Why did you limit your choices?

They are all to small for hunting and home defense IMO. Nothing worse than tracking a wounded deer thru 1/2 mile of thick underbrush. Then having to drag the deer back and then clean it.

Black gun = AR15. Gotcha. I was going for a more general definition <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/nana.gif" alt="" />

I have a Bushmaster M4 clone and while it's a pretty gun, good and fun shooter, it's one of the less practical guns I own at least for things like home defense and hunting. It's better suited for what it's intended for. Actual combat..or LE use. Or rat hunting. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I personally would not want to use any rifle round for home defense, unless you live on a Ranch, very rural area or have lots of property. In an apartment or neighborhood setting, there is just too much chance of a round over penatrating and hurting an innocent bystander or God forbid should you fire and miss, the round could easily leave your house and travel across the street and right into someone else's bedroom.

I personally know of at least one case where some idiot was cleaning an AR15 and a round killed his neighbor next door in an entirely different house.

To get an idea of much penetration a .223/5.56 will do, check this out. It will slice right through 12 sheets of drywall and 12 3/4 inch Ponderosa Pine boards. In other words, the walls of your and your neighbor's house don't have much of a chance.

http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot1.htm

That doesn't mean that I won't ever use my M4 for self defence, outside of work or the woods. There's one place at my house where the backstop is a concrete wall and it happens to be a building behind my front door. So I would feel safe using there to stop an intruder, but still not practical for most home defense applications.

The AR-15 is a very nice shooting gun. It's fairly light, has almost no recoil and is very easy to hold, shoot and aim accurately by novice shooters, so it has some major advantages. It's definately a fun plinker. It's one of the few guns my wife actually enjoys shooting. But ammo is not cheap anymore.

Come to think of it, price of ammo is getting damn right outragous these day. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/angry.gif" alt="" />

Anyway, if limited to the three choices, I'd probably pick 9mm, since it would the the safest of the three for home defense.

I recently picked up a Mosin Nagant M91/30 dirt cheap. And yes...kicks like a mule, but definitely fun to shoot. I adapted a scope to it, but still need to get it sighted in. It's a wonderfully accurate rifle. Before that, I was shooting with just iron-sights and getting consistent ten-round groupings at 100 yards about the size of a worn-out tennis ball.



For home-defense, though, you'll want either a pistol with JHP rounds or a shotgun. You don't want to be killing somebody asleep in their bed in a house nearby.

I adapted a rubber butt pad to fit over the stock metal plate. It just laughs at me. Still feel it ... MAYBE just takes a couple more rounds before it gets there now. I cleaned it up by taking the bayonet and lug off. Took off the iron sights and put a red dot on where the rear sight was.

Richard <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />

My search for a home defense rifle has left me at the CX4 Storm . You can get it in a bunch of calibers.

I had one bump in the night that had me flying out of bed and grabbing the 44. But once that head rush hit from being in comatose only a few moments earlier I decided I'd rather be holding a rifle the next time.

I haven't fired mine yet with the recoil pad (just got the pad the other day). It should take the edge off. When bench-shooting without the pad, I felt it was "tolerable". Should improve now. I've heard it's not bad in offhand shooting, but I've only been bench-firing it so far.

I particularly like the eye-relief of this scope arrangement. I wear reading glasses, so it's much easier on my eye.

7.62x39=dead things on the cheap.

Not sure if you're refering to an AK or the above MN, but the MN is a 7.62x54R.

No I meant price wise 39 is cheaper than 54.....Yea I knew that rifle was 54. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />