I never truly thought it would happen, but it did.

[johndoe1027]

To all of those who do not believe a bolt riding home or a shotgun being racked isnt a familiar sound to crooks read this 2 Xs.

Yes. 12 ga pump with a full tube and empty chamber is one of my bedside guns. #4 buck BTW. IIRC only 2 layers of sheetrock penetration and my house is lath and plaster. I train as well as I can afford to but if something like this happens to me, I'm planning on needing a change of underwear and that might just affect my aim a little bit. Plus, the idea behind the pump is that you won't need to fire. They'll be gone before you can get a sight picture on them. I also keep a 1911 with night sights in condition one on the night stand for when there's no time for the shotty to crawl out from under the bed. And I live in the sticks.

Someone just needs to make a realistic tape that has a) the racking of a pump shotgun or b) the racking of the bolt of an AK. Optional buttons would be snarling pit bull and R. Lee barking threats. The starting of a chain saw too just for confusion. I am only half in jest.

I misread this completely the first time and imagined someone trying to rack a shotgun or AK while hearing loud versions of all of those things. That's good training right there.

 

[EOTechRulesAll]

It would really stink if you went to pump your shotgun for the first time, to chamber a shell, and it misfed and jammed. I keep one shotgun totally loaded, 7+1, and my other has a fully loaded tube of five shells, with an empty chamber.

If it gets bad enough to the point where I've gone through my M9 Beretta and my AR-15 (both of which I keep out/sleep with when I sleep) then I'm either going to have to just put new mags into those weapons (I have lots nearby) or bust open the safe and grab something else, probably the loaded 12 gauge with 7+1, or maybe a 1911A1 (I keep it loaded as well).

I don't see a situation where I'd need to do that, but it might happen... At any rate, I am not a fan of pumping a shotgun to scare people. I'd prefer that they have no idea what I have until it is too late.

They might have soft body armor, and wonder "does he have just a pistol or does he have a center-fire rifle" and thus they should have no idea until they are in the fatal funnel coming into my room, silhouetted in the doorway, at which time they figure out what I have as they wind up being repeatedly shot with it.

Nobody will hear my shotgun pump since I won't have to pump it. The first time they'll know if I am using a shotgun for this instance of home defense is when they come upstairs and then they get a full load of 00 buckshot, probably followed by a second, third, and maybe fourth load, while I sit behind the shotgun and behind some cover.

If anybody commits a home invasion against me they are probably going to die. If they come to the upstairs of my house, they are absolutely going to die.

I'd rather have the extra round already in the shotgun, instead of playing "intimidation" games with somebody who is intent on doing you harm. They'll know I have a shotgun right before I shoot them with it. If they're lucky and quick, they'll be able to drop whatever they have in their hands, or put their empty hands in the air, and go down on the ground, or make it clear they give up and begin to go down on the ground (as per my commands) before I ease back the trigger...

If they're not quick to realize what is going and immediately surrender/begin to surrender/declare their intentions to surrender, they won't be alive for long.

Intimidation is nice, but the time to intimidate is gone when you're being attacked in your house. That is the time to steamroller them to pieces. Flatten them out.

 

[Geno]

Well done. The sole upgrade to your security that I suggest is to have a pistol holdered in addition to the rifle at hand. Awesome reaction and glad all turned out well.

Kudos!

Doc2005

 

[Dirtypacman]

Great thread- I recommend sending that story over to NRA for publication in First Freedom - Armed Citizens page.

 

[primlantah]

with all the "good jobs" and "that a boy" being tossed around here ill point out one thing that comes to my mind....

now the people who attempted to break in know you have firearms. nobody pointed this out.

 

[Biker]

And the problem with that is...?

Biker

 

[Dirtypacman]

Primlantah

now the people who attempted to break in know you have firearms. nobody pointed this out

Ill amend that for you to say now the people who attempted to break in know you have firearms and know your not afraid to use them.

I would hope to say they will not be back to take their chances.

 

[eatont9999]

He stands a better chance of being robbed when he is not home if anything. If I were a thief, and knew a home was armed, I would not go in.

These must have been kids fooling around. A professional could have picked the door lock or broken in quietly. They were obviously inexperienced. The last thing a thief wants to do is wake up the owner and have to deal with that. Since you were in the house with a computer screen on, it was plain stupidity that drove that person to break in in the first place.

 

[mike6161]

I'm glad you are safe you did a great job be safe out there

 

[littlegator]

I keep an AR-15 near my bed, with a mag of hollow points loaded in it, but I only plan to use that if I have to fend off people who have managed not to go down from 16 rounds of 9mm Hydra-Shock, and I only plan to fire at a downward angle so that if it overpenetrates it just goes through them, or through the wall and into the grass outside, or it goes into the basement where nobody is... Basically the AR-15 comes into play if I need to fire from the top of the stairs, down, at whoever is at the bottom or trying to come up the stairs.

It's good to have a plan. A plan is essential. Who was it who said something about how a plan is good until the first shot is fired? Even so though, a plan is necessary before the shot is fired. And practice. Did I say practice? Practice the plan. Run drills.

 

[wdlsguy]

These must have been kids fooling around.

I'm not so sure about that. Sounds like an aborted home-invasion robbery, and it probably wasn't their first one:

I saw a fully sleeved arm and gloved hand reaching through the window and blinds, trying to find the window handle, I would guess.

 

[TwitchALot]

After our home invasion my wife carried a .45 all the time around the house. She is very very good at using it too. I came home one night about 9:00pm and forgot to signal her that it was me in the garage. I came in to the kitchen from the garage and she was at the opposite end of the kitchen in ready stance, I was looking squarely down the business end. I had clean shorts afterwards, but never forgot the signal again!

"Honey, I swear, it was just a friendly kiss!" :Bang:

 

[EOTechRulesAll]

Practice how? I don't open fire in my house (obviously) but I do practice how and when I would get out of bed, shoot while still staying in bed (I sleep with a pistol in my hand or next to my body), practice for rough approximate aiming from under covers, whipping covers away and drawing up fast, etc... Moving about, how to go downstairs and "slice the pie" so to speak as I begin to clear stuff, etc.

My dad and I have a series of codewords, that represent such things as...

1- House = compromised, get armed, call police, drop phone, get ready to fight.

2- Get ready to hit the ground.

3- Hit the ground, house = free-fire zone, anything at chest level is going to be shot.

 

[AndyC]

You sleep with a pistol in your hand? Boy, I hope you never have a nightmare

 

[EOTechRulesAll]

I have a safety you know, the fact that A- my hand is around it in fashion where I cannot trigger it and B- it has a safety. The ultimate safety is my mind. I normally just sleep with it tucked in close and able to be easily drawn out. No problems in the three years I've been doing it this way...

 

[xsquidgator]

I have a safety you know, the fact that A- my hand is around it in fashion where I cannot trigger it and B- it has a safety. The ultimate safety is my mind. I normally just sleep with it tucked in close and able to be easily drawn out. No problems in the three years I've been doing it this way...

Wow. I keep a flashlight and an M&P45 on the nightstand in a holster with a magazine inserted, but no round chambered (it's the M&P without any external safety, from the outside it might as well be a Glock). I changed to chamber empty after hearing a rumor about a fellow who got a call in the middle of the night and answered his Glock instead of the phone (so the post-mortem concluded).

 

[EOTechRulesAll]

I keep my phone ringer off since it bothers me and wakes me up (I sleep odd hours due to my schedule). Also, it's not as though I have anybody else in the house such as small children or indeed any children. Just myself and my dad. Usually I just keep it under my pillow and sometimes I keep my hand on it or near it, or I keep it so I can sweep my hand up, grab it, continue through in lifting it, and fire, in one quick motion.

I usually just make sure my hand can FIND it easily, and then retract my hand away from it, once it is somewhere I am comfortable with it being.

 

[littlegator]

EOTech - LOL. You don't happen to be Gecko in another life, do you? Don't mean to bust your chops bro, just thought your post sounded funny. Keep your gun in your hand when sleeping? Careful there my friend.

 

[Markbo]

I sleep with a pistol in my hand

That may be the silliest thing I have ever read on THR. Eotech... by definition your mind is switched to OFF during sleep so it means nothing. So your hand on your presumably loaded gun is subject to whatever unconscious movements you make.


Do you understand the wooooords comin' outta my keyboard? UNconscious!!!

 

[george29]

If anybody commits a home invasion against me they are probably going to die. If they come to the upstairs of my house, they are absolutely going to die.

Its been mentioned in many a thread that all too frequently a zealous prosecuter gets ahold of your computer and gets a conviction based in what you wrote on some blog. If I were you, I would edit this.

 

[langenc]

Glad you are safe.

Keep the gun loaded and ready to go for the next round. Sounds like you live alone so someone else fooling with it shouldnt be a problem.

 

[papajohn]

I've slept with a gun under my pillow for at least 15 years. I keep it where I have to make a conscious effort to grab it, and abandoned the revolver for an auto with a safety that has to be pushed off for the trigger to work. For whatever reason (training?) if my hand is on a gun, I go to fully-awake mode Right Now. It's never been an issue.

It's obvious you have played the "what if" game enough to have a plan, and it paid off. No shots fired, no having to justify why you fired, and the only damage was to the window. I'd call that a victory.

As for the cop telling you it would have been okay to shoot, I've been told the same thing, in a situation where I chose not to. In hindsight, if I'd fired, a Grand Jury would likely not have seen it the same way as the cop, and I'd have been indicted. When it's obvious you HAVE to shoot, then shoot. If it's an option, hold off.

I live alone, and I have handguns stashed in every room, bathroom included. My windows are only a few feet off the ground, and even with good lighting outside, stuff still happens. The guy across the street got broken into two weeks ago while he was gone, and the amount of stuff taken made it clear there were several of them, and they were in there for awhile. I work odd (but predictable) hours, and often sleep during the day. But there's a shotgun next to the bed, well hidden, plus the gun under my head and a revolver a few feet away. If they broke a window while I was sleeping, by the time they came into view I'd be armed to the teeth, and I'd be behind cover with at least two weapons at the ready.

Not to mention my attack cats...........

Papajohn

 

[EOTechRulesAll]

george29- You've just immortalized my writing by quoting it, so what point does it even make to edit now?


I'll just say that I have a lot of neat friends and no prosecutor with any measure of common-sense (or career ambition) would prosecute me for a clean shooting.

However, if a prosecutor sees the inside of my house, he'll likely call me a militant radical and prosecute me anyway. They'll cook up some stupid story about the Confederate flag meaning this, that, and the other. All the boxes of ammo = this or that, or this and that, etc...

I'm not at all worried about being prosecuted by anybody, particularly if I haven't done anything. There are always ways to use the legal system to mitigate persecution, and there are other ways.

If I had to, I'd just tell the prosecutor, "Okay, good, you're trying to put me away for twenty years... Well you better start hunting and searching and find out who all my best pals are, since they're all still going to be on the outside... Or you better start driving around in a tank."

Knowing some of my friends, if some power-tripping communist maniac indicted me for something I hadn't done, out of loyalty to me, they might very well just go ahead and "handle" him even without my so much as hinting at it, let alone asking for them to do so. They'd just take it upon themselves to do what they'd think I would consider a favor.

So either my political/business type buddies would railroad and ruin him, or my less forgiving friends would just bushwhack him, so I'm not exactly worried about being prosecuted for something I did not do. If I genuinely do something wrong, obviously I'll have no reason to complain, so it won't be an issue then. If I go down it'll be over something I've done, not over something I have not done. If a prosecutor tries to ruin me over something I have not done, he'll be the one to go down, either when his career is nuked, or when one of my vengeful friends meets up with him.


I don't really see the point in policing my own vocabulary, particularly online. If somebody tries to prosecute (more properly persecute) me for my thoughts and my words, they will answer to my friends. If they try to persecute my friends for their words, they will answer to me and to those friends who remain free to handle things. Friendship is a two-way street.

 

[David N]

I'm glad you're OK. Congratulations on sending a strong message to the perp and also for having a nice visit with the cops!
Some believe a handgun is better for home defense vs. a longer and more unweidly long arm, esp. if you are dealng with small rooms. But nice job anyways! Keep up the good work!

 

[EOTechRulesAll]

For those who think 00 buckshot is going to overpenetrate in apartment complexes or in the interior walls of houses, they might want to consider #6 shot, which may or may not over-penetrate and may or may not have enough power on the other side to seriously hurt or kill the wrong person. It is probably a certainty that 00 buckshot will, and even perhaps #4 shot, but #8 shot is too weak so #6 shot is a good all-around compromise round.