Po' Boy Defense

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I had (have) a Mossberg 500 with secondhand cut down 18.5” barrel.

The lug separated from the barrel and I have yet to fix it. Wondering if its even worth it.
 
Before I left home after high school I already had in my bedroom or car:

.22 SS Bolt Action rifle
.22 semi auto tube feeder
Ruger RST 4 pistol
.30 Cal M1 Carbine
K98 Mauser bolt action rifle 7.92mm

While waiting to go to college and waiting between that first awful semester and reporting for duty my HD gun was the RST4 loaded with late 1960's Super X solids, which was considered top of the non match ammo at the time. I did my High school science fair project comparing that pistol and ammo in clay to a S&W M10 with 158 grain RNL such as most police used in those days. We had no ballistics gel but against pine board, modeling clay box and "wet Pack" The .22 pretty much stayed neck and neck with the then standard police round and my pistol held 9 shots instead of six and reloaded 9 in about the time it took to load one single round in the revolver as speed loaders were just starting to be seen and then mostly Police Practical Pistol Games men. I would love to see a youngster juggling hand full of cartridges to a revolver from a drop pouch these days, never mind reloading from the belt loops in any sort of controlled manner!

Today folks will at best laugh at you for suggesting a .22 pistol for HD. Beats not having a gun.

Turning 21 in the service I bought a Colt Series 70 MkIV at the Rod and Gun and stored in the Arms Room mostly ( though it did once go on an alert with me and it regularly went to my German gun club) that to this day is my go to gun.....carried it today in fact in a fanny pack. ( I did King style fixed sights on it in the 1980's and none of the trigger parts or mainspring are original and it currently has a 1911 style barrel bushing in it) I also brought home a little Anshutz five shot magazine fed bolt action from that tour.

At night that Series 70 still comes out of its safe to sit close to hand with a flash light and cell phone.

At various times and places for short periods my HD gun had been a .22 Semi auto rifle or a Charter Undercover I carried for work

When my sister first moved out her house gun was a Remington Speed Master semi auto .22. It worked fine for running off an intruder the one time she needed it.

-kBob
 
The first handgun I had was one of the original Ruger .22LR semi pistols, circa 1975. A couple of years later, I traded it (and I'm STILL kicking myself for that !! :fire:) for an Astra Constable in .380. Still have that.
Now I have a GP-100 in .357 as my primary SD/HD handgun.
 
Early on in the realm of HD... the marlin 336 that I inherited from my grandfather, a Taurus 66, and a Phoenix hp22a all served me well at some point.
 
First hand gun was a 45. Colt SSA that my Mother's Uncle gave me. He was issued it when he served in the Iowa National Guard. Gave it to me when I was fourteen. I still have it and used it as a night stand gun until I purchased a Smith & Weston mod. 36 in 1965.
 
At first I used an 870 12 ga with a smoothbore slug barrel which my parents had bought me at 16 when I asked for a shotgun instead of a class ring. Then at 21 I bought my first handgun, a Glock 23, which I then used as a nightstand gun.

A buddy had bought it as his first conceal carry gun on the advise of his neighbor who was an FBI agent. But he soon discovered a Block makes a poor CC gun and sold it to me. I never really cared for it and eventually sold it. 3 or 4 FTE's in about 2000 rounds made it the most unreliable centerfire handgun I've owned to date.
 
Remington Model 11 12 ga that I bought for $50. I cut the barrel down to 19" and re-crowned then took some off of the stock but still enough to be legal.
 
Ruger Mk 2 with a bull barrel. My dad gave it to me when I was 13. Had it sitting there with a loaded mag and an empty chamber for years. One day I tried to fire off the mag and found the ammo wouldn't work. I think the oil seeped into the old 22 lr loads. Replaced it with a Sig p226 and now a 686+.
 
I didn't get into guns and SD until my mid-30s. By then, I had a career and a little spare change. My first HD gun was a garden-variety 686 with a 4" barrel. Simple to learn on, great trigger, and super reliable. I've added a few tools for this role since then (mossy 500 with 18.5" barrel, SBR'd ar-15 with a silencer) but I'd have no problem depending on my 686 if that was all I had available.
 
While home defense wasn’t my intent, my first center fire hand gun I would have trusted for the task was a Dan Wesson model 15 .357 with a 5” barrel. I must have been about 14 or 15 when I bought that thing. At the time I felt like I had a cannon! Now it mostly just resides in the safe. I just need to find an affordable pistol pack to keep it company!
 
Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 mag, 7.5" barrel. Only gun I had besides a Remington 870 Special Field 12ga. I loaded it with WW Silvertips and it served until I was able to supplement it with an S&W 640 Centennial.
 
Bulgarian Makarov. My first firearm, bought it almost as soon as I turned 21. Dead reliable and pretty damn accurate too. If they were still as inexpensive as they used to be (I paid $150), I'd have no qualms recommending it as a budget HD pistol. You can even get decent SD ammo for them now...
 
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