Confession: My House Gun
So, I’m a guy that’s got a better selection of firearms in his own basement than you can find, in stock, at any one gun store in my area.
It’s kinda nice.
Given that I can pretty much pick anything I want to be my “house gun” at the drop of a hat. I consider the house gun to be one that’s always loaded and kept handy for whatever might arise. The most important scenario, but one that isn’t very likely, is a home intruder.
A Remington 870 with a nice short barrel isn’t a bad idea, and I’ve got one of those. A good full sized pistol isn’t a bad idea, and I’ve got more than a few of those too. Heck, for the area I’m in an AR or an AK aren’t terrible choices either.
That said, I rely on one of my least “tactical” firearms in the armory for house gun duty: A Marlin 1984C. Worse: I keep it loaded up with .38spl LRN ammunition and don’t even bother with a proper .357 loading.
Why? Simple: That’s the gun that goes with to the range almost every time I venture out. It’s fun to shoot and damnit, I can peg a paper plate at in-home distances without even having to think about what I’m doing. I can then repeat this simple feat 8 more times and dump 9 rounds into a grouping smaller than a man’s head.
Reflecting upon this I’ve decided that from here on out my advice to first time guy buyers looking for a piece to defend their homestead with is going to be: Pick that one that you think will be the most fun to shoot.
Do that, feed it ammo on a regular basis, learn it, love it, enjoy it, and be confident that while it might not be the high speed, low drag, uber-tactical wundergun that everybody says you should get, at least you know how to use it effectively.