I can.
4. A Smartphone. We can have the “I just want my phone to be a phone and make phone calls” discussion some other time, but the fact is a smartphone allows you to have a Red Cross First Aid Guide and an Emergency Radio Scanner and a GPS and a weather alert radio and a whole bunch of other useful information at your fingertips. Plus, we now know that when an emergency happens and the cell phone towers are overloaded with traffic, text messages can go out when phone calls can’t (pdf link). A smartphone also has a camera to document what happened for the police and/or insurance companies, and you can always play Angry Birds on it while you wait for the other first responders to respond…

What other items should a well-prepared person have on them besides their gun?

Team GunBlogger Tip: Tag Your Stuff Before Your Next Range Trip

Here’s a simple tip that could save you a great deal of money and heartache.  Before you leave for your next trip to the range, make sure you include your contact info in your range bag, rifle case, spotting scope case and any other gear you’ll be taking with you.  An index card, sticker or a piece of paper with your name, email address and/or phone number is all you need to include in your case or bag to exponentially increase the chances of recovering your important belongings, should you ever leave something behind.

Even if you’re only taking a couple of items with you, or you believe you will never make the mistake of forgetting something, I would highly recommend doing it anyway.  I consider myself a responsible person, but I accidentally left my competition belt out at the range last year.  I was VERY fortunate that the match director found it and sent an email blast out to those that shot the match that day.  

While there’s no guarantee you’ll get your stuff back, the shooting community is by and large some of the kindest and most honest group you’ll ever be a part of, and I know for a fact that they will go out of there way to try and reunite a lost item with its owner.  Let’s all make it easier for each other by adding contact information to anything that’s going out to the range.

 

 

A Girl’s Guide to Gun Gifts for Guys

With the plethora of sparkly and shiny things made for gun girls these days, it’s pretty easy to find a gift for a shooty girl.  But what about those gun guys?  It can be quite a challenge for ladies to find the right gun gift for their better half, especially if you don’t know the difference between a revolver and an open race gun.  Stop stressing ladies, here’s a list of gun gadgety goodness that will please even the most discriminating tastes.

 

Under 25 Bucks

Tactical Bacon – You can never go wrong with bacon.  For about 20 bucks, you get about 18 servings of bacon with a 10 plus year shelf life.  This would make a great gift for the Christmas gift exchange at work, or as a stocking stuffer.  Available all over the internets.

A Good First Aid Kit – Thanks to Suburban for suggesting this essential item in the comments section.  These inexpensive level 2 kits come in handy at the range for slide bites, splinters and all sorts of other minor maladies.  We’ve got a kit very similar to the one above, and it easily fits in a small to medium range bag.  About 15 bucks at Bass Pro.

 

Under 50 Bucks

 

Otis Technologies Cleaning Kits – I love my Otis kit, and I don’t know any guy who shoots that wouldn’t either.  For less than 50 bucks, you can get a rifle, pistol or universal cleaning kit that’s just a little bigger than a hockey puck.  Brownells has a really good selection of Otis kits at reasonable prices.

 

An NRA Membership – Support the organization that protects and defends his Constitutional right to bear arms.  Get a one year membership for $25 ($10 off) through this link.

 

A Good Multi-Tool – Get him a high-quality multi-tool for his range bag, and he’ll be prepared for just about any minor malfunction or gun issue on the range.  You can’t go wrong with the Leatherman Brand, and Cabela’s has a good selection of them within the $30 to $100 range.

 

Under 100 Bucks

 

 

VZ Grips – If the gentleman in your life owns a 1911, a set of VZ Grips could be the perfect present.  Those are mine in the picture above, they’re the Operator 2’s in Pink Zebra, and they are grippy and awesome!  They’ve got plenty of other colors besides pink, and several textures to choose from.  Get ’em at VZ Grips.

 

A Nice Leather Gun Belt – Handmade in America by a fellow blogger, these handcrafted leather belts are both stylish and strong.  My guy bought one a couple of years ago, and it still looks new.  The belts start at $75 bucks, and can be ordered at thebestbelt.com

 

The Sky’s The Limit

 

Gun Gift Cards – If you’re still not sure what gun gift to choose, get him a gift card to his favorite gun shop or outdoor store.  Outdoor retailers like Cabelas and Bass Pro Shops and online retailers like Midway USA and Brownells have a wide variety of shooty stuff.  Price – Depends on your budget.

So, you say your significant other has everything and you just won Powerball?  The Dillon Aero Standard M134 just might be exactly what you are looking for.  It may look a little like a leaf blower in the photo above, but I assure you it will be much more fun (and noisy) to use.  The estimated cost is JUST $50,000, plus accessories.  If you’re still on the fence about making the purchase, here’s a video to help you make your decision (helicopter not included). Inquire at Dillon for ordering information.

Training with a .22

At last week’s IDPA match, it became abundantly clear that I needed some more practice

Because, quite frankly, I sucked. 

I’ve had trigger control problems for quite a while, and they’ve returned to haunt me due to a prolonged absence from shooting earlier this year. Controlling trigger jerk is easy in theory; keep a smooth press backwards from start to BANG, then smoothly let off until the trigger resets. 

That’s the theory. In reality, in middle of a shooting competition, things don’t always happen that way. Consider this simple IDPA stage from last week’s competition 

This is why muscle memory is so important. Because my brain was busy with sorting out the stage procedure, I had little to no bandwidth available for the basics of “aim, breathe, squeeze” required to make an accurate shot. Instead, I had to rely on my body knowing what was the right thing to do because I had repeated it over and over again in practice. 

Which brings me to .22 caliber pistols. 

 .22 is CHEAP. A box of 325 good-quality Federal .22LR rounds is under $20 at the local big-box store, which makes extended training sessions inexpensive and fun, and with the lower recoil of a .22, it’s easier to feel how your finger is moving on the trigger. 

I own a Smith and Wesson M22a with a red dot sight which is a great gun for isolating out trigger movement from the other actions of shooting a pistol. The trigger on it is… adequate. It’s about a 5 lb pull with a good reset, but the break is kind of non-existent, however, because it has a red dot scope on it, I can concentrate on the process of how my finger is moving on the trigger and leave the worry of sight alignment behind me. 

Here’s the results.

I set up this target at 10 yards and started out the practice session by shooting at the bottom right target and finished it by shooting at the top right target. You can see that as I concentrated more on how I was controlling the trigger, my groups improved until I was dropping them pretty much all inside the bullseye.

Total cost? 50 rounds of .22 and a hour of my time. 

This is why using a .22 for practice make so much sense. Unless you’re flinching or having other issues with recoil, a .22 lets you correct most common shooting problems without breaking the bank. 

What is Team Gun Blogger.com?

 

• We are committed to getting the millions of new gun owners out to the range and encouraging their safe use of guns in competition, training and practice.
• We embrace “new media” because we are new media: We love guns and shooting so much, we write about them in our spare time.
• We are a group effort. We want to shorten the decision loop for new gun owners by giving them a variety of options to consider on one site, rather than forcing them to run all over the web looking for reviews and the basics of shooting.
• We write about what we shoot. We don’t try to come off as experts on guns or sports we know nothing about.
• We write about what it’s like to own a gun, not just briefly shoot 200 rounds through it and ship it back to the manufacturer.
• We believe that the practical shooting sports are an essential element of safely owning and carrying a personal defense firearm.

Womens 5.11 Tactical Taclite Pro Pants Review

I’ve previously established that I’m not tacticool, but I don’t mind admitting that there are some gadgets and widgets in the tactical gear world that I would be happy to own. I now have another item to add to this list: 5.11 Tactical’s Taclite Pro pants for women.

I’ve looked at purchasing tactical pants in the past, but the options for women have always been extremely limited. While there are a few companies that make women’s outdoor clothing, the vast majority of tactical and outdoor sports pants are made only for men. Another issue that has prevented me from finding a pair of pants that are suitable for competition shooting is that I’m a bit vertically challenged, and pretty much all the tactical-ish pants for ladies I’ve looked at are ridiculously high-waisted. I don’t enjoy wearing pants that go up to my armpits in my daily life, and that would be a serious no-go when I’m shooting.

5.11 Tactical decided to tackle the ill-fitting women’s tactical pants issues, and they have recently updated their line of pants for women with a more friendly fit. I got the chance to see their new styling during Media Day at SHOT Show earlier this year, and they caught my eye right away. One of the ladies in the 5.11 Tactical booth was sporting a pair, and they not only looked sharp, the waist looked to be at just about the perfect height (just under the natural waistline).

Thanks to 5.11 Tactical, I now have a pair of Women’s Taclite Pro Pants of my very own. I selected my most often worn pants size, and I was very pleased to find that they fit great through the hip, seat and legs – not loose enough to be called “relaxed”, but still plenty of room to move around in. The top of the pants fall just below my natural waist; I could not have asked for better placement. I was surprised to find that the waistband was on the loose side (hey, maybe I lost some weight. More cake!), but the little areas of elastic on each side of the waist seems to help keep the waist from drooping. I’m almost always going to wear them with one of my competition shooting belts, so this is a non-issue for me. I’m considering that a plus, as the slight looseness will allow me to throw a pair of long underwear on underneath without them being too tight.

The only fit issue I had to deal with was the overall length – a good two inches too long for me. I knew this before I received them because they are only available in regular and long. I managed to hem them myself with no problem (and I didn’t even cheat with hem tape this time), but I really wish 5.11 would add a “petite” length to their line of tactical pants. After all, I’m perfectly average, according to the Government.

The Taclite Pro’s are made with poly-cotton ripstop, which is why I chose them over 5.11’s standard, cotton canvas tactical pants. I figured I would get more use out of a lighter weight pant, and since they are treated with Teflon for a stain resistant finish, I have a chance of keeping them snazzy looking for a decent amount of time. I have a habit of wiping my dirty, grimy magazines off on whatever I’m wearing, so having some stain resistance is a nice bonus.

To put these pants through their paces, I decided to wear them at the two big matches I shot in November: The IDPA South Mountain Showdown and the USPSA Area 2 Championship Match. The IDPA match was an all-day, 8 stage match, and temperatures were unseasonably low with dark rain clouds looming almost all day. I was concerned the fabric would be too light for the weather (anything under 75 degrees=cold), but my legs never felt cold, and they were so comfortable that unlike everything else I was wearing, I didn’t want to rip them off after wearing them for over 11 hours.

For the Area 2 match, I wore them on Saturday, our second full day of shooting. The weather was, again, unseasonably cool with the threat of rain. Once again, the pants felt great all day. I’m really glad I chose these pants for Saturday because it turned out to be the day with some of the most physically challenging stages. The reinforced knees came in very handy while going prone and the deep front pockets allowed me pick up after myself quickly after pulling a couple of yard sales with my magazines. In addition to feeling really comfortable in these pants all day, I also received an inquiry and complement on them from one of my fellow female squad mates, who is of similar stature and has the same problems finding pants to wear while shooting.

To see the pants in action, here’s a video of me shooting stage 7 of the Area 2 match. Yes, the popper on the far right was supposed to go down. (Note to self: the *ding* of the steel does not always mean it went down) Might I suggest focusing on my mag changes instead?

I really like these pants. So much so, I’ve already purchased another pair in black. I decided to purchase a size smaller then the original pair, and that might have not been the best idea. The waist fits better, but the seat, hip and upper leg area are a little too tight (So much for more cake). If you are a skinny-mini, you should be able to get away with purchasing a size smaller than normal, but if you’ve got some shape going on, I’d recommend sticking with your regular pants size.

The tactical pants reviewed above were supplied to me by the fine folks at 5.11 Tactical in exchange for my unbiased review. The 2nd (and soon to be 3rd and 4th) pair I own was purchased with my own monies. Reprinted with permission from GreatSatanInc.com

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