View Single Post
Old December 13, 2009, 10:17 PM   #13
jad0110
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 30, 2007
Posts: 761
Well, at least your home isn't has hairy as my previous residence.

I lived in a 2 story house with the master bedroom downstairs and the baby's room upstairs.

Worse, to get upstairs I had to go down a short hallway, but instead of the hallway ending at our bedroom door, the hallway was actually divided by the door; so I had about 6 feet of straight hallway on either side of the door. The hallway was about 42" wide; not much room to "slice the pie". After going down that short hallway, it opened up into a kitchen and dining room on the left, a directly ahead and to the right. Making it even more frightening, the living room was a 2 story open arrangement with a balcony directly above the hallway exiting from the bedroom, with an open starewell running up to it.

So basically after coming down a narrow hallway, it opened up into an open area with multiple locations to take fire from: the kitchen, dining room, living room adn the starewell and balcony from up above. That layout always scared the living crap out of me.

My house now is a one story, and though my son's room is on the opposite side of the house, it is a straight, very open path to his room. If the crap does hit the fan, his room becomes our safe room. Firing in that direction is not an option, unless I can get down low and fire upwards at an intruder at a high angle at very close range.

So in addition to being aware of where you son is located, your best bet is precise shot placement. Anything that will penetrate deeply enough into a drugged up assailant will also penetrate many interior, and perhaps the exterior walls as well. I say drugged up assailant, because what you describe are the tell tale signs of drug dealing happening right next door. Keep calling the cops, and keep a record of each time you do so. Maybe even send them a letter with a return receipt request.

God forbid something bad happens, you will have a paper trail showing your concern, and that you took proactive, non violent measures to try to address the problem.

In the end, I decided on buckshot for my 12 gauge. My specific load patterns 4" at 15 yards, so at typical ranges in my house it should be half that. After giving a lot of thought, I decided that I wanted my 12 gauge loaded such that with proper placement, a single fight stopping hit is as close to a 100% chance as possible with a small arm. If I have to pull the trigger, I want to do so as few a times as possible.

I certainly respect you position on sticking to birdshot; just be sure you pattern a bunch of different loads and select the one with the tightest groups.

Last edited by jad0110; December 13, 2009 at 10:25 PM.
jad0110 is offline  
 
Page generated in 0.02141 seconds with 8 queries