My story of defending my home.

[Fozzy_Bear]

Hiya.

I just thought I'd share the story about how I used to my firearms to defend my home.

It was quite a few years ago, and I was living alone at the time (with no pets). I was asleep in bed in the back of the (small) house when I heard a muffled ka-thump; Klank..

Oddly enough, my first reaction wasn't "awe crap" or "oh, my gosh...". My first reaction was, "Hey... MY house doesn't go "ka-thump; Klank." ... WTH?

After the floor in the kitchen gave a slight creeking noise (the house is small, you can hear it from the beadroom if all else is quite), I finally got my wits about me and realized my situation.

I quickly aquired my 357 that I keep ready, and I quietly approached the door while I was getting set in my mind what I might have to do. But since I am not a castle-law fan, and I don't believe that breaking-and-entering is a capital offence, I had already made the choice ahead of time that if in that spot, I would declare myself (if I could do it safely) and allow the would-be thief to run. Anybody who doesn't run after hearing the homeowner is there and armed, well, they're obviously not just a thief; at that point they are trying to kill you, and I then have no moral issues with responding with deadly force. (yeah, there are still possible legal issues, but the moral ones are what will cause you to hesitate... and thus get killed.)

So anyway, I was headed to the door getting the wording straight, when I realized that I had the ability to use a language-independant message that clearly states " I am an armed homeowner and I am ready to use deadly force to defend my home and family". -- With my off-hand, I grabbed my 20 ga shotgun (which I didn't evan have any ammo for in the house; hadn't shot it in 10 years) by the slide and with a quick back-and-forth motion I sent the crystal clear sound of a pump-shotgun-action ringing through the house.

Three loud footsteps and the sound of the back door slamming. - I was alone in the house.

I never saw the intruder; only the dammage to the rear door he left behind for me.

Just proves the old addage:
When the only tool you have is a hammer, all your problems start looking like nails. But when the only tool you have is a shotgun, all your problems start looking... for the nearest exit.


.

 

[Biker]

You won, nobody got dead...good enough.

Biker

 

[jlbraun]

But but but racking a shotgun never works to scare off attackers! Don't you read THR?!?

 

[Rokyudai]

Thank you for sharing your experience. Next to a dentist's drill, that's the last sound one wants to hear in one's direction!

 

[highorder]

good work, but what if your bluff had been called?




"Nothing is more worthless than an unloaded gun."- Anthony "Tony" Soprano

 

[bond007]

I'm glad to hear that it all worked out well for you.

Was a door broken or unlocked? Did you call the police afterwards?

 

[Keegan]

good work, but what if your bluff had been called?

The bad guy has a bad date with a 357?

 

[Fozzy_Bear]

JLBraun,

WHEW !!!! good thing I wasn't reading this site back then...

 

[Fozzy_Bear]

Highorder,

Yeah,

I guess you missed the part of me grabbing it with my OFF HAND, after getting my .357.

 

[Fozzy_Bear]

Bond007,

Yeah, the door was broken.

- neat story behind that.... It had a security chain (which was in use) but (although I hadn't noticed it before) the bolt that the chain hooked to was just screwed into the molding on the door frame.

The ""ka-thump ; klank"" was a 5 inch long section of molding being ripped off the frame, and still suspended by the chain, klanking up against the door. the (old and poorly aligned) door knob and the ""security"" chain were both defeated with one solid kick.
- that door's been redesigned since then....twice

 

[Fozzy_Bear]

Keegan,

Yeah. I call her Maggie. (just beacuse I can't resist a good pun... Part of how I got the nick-name Fozzy Bear)

One dance with Maggie and I'm sure the BG would not have hurt me.

 

[Keegan]

You make me think that I should finally fix our back door. It only took me a few seconds to break open one day -without "breaking" anything at all, even- when I was locked out, and I'm hardly a pro thief.

 

[Fozzy_Bear]

Rokyudai,

You must have some bad a$$ dentist where you live... Please excuse me if I never go there... What part of Texas are you from???

 

[Fozzy_Bear]

Keegan,

Fix the door. You'll be glad you did.

I couldn't even shut my eyes, (let alone sleep) until I had put a sliding bolt on that door (mounted into the frame with a sub-structure that could survive a MOAB hit. And I'm a mechanical designer by training... I'm only exaggeratin a little bit...) Structurally speaking, the wall beside that door was a LOT easier to break through than the door... (not actually that rare with modern construction techniques ... but that's another story)

 

[Duck and Cover]

Thanks for posting Fozzy Bear, its always good to learn from others experiences. Here's what I gathered from your story:

Having reinforced doors/windows are a must because they deter would be intruders from breaking in as well as slow down those who do break in. Along with a security system, reinforced doors would also help wake up deep sleepers like myself. Pets that will alert you are also good, I'm assuming from your post that you have pets now. That gun on the night stand won't do any good if you wake up with a BG looming over you.

Either alerting the BG with a verbal warning or the dreaded "shuck-chink" of a pump shotgun is a good plan provided you have the weapon loaded. I know you had your .357, but I don't personally keep any guns around that aren't ready to be used to defend myself. Though I don't have a pump shotty yet, I'd keep it ready with the tube magazine loaded, chamber empty, and safety off (I think John Farnam calls this "cruiser ready") so I would be able to load the chamber and warn the BG in one movement. I'd get some ammo and practice with the 20ga if I intended to use it for defense.

Finally, though you didn't see the intruder before he ran off, a good handheld or weapon mounted flashlight helps identify/disorient a BG. I have had great experience with Surefire products.

Thanks again for posting your story. Sharing ideas and experience, then creating your own plans for defense is the reason the S&T section of THR is the one I read first.

Chez

 

[Fozzy_Bear]

--> Pets.
yes, I now have a dog... But the mention of that was two-fold. 1) that a dog would probably have given a warning and 2) that the noise was not from somebody (2 OR 4 legged) who was supposed to be in my home, as I was living totally alone. Put otherwise: I knew there were no "friendlies" downrange.

--> reinforced doors
yeah. reinforced doors are certainly something I would list as a take-away from this story. If you could kick in your back door in a short amount of time... so could somebody else. (and I bet you could)

-->Keeping unloaded guns.
I don't generally do that either... but this 20 gague was a gift for my 13th birthday, and even though I have no plans to shoot it again... I can't seem to put it up for sale. My nephew is probably going to be the next to shoot it, but he's only 5 and it won't be for a while... that said; ever since this incident, I have always made sure I have at least one box of ammo for any weapon I have.
My other firearms can be made ready fairly quickly, and now i have a remmington 870 that makes an even juicier click-Klack...
At the time, the 20 gague was (and is) more of a display piece than a weapon (I didn't even bother to remove the trigger lock). - Not that it's displayed publicly (It's in my beedroom) ...that's probably why I hadn't thought to use it in that way until that moment.

As they said in Dr Stranglove... A weapon with no use is a Useless Weapon. ... Or was that Spies Like Us?

--> flashlight
I have been on the fence about if I wanted or not to buy a barrol mounted light for the Remmy... I'll probably end up buying one at the gun show that's comming to town this weekend... Surefire is in the short-list... thanks for the reference

 

[Duck and Cover]

I can understand how you feel about the 20ga. I'm saving up for an 870 myself... hopefully a Police Magnum with walnut furniture. Being a poor college student doesn't help.

As for lights, like I said before I can personally say Surefire makes one hell of a light. If you want you can get a reasonably priced handheld light like the G2and buy a mount for your 870. I can't remember who makes the mount... I saw it in a gun rag recently and its also pretty cheap.

 

[Keegan]

Ah, the 870; A fine choice. My own HD weapon of choice is this one right here. I highly recommend getting a light and/or laser with pressure switch(es). I imagine that trying to aim in the dark when one is a little freaked out is hard, and I would hate to miss if I only had one shot before the BG could get a bead on me.

 

[Fozzy_Bear]

Ches,
I researched for weeks before i bought the 870 (just last week, as it turns out) and I have a suggestion for you. - save money on the stock and just get the cheaper synthetic. Then, when you have the cash, get a Knoxx and replace the OEM one anyway. No need to spend extra money on something you'll throw away anyway...



Keegan,
thanks for sharing. I ordered a tri-rail mount and laser (with pressure switch, just like yours) already online (should be here tomorrow)... I was just on the fence as to weather or not to add the light...
I may end up getting the Knoxx with the folding wire stock... But the store I bought the gun from had the adjustable ones in stock sitting right infront of me (and I had heard that everbody online was backordered) AND they were on sale (15 % off the standard prince I had found online).

considering the likelyhood that I would ever actually fold the stock, I'll probably keep it, but I may upgrade later...