A Bleg…

Adding something in… if it’s for home defense, it would not be a bad idea to make it either a double-action or something with a VERY long trigger pull. I second AD as far as a pump action shotgun if it’s for the home. Just chambering a round will strike fear in the hearts of interlopers.Make sure that everyone in the house gets proper training and if you have a lot of company, the guns are inaccessible.

IIRC, NJ doesn’t require permission for long arms, just pistols (someone from NJ will be along shortly to correct me).That said, a 4″ barreled .357 Magnum revolver is the way to go IMHO.Practice with .38 special wadcutters, load it with 158 grain .357 Magnum for defense.

Consider a KelTec .380 or P11. And shoot the thing! And buy what you will carry. It is no good at home.

I just went over and threw my $0.02. Basically suggested a K-frame Smith fixed sight in .38Spl or .357, OR a Springfield XD 4" in .40 S&W, with a 9mm conversion barrel and mag for cheaper practice.Or just something he finds HAWT that makes him happy in the pants. [chuckle]

You forget … Us in NJ aren’t even allowed to defend ourselves while we’re IN our homes …

Also, I might be wrong about this … But I don’t believe we’re allowed to own DE .50′s either, as they fall under the “Assault Weapons Ban” in NJ …

I have no personal knowledge of the weapon but I’m hearing good things about The Judge. It is a Taurus .45/410 gauge revolver.

The short shotgun would be my choice. Either buy a weapon with a higher capacity magazine or pull the plug to give you at least five shot capacity. #4 buck is close to ideal for home defense, but I’d make the first round a bit lighter than that … say #2 – #4 birdshot. In a home defense situation the probability of a miss is elevated, thus pistol rounds present risk to family members in adjacent rooms. #4 buck can penetrate walls too, but is much less of a risk. Birdshot will normally take out a boogie (or frighten him enough that he clears the area) and the odds of a complete miss is far less. If the birdshot fails to stop the badguy, the next round of buckshot will finish the job.

Shotguns are super-nice (I prefer #00 m’self)Still my #1 choice for home defense is a 1911. I shoot them the best, and I can tuck it under my shirt or behind the door when I hear an unexpected knock at the door.That keeps me safe from this new brand of wiley home invaders that do goofy things like pose as salesmen or police to gain access to your home, but also keeps me from explaining to the Avon Lady why I brought a trench-broom with me to answer her call.

went for either a Sig or Kahr in .40 or .45 since i seem to remember that nj prohibits hp ammo .

Well, he did update his post and state that he WAS looking for a dual purpose home defense/carry piece, even though he is in NJ. I’m guessing he’s thinking of possibly moving in the next few years.If not for that, I’d have limited myself to a longarm suggestion (and I tend NOT to recommend shotguns to people who aren’t already familiar with them — between the recoil and the ability to easily short stoke a pump gun, combined with my lack of warm fuzzies on semiauto shotgun reliability, I’d trend to go with a light or medium carbine equipped with a muzzle light. My suggestion for a longarm for home defence by someone NOT already familiar with a shotgun of some sort? M1 Carbine with hollowpoints or a 5.56mm weapon with M193. (Before people go ballistic at the idea of using M193 ball, better study the terminal ballistics both in tissue, and in typical interior walls, and home defense ranges. Short of trying to find “the magic bullet”, M193 seems to be right up there — and even with the increased penetration, the overpenetration HAZARD is lower than pistol class bullets — yeah it may go through more hard barrier, but it makes SIGNIFICANTLY less injury after doing so. In return, you get very impressive hits on soft tissue and bone.)

FarmDad — NJ anti-hollowpoint law is weird. IIRC,It is NOT a outright ban on all possession or use, but you cannot CARRY a weapon loaded with HPs. You can POSSESS, TRANSPORT, or shoot it, but you cannot have it in your carry gun.Thus, JHPs are acceptable in the house.If he chooses to limit himself to FMJ in a handgun, then I suggest a .44 Special (if wheelgun) or .45ACP (if semiauto), as they start out pretty big already (bigger than many earlier 9mm JHP designs ended up).

The supershortyhttp://www.serbu.com/top/superShorty.phpI cannot speak to its quality, but it is damn cool.

M1 Carbine is a banned assault weapon. As is any shotgun w/ a 6+ round magazine or any weapon w/ a 16+ round magazine. A detatchable mag w/ more than 15-round capacity is an “assault magazine” (ISYN).I just did the deed myself up here in the People’s Republic. For myself, I went and took NRA Basic Pistol w/ an instructor who had several different pistols for the trainees, then rented a couple more.

I went thru several semi-autos before I found my dream revolver (a 3″ K-frame older Smith, if you care). It would have been a lot cheaper to rent the guns at the shooting range and figure my preferences that way. Just my .02….But I also have to agree with Midwest Chick, I’m pretty sure the number one most dreaded noise for a burglar is the loud “Click Click” of a pump shotgun.

Revolver. .38 Special or .357 Magnum. Smith & Wesson or Ruger. 3" or 4" barrel. Stainless steel.

Wow… who knew how many Jersey boys (and girls) read AD’s blog? Nothing I can add except to confirm JayG’s aging memory – New Jersey requires you to get a purchase permit for EVERY HANDGUN, but if you have an FID card, you can just use that to “purchase and carry rifles and shotguns”, as my own no-longer-valid one says (since I moved to a slightly less restrictive state – MA).

The actual hassle on getting your paperwork (as opposed to the hassle you think you would get based on the law – which says they have 30 days to deny or you get it) is based on the attitude of your local police chief (or state police if you ain’t got one). The 4 months it took me is hardly unusual; but there are towns that will get it done in a week; other wyou have to sue to get it in a year.Important tip (and one I wish I had followed); when requesting a pistol purchase permit, double the number you want to get and put that number down. They cost $2 per, and you never know when you might want to use one. As of right now, NJ does NOT have a 1-gun-a-month ban.(I woulda bought both the Glock and a .22 if I had been thinking.)

” Ian said… M1 Carbine is a banned assault weapon. As is any shotgun w/ a 6+ round magazine or any weapon w/ a 16+ round magazine. A detatchable mag w/ more than 15-round capacity is an “assault magazine” (ISYN).”OK, I give up. All hope is lost for an inmate of New Jersey — the only chance one would have is to defect to the Free World. . . like Berlin between 1945 and 1962, they have notyet put up a wall. You can just jump the barbed wire.

It’s not as bad as all that – besides; I have to pay a toll to leave the Great Garden State.I’m staying and fighting (in my own small way). What with Heller and Nordyke, the times, they are a’changing. NJ still isn’t as bad as CA or NY in most ways. There’s a bill in committee in the legislature to make NJ shall-issue and another to make the pistol purchase process less onerous.

Hey now, the DE .50 isn’t THAT expensive to shoot, especially if you don’t miss. Yeah retail in MT for a round of hollow points is just a cunt hair shy of two bucks. PER ROUND. If you *cough cough cough* have a brother who happens to be the re-load guy at a custom ammo company, you wind up spending just over cost per round. If we ordered them as betty average customer through the standard channels, we would be paying .73 per round. When we purchase ammo? we generally make a “bulk” purchase (nobody around here really randomly shoots the DE .50) so a “bulk order” is anything over 200 rounds in that particular order.BF would be spouting off on all the attributes of his “Betty Jo” like what rounds he uses, what poundage the spring is, and how quickly you can change out the barrel (dont know to wich caliber, but you have to change out the springs as well….) We shoot everything from the .22, all the way up to the .50 (dont ask wich, as i am clueless) but you can bet your ass that we are fully loaded and I can hit what I intend to, WHERE I intend to, damn close to every time. Dont know about you AD, but if I were lookin down the barrel of a DE, as a tresspasser, or such, I would be needin some serious help from a medical professional.