Awoken by a noise...

[Wanderlust]

1) get my bedgun sitting on the shelf beside bed
2) turn to the other side and look at the laptop which is asleep and wake it up
3) look at my drop cams via my laptop all over my house and see if intruder is present.

I have never had an intruder but I have used that protocol in the middle of the night when I heard a large bang like something was at the door, so after 15 minutes or so I actually got out of bed and it was a trash can that rolled down street into my door but concealed by the angle could not see on my front cam.

[Deaf Smith]

Its the middle of the night and you are awoken by a noise. What's the first thing you do?

I scream, "mad minute", as my wife leaps for the M1 Carbine and I dive for the AR. 2000 rounds and one minute later we find our cat just wanted outside.

Deaf

[Tinbucket]

i have posted along this line before. In the 1970s we suffered a home invasion.
I did not have a dog at the time. It took a long time, too long to awake from a deep sleep. Simply could not react.
When i did recognize a threat I could not reach the revolver under the bed. For some reason I thought it prudent to push it further under. Not goo wiith a tall mattress.
This past year, I hear he front door open, as I was sitting, in the breakfast nook on the laptop. Wife was in the kitchen 20 ft away.
My first thought was my son in law is home but it is way too early. In the same instance, Dakota jumped form his bed and charged the door teeth bared. I heard the door close and footsteps, on the porch, For an instant or two nothing registered.
When It did I jumped up and went to the door about 60 ft away.
Pitch black outside and no hint, of anything or anyone . SIL's dogs were not making any noise in their pen. they raise alarm if anything approaches our long driveway, usually.
Dakota was shaking and wanted to hide. The Stranger or whatever had him scared pretty bad.
My Opinion, A family dog, well behaved and mature, will react from sleep and charge anyone alien. He won't generally charge a family member or if he does, when he gets close and recognizes them all is good.
I think a Family dog/friend/guard and companion can save our lives. Dakota might have saved our lives last year. He's about 120 lbpit bull/terrier cross.
A Dog as first line of defense and not much chance of a family member being harmed, unlike awaking from deep sleep and trying to make sense of what is happening. Second line of defense is a handgun or shotgun or whatever you have decided fits your needs.
The Dog will take down anyone or at least awaken the deep, in sleep, and buy you time to react, and avoid to hasty reaction and a daughter come home from college unannounced.

[P5 Guy]

I roll over and go back to sleep.

[DaleA]

I scream, "mad minute", as my wife leaps for the M1 Carbine and I dive for the AR. 2000 rounds and one minute later we find our cat just wanted outside.

Good one. And I just assume you've got air support on speed dial just in case.

P.S. Bet the cat REALLY wanted to go outside after that.

[Jim567]

Depends.

Once I heard a noise downstairs and was so tired and lazy I just said, "Thanks Lord, its been a good run".

Went back to sleep.

[Tinbucket]

Don't want to treat the subject too lightly.
Things like i reported don't happen to too many people I hope. One time is too many.
A sub machine gun a bit much though.
a .38 with frangible bullets because of thin walls and children in other rooms?
One I liked was .357s loaded with lead disc. Thee took out anything, with in a room's range but walls and such took most of the energy out.

[Waspinator]

one could never know for sure how you will react when woken up from a sound sleep.

Me, Not to long ago a awoke to my house alarm going off. I don't think ,y wife even registered what was happening and I was already half way down the stairs. I bull-rushed out of my room and down the stairs so fast that it wasn't till I was at th bottom of the stairs, scanning the area for anything, that I realized that my revolver was still in the bedside safe.

I would have liked to think that I would have had enough sense to grab it first....something about being woken so suddenly, to such loud noises...I just reacted and put myself between the 1st floor and my family (wife/3 kids) on the second floor. man, crazy stuff.


Oh.. the alarm? my wife had the top part of the window open earlier in the day and forgot to latch it when she shut it. The high wind that night happened to shake it enough to creep down and release the alarm pressure switch! No harm done, except my heart almost beating out of my chest, lol

[g.willikers]

You and your wife definitely need more practice with this sort of thing.
How about taking turns leaping out of closets and from behind furniture at one another, ala the Pink Panther?
Banging some pots and pans together in the middle of the night is good, too.
As is manually operating the house alarm accompanied by a blood curdling scream.
Might have to practice the scream; a convincing one is harder to do than you think.

[HistoryJunky]

This scenario has happened to me probably no less than 10 times so far in my life. Never has anyone actually broke in, but at least I know how my reaction goes.

I am a light sleeper. I wake up to the loud noise, or the wife does. She starts freaking out. I grab my AK loaded with JSPs and hand it to her, then grab my pistol. Tell her to keep her phone near in case she hears anything else strange. Investigate the house with pistol ready.

I have a 5 month old daughter, so investigating noises is necessary whether they are malicious or not.

Before we had her, we lived in a couple much worse neighborhoods. That's when we had all the previous 10 or so incidents. My strategy then was to either clear only the upper floor of our living space and then wait to hear any more noises at the staircase, or just cover the doorway to our room and wait for noises.

I have had a scary false alarm before as well. Before I met my wife, I lived with my brother who also lived in a dodgy part of town. It was about 10pm and I was home alone. As usual, I had my .38 revolver by me just in case. I went to my room to go lay down and turned off all the lights. Just as I got to my room, I heard the door open to our apartment, but didn't hear keys.

I went to investigate the sound with my revolver at low ready and a flashlight. Turns out it was just my brother's girlfriend coming home.
She was a little bit startled but she understood.

[g.willikers]

She starts freaking out. I grab my AK loaded with JSPs and hand it to her

Hopefully you both have a plan for when you come back to where she is.

[F. Guffey]

I heard a noise while getting the news paper at 4:30 am in the morning. I went inside, made coffee and thought about the noise that should not be there. I decided to cruse the neighborhood. First decision; do I take a gun, I decided 'no' and took off in my P/U. I drove up on what I thought was two burglars. I called 911; a strange conversation, they wanted to know if I had been hired to patrol, and then it got funnier.

I informed 911 to 'forget about it' because I was hanging up and I was going to go in search of some policeman; and I did. Who knows? Did they find me or did I find them? Anyhow, I gave them the information on the location but suggested the two burglars were long gone.

The policemen made 11 arrest, seems the two I found left without warning the others. The last thing I told the policemen was "I did not bring a gun", and that cheered them up.

And there was another time. That was before viral, that one went national.

F. Guffey

[TailGator]

Banging some pots and pans together in the middle of the night is good, too.

Not at my house. My wife would have hired a divorce lawyer before the sun was up. Thirty-three years of marriage down the tubes.

Just a couple of nights ago, there was a loud bang that seemed to come either from our garage or immediately in front of or beside it. We were still up, watching TV. My wife had her carry pistol in her hand in an impressively short time, before me. She would not have responded as quickly had she been asleep, though, and we both know it. I am one of those who springs awake in an instant; annoys the heck out of her. We looked around in the garage and found nothing, then waited a while before walking the dog (as a pair and with a flashlight, neither of which is normal for us) and looking around for damage. Never discovered the source of the noise. Perhaps it was further away than our initial impression.

I am all for holing up if a serious threat is detected, but not for every little bump in the night. Dogs, cats, wildlife, dishes settling in the sink, noises that are not explained - they all happen way more often than a serious threat and I can't help but think that one would get an adverse reputation with LE organizations if you called 911 every time you heard an unidentified noise.

[F. Guffey]

And then there was that time I brought Darth Vader home. He was a cut out that was used at the Star Wars premier in NYC, NY. When he was removed he suffered damage when removed from the wall. Most of the cutouts were free standing and were collectable because with collectables it is condition, condition, and more condition. To me it was the only one left and I suggested the warehouse take better care of it 'JIC' as in just in case it was worth something.

I took it home and I am sure I informed my wife I was placing it between the wall and a piano.

One night there was a bump in the night, the bump woke up the wife and her big dog. I checked the wife out on a two row 12 gage, I left her two shotgun shells. It was not until she realized her big dog did not get excited when she turned the lights on that Darth Vader was a cut out. And that was not the end of the story. She turned Darth into a sailor cat.

F. Guffey

[HistoryJunky]

Hopefully you both have a plan for when you come back to where she is.

Yes I will announce myself before I re-enter her line of sight. She is well trained thanks to the military on use of a rifle as well.

[thump_rrr]

Simon was my first line of defense during the night due to his nocturnal habits and superior night vision.
Unfortunately he wouldn't quit loading the rounds backwards in the H&K magazines.

Sadly Simon disappeared last November without a trace

[Brian48]

When I hear my dogs, who sleep in doors with us, go off suddenly in the middle of the night, I always reach for my gun before investigating.

[spacemanspiff]

My household needs more practice.
Wife heard something while we were watching TV last night, I didnt hear anything but she swears it sounded like something sliding down one of the walls in the bedroom and hitting the ground. TV was turned up enough so my organic ears couldnt detect any such noise. But she has bionic hearing and heard something.
Had her so spooked she didnt even bother sending me in to go investigate, she stormed in on her own. I followed in saying "You're supposed to send the muscle in first!"

But when I hear bumps in the night, I grab the 1911 and clear the premises. If i hear something that I believe is outside, i grab the AR. Last time I did that, it wound up being two moose that were walking thru the yard, except it didnt sound like footsteps, it sounded like something was being dragged. Still dont know why those 8 hoofs sounded like that though.

[Lohman446]

At the risk of sounding like a certain presidential candidate my solution is simple: I AM going to WIN.

My house layout, and the location of the rest of my family, dictate that I clear the house when checking for noise. I do so with my handgun behind my leg and out of plain view to anyone who would look my way. Automatic motion sensor light switches, coupled with the direction they are facing, would leave me basically in the dark while anyone in the house would be in a lighted room.

[peggysue]

My two pups would alert me.

[Frank Ettin]

Originally Posted by Lohman446

...I do so with my handgun behind my leg and out of plain view to anyone who would look my way....

Why? Where did you get the idea to carry your gun that way when checking out your house for a possible intruder? What do you gain doing it that way? How does carrying your gun like that improve your chances of winning if there is a hostile intruder? Are there circumstances in which carrying your gun like that could put you at a disadvantage?

For another perspective, here are four videos of students going through a "shoot house" exercise at Gunsite: One; Two; Three and Four.

[Lohman446]

I believe in effectiveness of action vs speed of action. If someone's intents are pure aggression chances are I don't get time to get up and out of bed. Further it's likely the noise is one of the children. The gun, in that position, is very well retained. A threat, who will be in a lot area looking into darkness may not see the gun and take less aggressive action. If it's a pure speed drill I will loose though I probably lost by nature of being asleep when the conflict started. I see it as avoiding some risks while accepting others

[Frank Ettin]

Originally Posted by Lohman446

I believe in effectiveness of action vs speed of action....

So I guess that means you thought this up all by yourself, and that you have no experience or training in clearing a house in which a hostile intruder might be present.

Originally Posted by Lohman446

...A threat, who will be in a lot area looking into darkness...

Are you sure? He doesn't have to stand still. He can move, and being aware of your approach, from the lights tripped by the motion detectors, sound, or a combination, knows you're coming and from where. He can take a position from which to ambush you. And how do you know there's only one intruder?

Originally Posted by Lohman446

...may not see the gun and take less aggressive action...

So someone who has already committed a serious crime by breaking into your house will be less likely to attack you if he thinks you're unarmed? How did you arrive at that conclusion?

Originally Posted by Lohman446

....I see it as avoiding some risks while accepting others

But the risk is not only to yourself. If you are taken out of the picture by a hostile intruder, you family is left to his (or their) mercy.

It appears that you put together your home defense plan without having had any experience or training in the subject. On the other hand, the videos I posted show how experienced firearms and defensive tactic instructors at Gunsite (many of whom are retired LEOs) teach house clearing. And it's also why Kathy Jackson, a highly respected and very experienced firearms trainer (and moderator here under the screen name, pax) advised:

Originally Posted by pax

This. It bears repeating.

When a criminal breaks into your home, the smart thing to do is to get yourself and your loved ones into a locked room with your weapon out and ready to fire the moment the criminal comes through the door. Once your family is safe behind that locked door, don't go looking for trouble! Call the cops and let them find the intruder for you.

Waiting in a secure place while keeping your family behind your protective firearm is not cowardly. It is not an act of surrender, and it isn't even "hiding from the crooks!" It is simply setting up a well-planned tactical ambush.

This tactical ambush tilts the odds in your favor and puts you in the best position to directly protect the most valuable things in your house: your life, and the lives of the people you love.

Of course, you may surprise the intruder while you are moving to secure your family. That is why we train how to move through the house, how to "pie" corners, how to retain the firearm if attacked, etc. -- not because we will "clear the house" by ourselves, but because we may need to move through danger to protect family members....

See also the links posted in post 12 in this thread.

[Sharkbite]

The behind the leg, or what i call "Traffic stop ready", has been used by LEO's forever. I have used it countless times when approaching a suspicious vehicle or situation.

The benefit is not openly displaying your pistol ,BUT you want a full firing grip. It allows a lower profile approach then your hand on the holstered pistol and is much lower key then ANY other ready position.

It is NOT what i would recommend for ANY bulding clearing.

Ive taught weapons and tactics for a while now. I think you need to switch between different readies as you move thru or around obstacles and people. Never would "traffic stop ready" be one of those.

There is NO NEED to be low profile when clearing a structure, especially your own home.

[Lohman446]

Let me note a couple things. The way I do it is not the most tactically sound way of doing it. I'll be right up front and admit that.

However, if I clear the house once a month, in the 20 years my children are likely to be here that will be roughly 250 times. I hope that is 250 false alarms. Chances are, if I attempted a way above my comfort, I would make mistake in the majorities of those that would result in a way that was less sound than the way I do it now. Not because of the theory of doing it "right" but because of my failure to do so in practice.

I am not good at reacting quickly. This is an issue with myself that I readily acknowledge. Being awoken from a sleep does not make it better. If there are two of us it is likely that the other person gets the first movement. If he (or she) is intent on violent action there is a good chance I never make it from the bed. Even with my gun up that split second I pause to assess the situation is also going to create an issue. The good news is that given the moment to react I react to most situations very well and very effectively. If I had my gun up the second thought of "is that one of the kids" would actually slow action more.

My hope is that, while clearing my house (which is really going to check on the children), the fact that someone is in the house will be enough to remove anyone else who may be. Truth be told I hope the presence of a small dog and the alarm is enough.

Because I expect to do it 250 times I would rather do it in a manner that I believe is better suited to me as an individual even if it is tactically inferior because I do not believe with my level of expertise and the level of training I am willing to undergo that the method used by experts would be best suited to me.

Anyone willing to take direct, considered, and planned action against me is likely to do so in a manner that is more effective than what I can respond to. I am most likely dealing with someone who accidentally entered the wrong house (I live out far enough this is not likely), is not sober, is looking for an "easy" score, or is looking for shelter. I hope, in reality, that none of those ever happen. Am I as prepared as some of you are? No. Am I willing to invest the time and training to be that prepared? Apparently not. However I am willing to be more prepared than most and to operate in a manner consistent with my own limitations.