[Armed-Citizen]

Which compact handgun would be recommendable?
Would a 9mm or .380 be enough to drop a home invader?

[FrontierTCB]

Shot placement is much more important than caliber.

[orangello]

Why a "compact" handgun for home defense/home invaders? Why not a full-sized handgun designed for superior accuracy, reliability, and comfort? Is it perchance a really tiny home or homeowner's hands?

You might want to forgo the .380 for a 9mm if you anticipate the need to shoot through walls or very heavy winter or biker clothing. SOME people have expressed concerns about its ability to penetrate too many layers of protection.

Small firearms make sacrifices to be concealable. If you won't be carrying concealed, then you don't seem to need the small part.

Originally Posted by FrontierTCB

Shot placement is much more important than caliber.

Agreed!

[robocop10mm]

"Drop" an home invader? Neither. Handguns are really bad man stoppers. If you want to "drop" em, Shotgun

[BeyondTheBox]

This is my take:

The likelihood of "dropping" an intruder with any handgun isn't high, not by itself. Add some sharp shooter accuracy and conditions and circumstances conducive to best possible outcome, and that percentage increases greatly. But such conditions are less than reasonable to expect or even consider.

Now, if the perp was inclined to be afraid of being shot, any gun that fires would do to serve the purpose of defending oneself. However this isn't what one should count on, nor does it achieve the "one shot drop".

A shotgun would be the best home defense firearm, for stationary defense, which is what I would advise. If you're looking to be GI Joe and sweep the domicile I would suggest more maneuverability than a long gun allows, which brings back into play a handgun.

My set up is two handguns, one under a pillow on each side of me. I can't possibly know what I'll do until a situation arose, but more than likely I'd pull the trigger, or triggers, until the threat was neutralized, one way or another. Personally, I don't like the idea of having a shotgun lying around somewhere that the BG could get to before me, were I sleeping hard enough. I'm more than confident with my handguns and tendency toward fight rather than flight.

[CHLChris]

.380 has a really good place for pocket guns (Ruger LCP, Kahr P380). Get any larger (Sig P238) and you might as well get into a 9mm. The small 9mm category is so large, I won't even bother listing any. I own a Kahr CM9, which is really small for IWB, but really not a pocket gun IMHO.

For home defense, there is absolutely no reason not to go big. You might as well go for as big as your heart desires. My beside gun is a XDm 4.5" 45acp. I chose 45acp because my research showed that the boom of the subsonic 45acp might be slightly less damaging to the ears than the crack of the supersonic 9mm.

[drvsafe]

I agree with the other posters, go full size, a 1911 maybe.

[swazispencer]

Glad I'm picking up my Mossberg 500 tomorrow. I was going to go with a handgun for home defense, but opted for the 12gauge with 18" AND 28" barrels. Gotta love the combo deals.

[BeyondTheBox]

Originally Posted by swazispencer

Glad I'm picking up my Mossberg 500 tomorrow. I was going to go with a handgun for home defense, but opted for the 12gauge with 18" AND 28" barrels. Gotta love the combo deals.

I'm always a bundle and combo fan! Enjoy the Moss, my boss has one with pistol grip, kind of fun to shoot.

[swazispencer]

Originally Posted by BeyondTheBox

I'm always a bundle and combo fan! Enjoy the Moss, my boss has one with pistol grip, kind of fun to shoot.

A buddy of mine has the 500 with the pistol grip. It's cool, but not practical for skeet shooting. It's cool though.