Choosing the best firearm for home defense

We frequently find new gun owners asking for advice regarding a home defense firearm. Often times the question comes down to either a rifle or pistol. Excluding the possibility of a shotgun, let’s take a few minutes to look at the pros and cons of the rifle and pistol, in the role of home defense.

Why choose rifle for home defense?

The rifle gives us several advantages over the pistol. For starters, the rifle usually uses a more powerful caliber. Even a smaller rifle cartridge, like the 5.56 millimeter, carries significantly more power than common semiautomatic pistol cartridges, like the .45 ACP or 9 millimeter. More power can help the defensive shooter by delivering more impact to the target, increasing the likelihood of a quick incapacitation to the target. Furthermore, the higher power rounds can often penetrate body armor and thick clothing, again delivering lethal force to the threat. The higher power rounds also have the ability to move through common household medium, like walls, furnishings, and the like. This can be both a pro and a con, depending on the individuals needs.

Rifles are often inherently more accurate than pistols. A rifle, unless the owner has a short barrel rifle permit, must have a 16-inch barrel at a minimum. The longer barrel allows for longer sight radius for iron sights, thus giving the user more practical accuracy. Most rifles also have a means of mounting an optic on the receiver, making aiming easier and faster. Rifles are also a shoulder mounted firearm, meaning the buttstock touches the shoulder of the user, providing for greater stability than a pistol.

Both modern semi-automatic rifles, and pistols are magazine fed. The ammunition source that the firearm feeds from is attached and has the ability to be resupplied easily and quickly. However, the typical modern semi-automatic rifle uses a larger capacity magazine. For example, for the AR-15 rifle, 30 round magazines are common, inexpensive, and readily available. The magazine capacity provides the defender with a significant amount of firepower before they are forced to reload. One thing to consider, in California, unless you will not be able to purchase magazines for either rifle or pistol, that exceed 10 rounds. In cases such as this, there is no magazine disparity and thus, magazine capacity is a wash between the two options.

Disadvantages of choosing a rifle

The rifle also has several disadvantages. First of all, the rifle is typically best deployed suing two hands. Thus, the defensive user who has to use a hand to open doors, grab or restrain children of family members, turn on lights, or perform other tasks with a hand, will be forced to fire the rifle one handed. This is certainly doable and can be a trained action, but it is far from ideal.

The rifle is (obviously) longer than a pistol. Maneuvering with the rifle inside a house, down halls, and the like, can be difficult. A rifle with a weapon mounted light might require two hands to operate both the light and the firearm to work both tools simultaneously.

Why choose pistol for home defense?

A pistol has a fair number of advantages over the rifle. A pistol, being much smaller, allows for easy movement inside. Walking down halls, entering rooms or closets with a pistol is much easier. The smaller size of a pistol also makes it less prone to being grabbed, as the user can hold the rifle closer to the body for weapon retention.

Pistol rounds usually do not have the same amount of penetration compared to most rifle rounds. This is both a positive and a negative. The risk of over penetration in a home environment is a serious consideration. One must be cautious of either missing the target, and having the round continue through common household materials, or the round might even pass through the designated target and continue through common household construction. While there can be a zesty debate about the penetration of pistol rounds versus rifle rounds in modern homes, there can be no doubt that most common pistol rounds carry less power. The best way to determine if your rounds will penetrate through the walls of your house is to take a small piece of drywall or other materials used in your house and shoot through them. Only then will you know how your choice of ammunition will perform in your home.

A handgun is considerably easier to conceal and secure in a house. A small draw safe can be purchased for a very reasonable amount, and then can be mounted in a nightstand draw or other easy to access location. A rifle safe is by nature larger and hard to hide if that is a consideration.

A handgun with a weapon mounted light can often be configured for one handed operation. This allows the shooter to control both the gun and light with one hand if need be. The user can use the other hand to open doors, grab dogs, or push children or other family members out of harms way.

Finally, if price is an obstacle to ownership, consider that most pistols are less expensive than rifles. Most handgun ammunition is less expensive that rifle ammunition. Both initial purchase, and sustainment training is typically cheaper with a handgun.

Whichever you decide, make sure you get initial and regular training. If you decide to buy a gun for self-defense, take ownership seriously and make sure you can use these lifesaving tools properly when needed.

We’ll see you at the range.

 

About the writer

Mike Lazarus
Military and Law Enforcement Veteran
FBI certified firearm instructor
MP5 and Sub Machine gun instructor
Defensive tactics instructor