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SOG DonationsPaul Harrell I assume? If so good on ya. 
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taken in context or apparent image, general vrs experience shooter or inexperience. A “true” PCC whould be a something like a sterling/M3/pps/uzi or a variant. Taking a rifle and converting to a pistol calibre, you still have a rifle. To make a lot of those “legal” you were required to have a longer barrel amoung other things. And now with the current PCC’s we are hanging tacticool crap all over them. A shotgun is just a shotgun, and if you want you can mount some tacticool crap on it too. Yes you can have a always on red dot but with all battery operated things, it will not work the one time you need. A home defense thing is something that sits in the corner waiting for the one day that it is needed (truthfully for the majority of homeowners)
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of course, and good to see he has made over to patreon and full30
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If Mr. Harrell had t-shirts on forged for freedom my wife and I would buy em.
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Well, my home defense weapon is a suppressed AR in .223 to reduce pass through if I ever need to use it. But I shoot a sub2k in competition. I wouldn’t feel at all undergunned or lacking in any sense with a sub2k in my safe room. It is capable of surgical precision, especially at home defense distances. It’s much easier to shoot and hit with than a handgun but it needs to be set up correctly and other things need to be in place to make it work efficiently (as with any safe room). It would definitely work for me as mine is set up for competition (red dot sight and green laser for close in work tucked into ones side and not shouldering should “they” get to the safe room). Shotguns would require lots of fixing o collateral damage to the walls and such. They can be just too messy if there are errant pellets. But at one time my home defense gun was a shotgun loaded with #4 buckshot.
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+1. A 9mm PCC loaded with personal defense rounds is truly a force to be reckoned with in close quarters. Precisely why I bought my 995TS and will be turning it into a bullpup soon. Maneuverability and good stopping power in a small-ish package. Caliber snobs can dismiss the 9mm all they want, the criminal on the other hand may not think the same way after being on the other end of some coming their way.
Having said that my wife will be with the AR and shotguns should the need arise. 
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BrianK:
Actually, unless you have a very large house, or a very long hallway, the shot spread coming from a shotgun (not a shot pistol like Taurus Judge, S&W Governor, or Bond Arms Derringer), should not be so bad for collateral damage. You may have a couple of pellets miss the intended target, but most, if not all, should be on target at the probable 7 yards or less distance. It may help some (too) if you are using a shotgun with at least some choke to it.
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John, all guns are a compromise. All are better at some things than others. My personal choice won’t work for others, and theirs won’t work for me. And yes, I agree, rifled “shotguns” really are VERY close range items. Any shotgun used should be smoothbore. At one time I used one but I think I found better solutions over the decades and my choices have changed. I also don’t have just one gun in the safe room. We also don’t have kids to worry about, having children running around can (and should IMO) change ones perspective on guns storage.
My choice has changed over the decades and what I started out with I have changed a few times. Personally I have a long hallway with the safe room at the end of it. So for me a shotgun isn’t so good, but launching one bullet at a time is the best solution. It would be suicidal for anyone to advance down that hallway rather than to exit my home as I will be yelling at them with dispatch recording my call. At one time I had visions of me clearing my own home (since revised) and a shotgun would have been OK for close in work or so I thought. But later I realized that a handgun would be better since it can be tucked in and out of reach, a shotgun gives the perp a lever to grab and that’s a bad thing. All of that occurred decades ago. Now I know that I’m not going to clear my own home unless TEOTWAKI has happened and the police won’t be coming at all. In which case I’ll call neighbors to come help; we’re all armed.
I’m older and less able, so now my thinking goes that I stay in the safe room and protect the wife and myself. If the perp can get through the dogs I’m the last line of defense and it would be formidable since they would be advancing through extremely bright light that I would use as a blinder and a “light shield” to hide behind. But more than that, all that would be visible of me is a small sliver of me required to shoot around pretty substantial cover. My gun is suppressed so I wouldn’t be painfully shocked with each shot. I’ve tested the light shield concept and one can’t look at it or see beyond the light. It’s a 5k lumen light with a flood beam.
That brings up another item to consider. Whatever gun is chosen really should be fired under similar circumstances, as much as possible, to whatever situation it will be used in. I don’t mean with hearing protection in place because one probably won’t have time to don that stuff. It’s amazing how blast affects ones “attitude”. Where I live I can do things others can’t do. I can fire indoors, outdoors, pretty much anything goes as long as fire in a safe direction and most directions are safe. I fired an unsupressed .223 just once with most of the blast directed out the window, and the wife in the other end of our home told me to “Never do that again!”. It was quite painful. It’s why I won’t use any high pressure cartridge for my home gun unless it wears a can. I understand that not everyone has access to them. That would limit my choices to .38, .45 ACP, and shotguns, but again, I would test them under similar conditions to the real thing before carving anything in stone. But that’s me and my thinking, not everyone thinks alike.
FWIW, in competition the long barrel of a PCC reduces 9mm blast a great deal. My fellow competitors tell me that my 9mm PCC is no louder than a .22 so I would include them in the home defense category for low pressure. I really think that it would make for a low blast gun for indoor use. That long barrel means that the pressure has a big “chamber” for pressure reduction before it gets uncorked. Boyles law states that when one doubles the chamber volume the pressure is halved. Lets say that the powder reaches peak pressure in 3" of barrel with a chamber pressure of 40k psi (just for round numbers). The pressure is down to 20k in another 3" of bullet travel, another 6" and it’s down to 10k. Four more inches and it’s down some more and out the barrel. My point being that makes a PCC a very blast mild carbine for indoor use without a can, from within a safe room. I wouldn’t want to clear a home with one, again due to the long barrel and the leverage that gives someone on the other end should they grab it. (We’re back to all guns being a compromise.) But set up properly that can be mitigated somewhat I would think. A laser would allow one to tuck the carbine under the arm and more out of the way, while still allowing precision bullet placement. I still wouldn’t use it for home clearing. That’s the job for LE. The role of the protector in the safe room is just that, protecting the others also hunkered down there, and keeping dispatch informed of what’s happening inside the home.
I have a friend who absolutely had to have a handgun for a home gun. I tried to persuade him away from that, but he was adamant. Understand, we all age. He wasn’t looking ahead. Now he has weak hands and I don’t even know if he can pull back the slide anymore or even hold the gun tight enough to control it. Things change, we change.
But I’m starting to ramble.
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BrianK:
Wow! Thank you very much for the detailed response!
I agree with your assessment of how, where, when, and why, a PCC is the best solution. I have advocated for PCC’s in just that very situation (in/from a safe room). I agree that shotgun does not solve all problems and sometimes, I use just a handgun to sweep my home when I have heard a noise I can’t explain by anything expected and okay.
I am still considering a PCC and often think that maybe the Ruger PCC in 9 mm would do the trick. It might, but unless I would be using 147 grain (or higher?) bullets, the bullet I would be firing would crack the sound barrier (easily!), and even using a can (suppressor), might not stop that high-pitched sound that would occur from breaking the sound barrier.
Regarding the reduction in sound in a longer barrel (using same caliber ammo): from the studies I have seen and done, you would expect roughly a 1 decibel decrease per additional inch of barrel. So, going from a 4 inch barrel to a 16 inch barrel, you could see a 12 decibel decrease in noise level (though frankly, this equation was based upon outdoor shooting, so I don’t know for sure that it would apply indoor). A decrease of 10 decibels is a halving of the noise level. 9 mm from a 4 inch barrelled gun produces roughly 12 to 16 decibels louder noise than a .22 lr in a 4 inch barrelled gun. So, theoretically, yes, you could get the noise level experienced by the shooter of a 9 mm carbine down to that of a .22 lr handgun.
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Ramble on Brian! Good stuff.
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At home defense distances, shotguns require more aiming than most folks are aware.
The spread of shot, even large shot, isn’t all that great inside most of our homes.
Unless, of course, you happen to live in a mansion with great halls and huge rooms.
But for most of us, to avoid hitting the wrong person, aiming is definitely called for.
Just a thought.
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I’m a huge advocate of shooting competition to learn how to use what one has. One doesn’t shoot against others but against oneself to get better. It’s not technology that will pull ones cookies out of the fire, but how one uses it. In other words, it’s not the bow and arrow but the Indian behind them that matters. Just ask Custer about that. I’ve seen folks with $3k handguns who couldn’t shoot their way out of a sack, and folks with $300 guns who outshot those folks. It’s not the gun, it’s the Indian.
One shoots against oneself is my point.
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My son ran the PCC for the first time last week. First time using it, and his first time in a match. He took 16th on this stage with all but the peek a boo target getting head shots. He likes aiming for the face I guess.
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I recently put the SB Tactical arm brace on my Shockwave and it turned it into a very capable Tactical/Self Defense Firearm…I just added a rail and will put a red dot on it…out to 25 yards it is very deadly with 00 Buck…the Herters 2 1/4 self defense loads also allow extra capacity, I have the OPSol adapter so I can shoot the Aguila mini shells and the perform flawless in the Shockwave…I already have a 10.5 Suppressed SBR and the Shockwave is a nice addition and is becoming a favorite of mine. I am still debating on having barrel threaded for choke tubes, I probably will because I just have to know how much a proper choke tube will extend the deadly range of a Shockwave…I would never have guessed that the Shockwave as is would pattern like it does out to 25 yards…a good extended choke tube may push it another 15-20 yards…
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A pistol caliber rifle would seem to be the best choice for home defense.
Far less shock to the hearing than either a pistol, shotgun or rifle.
Probably more accurate for most folks.
As far as going around the house looking for intruders, that takes very specialized training.
Without the training, it’s not recommended.
Hopefully if the police arrive in time they will have the necessary training.
But it’s not be taken as a guaranty.
Just thought.
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