MichaelJ:

For the crime concern, invest in alarms.

Klaxon horns at face height with proximity sensors to activate them when the intruder is near have been known to knock people off their feet, cause hearing damage, and with the right frequency cause capillaries in the eyes to hemorrage.

Buying a gun when you are worried about hurting the criminal makes no sense to me.

Bountyhunter

Brian:

You must have missed that news video of the Secret Service agent who turned into the field of fire to protect then President Regan and what a .22 caliber caused his body to react like.

(Almost) Nobody wants to be shot and even those trained to take hits can be laid out with a .22.

bountyhunter

I would not assume that one firearm would be optimal for each of these situations, although you might get some overlap. I would break it down into:

1) Home defense
2) CCW personal defense
3) Open ocean
4) Wilderness

Do you have CCW in Minnesota? Do you have any dangerous 4 legged critters there, or do you just get the run of the mill two legged versions?

-john

While dogs in various sizes can provide deterrent as well as protection, please make sure you consider the inherent responsbility that goes with a dog.

First, you need to be willing to care and provide for this animal. These are social animals so it isn't fair to dump it in the back yard. They need to be cared for, trained, played with, perhaps given a job. It takes time... It is a commitment.

Second, for a larger, more protective dog, you need to protect the dog. An incident where the neighbor's kid gets bit may cost your dog it's life (and get you sued). While dogs have successfully lived with humans for a long time, they are not people and do not understand the world in the same way.

Third, you need to protect the neighbor's kid.

-john

(for small yappy dogs, typically only #1 applies. they tend to get a lot of slack because they don't threaten people)

Aw, this is too hard to do like this. Recreational shooting at a proper facility is so much harmless fun that it justifies itself. Hunting is - words fail me - something that's an aquired taste and often savored like a rare vintage. Self-defense is full of moral and legal implications for each individual to puzzle out - and maybe there is value in discussing that here, provided the various extreme views (any corner of the debate) are throttled back a bit.

Chris K wrote some great advice. Meanwhile, isn't there some ETS member close enough to you to volunteer to take you out for some range time? I enjoy my guns very much, but it's just electrons here - this is cold hard world stuff.

OK, now that I got all that off my chest - you're not gonna be permanently deaf from firing a shotgun inside. Just don't make it a routine practice - good advice in any case! I did that and far worse than that during my career in the US Army (I'm retired) and my hearing is fine. Well, fine for a guy as old as Chris K <grin>.

Close range, a shotgun, hands down. 12 is the universal number, but 20 is OK. Forget anything else for various reasons. If not an afficiondo, it is hard to beat the simplicity of a break-open double barrel, but they still take practice - and remembering little things like automatic safeties. Close second choice is any reputable brand/model pump gun - most boogie men instinctively understand the sound of a pump gun cycling a round into the chamber. Any legal barrel length that handles OK for you in close quarters is fine - again, you can get fancier later. At across-the-room range it doesn't matter anyway. Ammo for indoors is about anything factory loaded that reliably goes "bang" when you pull the trigger. You can get fancier when you know more.

Long range - er, why? That sailing-around-the-world thing? If you're a capable shot at long range, you don't need any advice from any of us. If you're not... it doesn't matter. <shrug> Practice, I guess, and then when you're really good at it, you'll already know whatever you need. But I'll admit that Chris K's Enfield suggestion for Canadian canoeing is good - they work fine across-the-campfire, too.

Pistols take the most practice to master and caliber selection IS more important than in the long guns because generally they have significantly less inherent capability than a long gun to end an incident in time to matter to you. Am I against pistols? Hardly! But I'm an expert with pistols (no sense being falsely modest) and have many to chose from. There can be good arguements for a pistol, but they all include instruction and practice, practice, practice. Usually a poor choice to start out with, so no more specific advice from me on that topic.

Again, Chris K wrote some great advice. Maybe someone knowledgable lurking here lives in your area...?

Go cautiously slow and good luck.

Tom

Sure a .22 can be certainly be lethal and I wouldn't volunteer to get shot by one, but I'd sure rather being shot by a .22 than a .38 or a 9mm. From my perspective, even larger handgun calibers have spotty effectiveness, why push it? And .22 is pushing it about as far as it can go.

You might take a look at the S&W Airweights.

-john

Yah, I bet this is quite a quagmire. Certainly I'd be interesting in hearing more about this.

Obviously the big issue is piracy. Considering they are going to be armed, and probably likely to kill you anyway, I'd want a semi automatic rifle. Considering the other boat may be metal, I'd be inclined to go with a larger caliber like the AR10. Oh, and you probably want a good light on it with a turbohead. I'd want some sort of built in locker to protect it. I'd probably also want a handgun as backup.

The problem of course, that both those types of weapons are probably going to be a major problem when going to port in most places.

A good pump shotgun might be acceptable in more places, but a lot less effective.

Oh, and whatever you get, you'd better be proficient with it.

-john

Unfortunately piracy, like the string of burglaries that prompted Michael's inquiry is a experience we don't schedule on our social calenders. There are many, many precautions we can take for both. Modern pirates are after the boat and it's contents. Shooting it up in a running gun battle is counterproductive. Like any prey animal the energy expended vs potential gain or conversely injury might encourage them to look elsewhere. Unless they board under cover of darkness, there is ample time and distance to discuss matters. Afghan Moujhahadin armed with SMLE's and even ancient flintlocks easily sniped soviet troops armed with the famed, but shorter rang Ak-47. As an example, I was on summer patrol in my ancient 36' MLB and encountered a much faster vessel with a inebriated 'operator' discharging a Ruger Mini 14. He KNEW we were normally unarmed in those days and ignored my hails. Well, we did have 1917 Remington action line throwing rifles. We put a bronze projectile into his flying bridge. He sobered up very quickly. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Over the years I have owned several handguns and long guns. Ruger makes reliable built like a tank handguns in all calibers. You can't go to far wrong with Savage long guns or Remington long guns built on the 700 action or their shotguns. If you want to low ball the long gun consider getting a mil surplus rifle built on the AK type action. That said, no matter what you end up with, you will need to spend lots of time and money learning to use your equipment.

As far as versatility goes, it's hard to beat a 12 Ga. pump shotgun. About the only thing it won't do is conceal easily. (I don't know if that is a consideration for you or not.) This one firearm gives you the capabilty to hunt everything from birds on up to really large bears. Loaded with buckshot, it may be the most fearsome weapon available to the average American "civilian". If you really have to drop the hammer on a bad guy in the house, then the noise will probably be the last thing on your mind. As with any firearm, beware of overpenetration.

The .22 long rifle round will indeed kill the bad guy, but the question is whether or not it will kill him before he sticks his screwdriver in your neck. If you decide to defend yourself with a handgun, then you want a fightstopper. I think the suggestion of a 4-6" .38/.357 revolver is a good starting point. Gunstores are full of outstanding used examples from Smith and Wesson, Ruger, and Colt. Later models of Taurus will also do the job. Practice with the .38 Special, and load the .357 for defense. You can still get the .22--they are fun guns to shoot, and you can never have too much practice.

An excellent resource for firearms safety is the NRA. Stereotypes aside, I have also found the people at local gun/hunt clubs to be well informed and safety minded, and that would be a good place for you and your family to get started. Good luck--I think your choice to defend yourself is the right one.

Regards, Vince