Like Perry Como back in the day, we get letters. Stacks and stacks of letters. Well, to be completely transparent, we don’t get letters in the mail anymore. However, we do get lots of comments and inquiries via the various digital delivery systems each month. Of these, one of the most frequent topics involve firearms for self and home defense.
The summation of much of this correspondence is, “What gun do you recommend for…?” Fill in the blank with “a home defense pistol,” or “a home defense shotgun,” or “a home defense rifle,” etc.
Rather than address each of these inquiries one at a time, I came up with a list or a set of criteria to answer these questions. I called this the “Patriot Arsenal: 3 Guns Every American Should Own.” To that title, I would add, AND have the capability to use it under the gravest extremes; to be supremely confident in their use. Allow me to elucidate.
Also, before we jump into the hardware discussion, let’s consider that the following arms, if used for personal and home defense aren’t just for use by large, strong, adult males. We will consider that all the responsible, mature members of the household might be called upon to use them, including wives and teens, both male and female.
Of the hundreds and thousands of firearms available to the citizens of the United States of America, we will attempt to break these down into minimum must-haves, not maximums. You, as a free and independent citizen, have the God-given right to own as many as you like. But let’s consider the minimum, shall we?
Patriot Arsenal: The Rifle
Back before 2004, the self-loading rifle market was pretty evenly spread out. The truth is that before the 1994 Clinton “assault weapons” ban, which was completely contrary to the Second Amendment, ownership of military-inspired, self-loading rifles and carbines was a rather niche undertaking. The “average” American gun owner had their shotguns and .22s and a revolver or two. It was only the truly dedicated who purchased AR-15s and the like.
One source indicates that prior to 1994, the total number of Colt Model AR-15 rifles sold, which were originally released in 1959, was about 400,000. So, in 35 years, fewer than a half million of the guns had been sold. Contrast that to post 2004 when the ban had sunsetted. In the last 20+ years, the number of civilian-owned AR-15s has jumped to about 30 million. Some say the number is as high as 40 million. Regardless, if my math (computer) is right, that is a 7400% increase.
The basic lesson is this; when you tell Americans that they can’t have something, they tend to decide that they want it more than ever. Maybe they never even thought of buying one until the government told them that they shouldn’t be allowed to own one. There’s no need to argue. Americans vote with their wallets. The Stoner-based AR design is the American rifle. More of them are available than any other magazine-fed, self-loading, centerfire rifle or carbine.
With all that said, the rifle component of the Patriot Arsenal will be some type of AR platform rifle that’s chambered in .223 Remington/5.56mm NATO. There are more parts, components, magazines, and accessories made for this type of rifle than any other. The 5.56mm cartridge is manufactured in the billions, with a “B”. Additionally, now that the Israel/Hamas conflict is cooling off, expect more 5.56mm at better prices to be available.
An AR in 5.56mm is relatively light-weight and compact and offers rather mild recoil. A rifle as a defensive weapon is not a distance tool, it’s a power tool. No handgun, regardless of caliber, will stop a violent intruder(s) like the 5.56mm will. That’s ballistic science, not hyperbole.
Remember, we want all of the mature and responsible members of the household to be able to use this rifle. Regarding the size/length, I suggest keeping it simple and sticking with a standard 16-inch barreled gun.
It’s your level of training and experience that should dictate which, if any, aftermarket accessories – optics, lights, etc. – you decide to install on your rifle.
Accessories
It’s easy to get tripped up or to waste a lot of money on AR accessories with all of the ads online for this and that purpose. They claim to make the gun more “accurate” or to help you to be “a better shooter.” To be quite frank, it’s your level of training and experience that should dictate which, if any, aftermarket accessories – optics, lights, etc. – you decide to install on your rifle.
The most important accessories you’ll want are magazines. Typically, the rifle will only come with one mag, but you need to have three at a bare minimum. My recommendation is to have at least six 30-round magazines.
Remember, magazines aren’t meant to last forever. They should be replaced after a while or if they start fouling up your gun. Get a paint pen from the craft section of your local store and mark your mags with numbers. As you progress, if you discover that each time you use magazine #2,you get a double-feed stoppage, that’s what we call a clue. Ditch that magazine in the dumpster or give it to a homeless person. I’m not saying to throw away a mag after one stoppage, but if it becomes a pattern of behavior, get rid of it.
Regarding optics, if you live in suburbia and your longest anticipated home defense shot might be 25 yards, I wouldn’t waste money on a magnified optic, at least for a home defense gun. An LPVO, even dialed down to 1X, is going to slow you down at least a bit and is silly for defensive shooting inside of 100 yards.
Rather than drop $500 on a scope, drop that $500 on training and ammunition.
Conversely, if you live on a farm, ranch, or what we might call “acreage,” you might be called upon to dispatch four-legged threats to livestock at distance. In that case, an optic might be a prudent choice. For example, from the back of my house, I have open grazing fields for a few hundred yards before you hit the treeline. We have had predators threaten livestock in those fields. Texas folks in the country have four-legged targets of opportunity that can and should be culled.
When I say don’t waste money on a scope that you don’t need, that’s ditto for triggers. You do not need a 3 lb. match grade trigger on a home defense rifle, nor should you desire one. The $100 to $200 spent on a new trigger is better put toward training and ammunition. Light triggers lead to light hammer springs which lead to light primer strikes which lead to rounds not going off when you want them to.
One accessory that you likely noticed from the included photos is a hard case. When I first put my Patriot Arsenal together I was living in Hurricane Alley on the gulf coast. Each year there was a very real threat that we might need to grab all we could carry and bug out. I don’t need to tell you the levels of depravity that a certain segment of our society will sink to in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Better to be safe than sorry.
Parting Shots
Keep in mind, going back to the beginning of this piece, if you’re choosing a home defense rifle, you want to be certain that all of the mature and responsible members of your household can use it during the gravest extremes. Don’t neglect training for all such persons.
Even if you, the head of the household, are skilled with firearms, reality dictates that you won’t always be there. If you are looking for some solid information and education regarding the use of a rifle as a home defense tool, please avail yourself of the Martial Application of the Rifle online distance learning course.
That’s all for this piece of the arsenal. We’ll be back with part two soon. Remember…you’re a beginner once, you should be a student for life.
Paul G. Markel is the founder of Student the Gun University and has been teaching Small Arms & Tactics to military personnel, police officers, and citizens for over three decades. He is the author of numerous books and is a combat decorated United States Marine veteran.
At average internal home defense distances, about 15 feet or less, ya most likely don’t need a dot optic on a rifle or shotgun. And at those distances, especially within 10 feet or closer and especially if you or the treat is moving, if its a very sudden appearing imminent threat you most likely will not even see the iron-sights, or a dot-sight if you have one, and will be most likely be using the human brain natural ‘instinctive aiming’ alignment of the hands which also happen to hold the gun.
correction for : “…or the treat is moving…”
should have been…
…or the threat is moving..
Yeah, without any training, that’s mostly true. Which is why people should learn how to use their tools, because “instinctive aiming” ain’t a plan, it’s a hope.
Croak,
I don’t suppose that facts mean anything to you, eh?
On the off chance that you do pay attention to facts, here is a fact: virtually everyone can “instinctively” point a handgun or rifle with combat effectiveness at close distances of roughly 10 feet or so.
Learn about “point shooting”. Make it a part of how you bring the weapon up to aim. And then, when the tunnel vision means you’re not really focused on the sights, your weapon will be where it needs to be. And it means you will likely find the sights more easily in that stressful situation. Point shooting is not something that replaces aimed fire, but it is a way to get the weapon to where you can most easily do aimed fire – or not.
I would mostly concur with the author on the AR platform. I would probably pick a different caliber if I was really looking for close-up, but outside bad breath distance, defensive needs. Maybe a .300 Blackout. But the .223/5.56 is ubiquitous and you should be able to easily find ammo for it. It’s also (since the smaller people in your family were mentioned) low recoil and reasonably accurate with even cheap barrels. I would suggest a .223 Wylde, however, so you never have to worry about whether you can shoot the _other_ caliber in it.
Oh, I would also say if you want an “American” gun, consider the lever action pistol caliber. There are trade-offs with the AR, but it’s a bit more “traditional” of American gun.
Article makes a great point that I and others noted years ago.
Before 1994, VERY few of us had AR’s. Mini-14’s were more popular and affordable, and milsurp M-1 carbines were widely available. Semi-auto AK’s were pretty unusual (SKS’s, OTOH, were dime a dozen). And because if you wanted an AR you were really dealing with either Colt or Armalite, they were also a lot more expensive (in real dollar terms).
So besides there not being very many AR’s out there in 1993, they tended to me more expensive than the comparables, and thus they weren’t the kind of thing crooks used.
But they looked scary to the hoplophobes, and Clinton need to shore up his support with his base, so thanks also in no small part to some RINO’s, we got the 1994 AWB.
Instantly, the value of “pre-ban” AR’s went into the stratosphere, and everyone was working on “workarounds” that would let you produce a “post-ban” AR that skirted the law. The demand was driven almost purely by Congress making them forbidden fruit, and so of course every gun guy wanted one.
Now fast forward to 2004. The AWB is sunsetting, and Bush ain’t going to continue it. The floodgates open, and suddenly there are AR’s from all over . . . and the price crashes, making it easier to acquire one.
But then we have Sandy Hook and Obama, and once again there was a land rush to buy as many AR’s as you could before they got banned again. By the time that petered out, the country was awash in AR’s . . . due primarily to a series of stupid moves by gun grabbers to ban something that wasn’t a problem in the first place. And, of course, with that many people having them, they discovered they were great for 3-gun, varmint hunting, etc. . . . as well as for self defense.
What will be poetical is if SCOTUS holds that because they are now so ubiquitous, AR’s are in “common use” and thus cannot be banned. That will be karmic.
Also get State specific training on the conditions required for the use of firearms in self-defense and in defense of others, as these standards may differ.
Good training classes should cover this info.
Find a lawyer competent in self-defense cases, and have that number saved on your phone. Call before need, and find out how much money that call will cost. It likely will be worth it.
Patriot Ordnance Factory Revolution SBR AR-15 chambered in 308.