Hi guys, I'm new to firearms. Looking for a pistol for home defense and (mostly) range shooting. We do not plan on conceal carry.
Home defense is BEST served with a long gun. They are more accurate, and more powerful. You already have a 20 gauge shotgun, a very good home defense weapon. Load it with #3 buckshot shells, and it will put down any intruders with authority. Absolutely no bird shot loads, they are worse than a .22LR that folks are laughing about in this thread.
The main caveat with a shotgun though is that it is the hardest weapon to master, and takes quite a bit of training to become proficient. Sure, with 15 minutes of familiarity training, anyone can fire one, and rack one, but they are not going to be very good "tactically" in a home defense situation, which is a tactical environment.
I'm torn between a Ruger Security 9 and a Ruger SR22.
Two VERY mehhhhhh firearms. Not sure why you are stuck on either, but those guns are barely better than trash. And I LOVE Ruger firearms, just not "those" two firearms. I don't like any of their 9MM offerings, but their Mark 4 is a really nice world class .22 pistol, with 60 years of manufacturing history behind it.
For 9MM, look at Glock 17 or Smith & Wesson MP 2.0 (model 11521) . The Smith & Wesson routinely sells for $379-$399, less than $100 more than the Ruger Security 9 pistol, and is a MUCH better pistol. Save the money, buy the better gun. Whats $75 divided over your lifetime? $2 per year?
For strictly home defense, and not conceal carry, always buy the full size pistol. They are more accurate, more reliable, hold more ammo, and less likely to jam than micro or compact pistols. Especially in the hands of a novice shooter.
The wife wants the 9-mm because it would effectively take down an intruder easier.
Well your 20 gauge will put them down faster. And yes, 9mm beats .22, but only if you know how to use it. A .22 in the hands of a competent .22 pistol shooter is far superior a home defense weapon, than a 9MM in the hands of a scared grandma that doesn't know how to operate a 9MM, doesn't know how to hold it properly, is unsure of herself, because she has never shot a gun before.
I spend a LOT of time on the range, and I see the typical novice or less than novice shooter out with their new 9MM blaster 3000 pistol. They have a gun, so in their minds, their home is well protected. Yet, they dont know how to shoot, dont know how to hold the gun, dont know how to fix jams when they happen, dont know how to properly rack a semi-auto, and can only hit a man sized target perhaps 5 times out of 10 when they step up to the line. These people dont train, dont want to train, will never train, and yet feel well armed with a semi auto pistol that they honesty have no right using at all, especially in the context of home defense.
You cant just buy a 9mm, throw it in the night stand, and think you are well armed. You are not. You would be better off with a Ruger 10/22 .22LR rifle, with a 25 rd magazine, that you are intimately familiar with, and know how to use, because you actually get out and practice with the thing. Yes, I said it. A .22LR rifle (or pistol) is absolutely positively the superior home defense weapon over a semi auto 9mm pistol for a novice that wont regularly train with a semi-auto pistol.
Honestly, guns are tools. They are only as good as the person using them. The person is the weapon. A Navy Seal with a KBar knife is a deadly weapon. More so than a person armed with an AR15, that is unfamiliar with that weapon.
My best advice? Get a .22 pistol now for fun range time and gun familiarity with your family.
Save up $500 and go to a defensive pistol class. It will be the best money in firearms you ever spent. So many guys have thousands and thousands of dollars worth of guns, and they are total goobers when it comes time to put rounds down range. Instead, if they had negated buying that one extra pistol that they didnt really need, and instead invested that money into a defensive pistol class, they would be a much better home defender.
And when it comes time to buy a full size pistol for "home defense", ask yourself, are you really likely to train with the thing? If the answer is no, and you are most likely to just stuff it in the night stand and forget about it, then get a revolver. A 4 inch barrel, steel frame revolver, in .38 special caliber, that holds 6 or 7 rounds. Much better than a semi auto that jams on the first round as your wife fires it ( a VERY common occurrence. People have died in home defense scenario's when their semi-auto pistol jammed after the first shot, because they were not holding it properly)
