Gunforge: Let's talk self defense.

^My friends and I did that shit too. There was a landfill down around exit 94 that the locals used for a range. We'd bring our own shit to shoot, like TVs, and we'd find stuff other people left there to shoot, like fridges and, once, a '64 Mustang.

I found out hiding behind a car door in a shootout offers you almost zero protection against a .44 mag round.

However, if the round hits the mechanism for the car window you might get lucky.

Actually hiding behind a car offers almost zero protection unless you're behind the engine.

^That's fairly well known police doctrine. Only on TV and movies do they hide behind car doors.

I tried to shoot thru a car engine with my .44 mag once, and got nothing but a backspray of impact-melted bullet in the face.

So the beard is to cover the hideous scaring?

Your Jason Bourne??

Did you ever strip all the feathers (fletching) off an arrow and shoot it straight up? Talk about a wild wacky shot!

It scared me a little, but I don't frighten easily.

No. I am not comparable to him in physical prowess, awareness, or training.

I am loads above the average Joe though, and am confident I would withstand an assault by any common criminal.

Ok, you're right about that. If I'm not mistaken though it won't exit the other side with much force left though, rght?

I would imagine after penetrating at least one wall (two sheets of drywall) there would still be force enough to kill. Not sure after that, though certainly after penetrating four walls, it wouldn't be all that deadly.

As the article says though. 00 Buck is still better than a 9mm at not overpenetrating.

The Forbin Guide to Net Grammar and Etiquette forces me to tell you that it is properly typed 'You're', a contraction for 'you are.'

I take no joy in this duty.

Thats the dangers of posting on the sly whilst trying to put together a big report. No time to check grammer and spelling.

I keep my shotgun loaded with birdshot. At "household ranges", the pattern won't spread much and the bad guy would get with a mass of little pellets that won't penetrate drywall (or certainly won't have much "oomph" if they do penetrate).

That being said, in my house the first floor would be a free fire zone in the event of an intruder. The kid's bedrooms are upstairs so, as long as I don't shoot straight up, they're not in danger of getting hit.

Yeah, but they wouldn't penetrate the bad guy either.

A friend of mine who was a gun expert, recommended bird shot as well. Upside, an easier "shoot - don't shoot" decision. downside: potential lack of stopping power. Considering how nearsighted I am I think it's safer for everyone not to have to make that decision in the dark.

Head shot. Did you see that guy next to us at the range the other day with the Mossberg 500?

I think the key would be to load some really heavy birdshot, 3 1/2" Magnums into that puppy.

No guarantee. When I was in the Air Force a dude tried to kill his wife by shooting her point-blank in the head with a 12 guage. He tried to make it look like a hunting accident, but she survived. He folded (confessed) under questioning.

I've always read that #4 buck is the best around-the-house load, so that's what's in my ol' Win 1200. I used to have one of those 9-shot extension tubes before NJ outlawed them. Now it's a 20" slug barrel (for the shortness and for the sights) with 5 rounds of #4 buck. I have a couple of those elastic gunbutt-mounted shell carriers with extras (ya know you can wear them on your arm?), one of which has 5 rounds of 12 Ga slugs in it in case a polar bear attacks.

If I ever have to (God forbid!) eliminate a threat, that's what I want to do - eliminate a threat. If that means killing that threat, that's what that means. I doubt someone getting a 12 gauge, 3 1/2" magnum of birdshot in the head would be alive - or a threat - under all but the most freakish circumstances.

Yes, it's a slim chance but it's amazing what some people survive.
Like that little girl who took several 9 mil shots point blank to the face and head last month and survived.

My brother took a 9 mil round to the head from a cop and all it did was knock him out.

But normally, shotguns will definitely tear you up beyond alll repair.

Harry Whittington disagrees. That was from 30 yards away.

He was "peppered", but it put him in intensive care. Shooting someone within the space of a room will definitely fuck them up.

Let's ask Dick Cheney about shotguns!!!!

135 grain Federal Hydroshok will only penetrate 1.6" into a copy of John Mack's "Abducted" after going through two sheets of 1/2" gypsum and the back panel of a Sony shelf mount stereo speaker.

Bounce it off a concrete floor, and you're likely to fuck everyone in the room up.

I heard that was an old moonshine war trick. If a car is getting away from you, you shoot at the road, behind the back bumper. Shot bounces up and perforates the gas tank.

Fucked up and accidentally discharged one didn't you.

At least you didn't shoot yourself in the foot like that FBI agent in the classroom.

Gramps had a piece of 1/4" plate welded under the tank in his machine. :

The cops in the Cayman Islands follow the British tradition of going unarmed, however a few years back the guards at the Governor's House were armed and the story was that they ended up shooting each other....

I don't vouch for it, but that's the story and considering that the people who own guns illegally don't know how to shoot them or clean them, I can believe it. While I was down there one guy blew a ball off, another shot himself in the "upper thigh" after shoving a gun down their pants.