stop drinking that cagary water.

Firearms are tools. Each is good for a purpose. Generally a handgun will be good for up to 25 yards. That is not to say that you can't accurately shoot beyond that... only that is what is considered an effective range. Shotgun is easily good out to 100 yards depending on the type of ammunition used. Granted with #6 shot you are only good at shorter range based on retained energy and shot dispersal. With a sabot slug in a rifled barrel you are easily accurate to 100 yds and beyond. Given the scenario... being in a house... I would also go with a short barrel shotgun with bird shot. Large damage with little risk of overpenetration. I would also NOT use a tactical white light. Yes. I will also agree that you can take a deer at 100 yds with a .22... but.. the best criteria to use is... can the average shooter CONSISTANTLY hunt large game successfully with that caliber? I would say the answer is no.

i buy my systems to cover all avenues, with the fewest selection to travel with. a 9mm or two for close quarters only where a missed bullet won't endanger others, a 12 guage for use indoors where a stray bullet could be dangerous to my family, and a nato 7.62 x 51 with a mil dot scope for those we see from a distance. I also stock all reloading supplies for my caliburs, and a few other common shells for trading power. an excalibur crossbow too. camo can be the best defense if confrontation can be avoided by staying out of sight, but armed. the shotgun and rifle along with a 22 for small game will cover most hunting needs as well as defense. It doesn't matter one bit what you choose to use if you don't practice with it monthly. I used to coach olympic pistol and rifle and would laugh at the results on the first night back from summer break, and these folks were the best lol.

i agree on the shotgun with the slugs on a long barreled shotgun for accuracy ya its like a elephant gun at but a short barreled shotgun at a 100 yards ? i think you would be hard pressed to hit a rain barrel. i had a defender, looked pretty , kicked like a mule. i live on a farm in sothern alberta and i just reblued my barrel on my model 12 winchester shotgun im gonna pace out a hundred yards and put a 5 gal plastic pale up and see what it does. ill be back . oh im using no. 4 shot . ok im back , a hundred yards there was 3 bbs in the bucket and a whole bunch of little indents ya not much of a manstoper , but that is no.4 shot. but on the upside it will kill a definatly kill a gopher at 40 yards.heh heh i like shotguns. i gotta go now and get the boy of the x box , grab the 22s and the shotgun im being invaded buy the little bleep bleepers. its war. take it easy preppers.

I have a sling shot and yesterday picked up a "stop or I'll shoot" laser/flashlight sling shot! lol ...long bows & Fred Bear Compound bows are good, shotguns & riffles, swords...knives...many items are legal to own in Alberta

Now for you folks that can't legally buy a firearm, a crossbow or long bow is a good idea. They do not require any license as long as they fire at less than 500 feet per second.

Believe it or not, but there are many good quality pellet rifles available in .22 calibre that are far more effective than you might think. Some are even semi automatic.
However it is not legal to hunt with them.

Sling shots are a very effective self defense weapon if nobody knows you are there or if used in tandem with other sling shot toteing family members or other weapons.

Hand to hand weapons are a must in the home and even everywhere else.

I think each family should have a combination of crossbow and long bows as well as a couple sling shots and a variety of hand to hand weapons at the ready.
If society ends and we need to survive you need to be able to hunt and protect your loved ones against predators on two legs and four.

In this case you need to get familiar with snares and traps too.

I also have some chainsaws that start on the first pull every time. I'm thinkin bad guys might think twice about my place if a Husky starts spinning chain in their direction.

ya a chain saw would make someone think twice. dawm that would hurt...

I like the idea of keeping the low profile as a first defense. When that fails, then I like the idea of a good dog and a reliable shotgun, and some creative landscaping.

I like the idea of having the rifle, pistol, shotgun trinity package...but for myself I question it's validy. I want to keep undesirables outside my home...so fence and shotgun. When they get inside my home, I want a dog and a shotgun. I want to hit them and make sure they stumble fall down and remain there. I don't want to expose the neighbours to becoming a potential statistic though.
Now, if I relocate to our family farm, I want the rifle for keeping people off or away from the house and barn. I have plenty of open space there to see them and the range of my rifle will knock them down. I also want the shotgun for keeping them out of the buildings and up close. And for when they are inside the house, I want my dog and shotgun.
But given all the hassles of acquiring a pistol, for myself I just don't know if it's worth it. I mean, it's going to take going through the restricted course (I'm PAL) and then coming up with the money to buy one, and the ammo for it. I'd always be wondering if I bought the right one for the job too. I also don't have anywhere close to me to practice with it to make sure I'm using it to it's potential if needed.

One thing I question though, is the overlooking of the .22. I know it kills (friend of mine was killed by a .22 when I was a younger man). I also firmly believe that unless a dirt bag is a raving drug addled lunatic, getting shot by even a .22 will make him/her stop and reconsider, and even if they press on that round will kill at a closer range - saying in the 15 to 40 yard range. That's easily within my city yard effective range. And a semi-auto .22 rifle with extra mags can shoot fast and cheap! And in my opinion, many seem to overlook that a .22 rifle is any kind of threat. I know every time I hear some yahoo talking about banning guns, they never mention the .22 specifically.
I have very little extensive experience with the home defense side of things. I've read some things by some guys. Seen some vids. Open to some good arguments and pointers, of course.

Runs With Scissors

Personal opinion... rifle and shotgun. The best thing to keep in mind is having the ability to meet equal threat level with your equipment. What I mean is if someone with a rifle is standing off and potshooting you from 200 meters then your shotgun is useless. You are at that persons mercy. If you can reply in kind then you can eliminate or deter that person. I agree with shotgun for intermediate or closer range and also for use in buildings. You don't have the agility you would have with a pistol but then again we are not for the most part trained shooters. We are farmers, carpenters, sales clerks etc who have a wish to defend if the need arises. I also like the shotgun as you can use it as a 2 handed weapon in close quarters before or after you run out of ammo. A barrel to the face.. or butt stock to the head will cause serious damage allowing you to recover. I think as well the ideas on .22 are well founded. As we are not JTF2 or Delta Force trained... neither will our adversaries be. They will be just like us... scared as hell and in an evironment very foreign to them. Their prime motivation will be the same.. to survive.. and they will take the easy out to do so... as long as you are a hard nut to crack they will look for easier pickings. Some will not obviously... but I am talking generalities.

Justabear

Good point I agree with you 100% on having a rifle and shotgun ready to go. One for close quarters and the other for long range.

I feel that a well rounded armory is the way to go. You need to be prepared for all situation, be it long range deterance or retaliation, Short range conflict, home invasion, or hand to hand defence. Now what a well rounded armory is, seems to vary from each person.

I am a new prepper, and so far havnt aquired any weapons or defences of any kind. While this makes me vunerable for the moment, It also gives me the opportunity to customize my armmaments to fit my needs. This thread is of great interest to me, so I have a question to ask those that follow it and believe in Firearm use. Hopefull you all can shed some light for me.

(1) Firearms. I am interested in a 4 gun combo for when I get my PAL non-restricted and restricted license. Hand gun, Shotgun, Semi-auto rifle, Hunting Rifle. Now i realize that any of these weapons can be used for any of the above situations, each class has its own strengths and weaknesses as has been discussed. My question is what are the best available firearms available to me (again I realize this differs from person to person). Here are my parameters:

- affordability. I need my guns to be innexpensive
- durability. I need my guns to stand up to mechanical and chemical damage (weardown, grime, dirt, mud, etc)
- ease of use. I dont want anything complicated. Something that I can clean, repair, and maintain with ease.
- Stopping power. I think the reasons for this are obvious
- Reload ability. I want something that is quickly reloaded, as well has common ammunition. Nothing exotic
- Legality. I dont want to get in trouble for owning or purchasing weapons and ammo. Everything needs to be above board.
- Dependability. I need my guns to be mechanically sound. Nothing more useless then a jammed gun.

It seems that from what ive read, the most common "perfect world" fire arm combo would be a glock 17, and AR15 rifle, pistol handled shotgun, and a hunting rifle with long range capabilities. Any thoughts on a perfect combo for me?

Also on a side note... does anyone know the legal status of fortifying a home garage in the city of Calgary? I was thinking along the lines of door braces, security coverings on doors and windows (like you see equipt on some retail shops after they close), and things of that nature. I know that there was some concern about them several years ago in regards to Local Biker Gangs fortifying their safehouses, but I am not sure on the details. They were places concret blocks and sand bags within the walls of these structures, putting bullet proof glass on windows, etc.

buggie a great cheap rifle for a starter such as yourself would be a sks . eather a russian or a chinese. thease are around 200 hundred dallars and you can buy 1200 rounds for under 300 dallars cheaper than reloading. not leagal for big game but would have enough smack to take down a big animal at a hundred to two hundred yards easy . kind of an ugly gun but tuff. the AR 15s the M16s pretty but can jam easily if not cleaned alot . read some some stuff from some vietnam vets about the M16 alot of them thought they were junk. a good side arm would be a 357 magnum . you can shoot 38 speacial and 357 mag ammo through it . and ive never seen a revolver jam. savage rifles are a cheap beginner hunting rifle . scoped and bore sighted out of the box 400 hundred bucks,270,308,calibers. hope this info helped. check out whole sale sports calgary.

Buggie, armouring a vehicle is against the law but fortifying your house is not.

I think that politicians would love to make it illegal but then really how ould you enforce such a law? Would Canadian Tire window bars be illegal? A CCTV camera over your front door? Would a tornado shelter or cold storage room in your basement be considered fortifications? Would the act of covering your outside walls with brick be considered fortifications even if you called it decorative remodeling? How about installing a stronger door & frame?

From a law enforcement viewpoint it's quite a bit easier to prove in court that someone is armouring their car than it is to prove that they are making their house into a fortress.

That, I believe was why the situation with the Hell's Angels was so disturbing to law makers and enforcers, because even though everyone knew what they were doing and WHY they were doing it there was no way to stop them.

Make sure your fortifications (oops I mean renovations 😉 ) don't run counter to any building codes, fire regs (you'd know about that one), insurance policy rules or zoning by-laws and you should be just fine. In fact as far as insurance policy rules? I expect the insurance company would ENCOURAGE some fortification.

As far as sand bags on the iside of the walls of your garage? Heck! Why not? If anybody has a problem with it tell them your cat has irritable Bowel syndrome and sand is cheaper than litter.

As far as making a .22 a first gun? Good choice. I had a buddy get shot in the leg with a .22 years ago. There was none of this Hollywood B.S. where the hero gets shot in the leg then jumps up and beats up 20 bad guys. 🙄 . His leg bone was shattered and had to be replaced with a titanium rod. Rule? Don't shoot anybody unless there's NO OTHER WAY - obvious but the obvious is often overlooked.

Take Care.

@ Steve: I read the about the AR15/M16's as well. If I could chose right now from my limited knowledge, I would go with an ak47 because of their reputed near indistructability and reliability in dirty situations (rarely jam)... unfortunatley they are illigal for purchase in Canada. As far as the magnum goes, I have considered a 357. My only issue with that is the low firing rate (only 6 rounds), and the long reload time. (reloading under pressure would be difficult). Is there any form of "quick reload" system for a revolver style gun? like pre loaded clips so to speak, to put it on par with a glock style handgun for reload speed?
Also, I will definatley check out wholesale calgary, as well as the SKS. that model wasnt even on my radar.

@ Forward: I think that is the issue. how can law enforcement tell what is "home security" and what is "fortification"? window bars and security cameras might be able to be explained... but door stops and barricades might not come off as "improvements" lol. The Hells Angles were essentially turning homes into blast proof bunkers, and I understand that some legislation was attempted to prevent this sort of home fortress... although It was not federa only provincial, and I do not know if it affected Alberta. Its only half knowledge and half baked truths that I know, from information long forgotten. Just thought I would ask if anyone knew for sure. I figured someone on here has done the legal research.