A Tactical DISadvantage of being the good guy

[HighVelocity]

All the home invasion threads recently have really made me think about how it might really go down at my house.
One thing that stands out in my mind is the possibility of a miss or misses.
Regardless of the angle of approach (line of fire) from the interior of my home to my front door, the next possible point of impact beyond the bad guy(s) is a neighbors home.
If I were forced to fire on an intruder coming through the front door, every bullet that left my gun would have to be 100% on target. Missing is simply not an option.
In my heart and mind, I know that I am capable of putting the shots exactly where they're needed to stop the threat, but, the idea of a bullet fired by me entering a neighbors home is very disturbing.

How often do other members of this board think about this? Has anyone else looked at entry points to their homes in this way?

[Paladin]

I've though about it. My exterior walls are brick and should do a decent job of containing .45 ACP or 5.56mm

The windows are another story... but my most of neighbors have brick houses too, so it should turn out okay.

.308 may be another story entirely...

[Paladin]

This is some of the info I have:

SHOT PENETRATION TEST INFORMATION COPYRIGHT WAYNE ECKERT AND ROBERT C. POWELL

INTERIOR WALL TESTS:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
CALIBER --- WALLS PENETRATED --- NOTES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
.44 MAG --- 10 --- JHP NO EXPANSION
.44 MAG --- 10 --- LHP NO EXPANSION
12 GA SLUG --- 8 --- FLAT OVER 1 INCH WIDE
12 GA #8 --- 2 --- STOPPED BY THIRD SHEET
.357 MAG --- 10 --- RN LEAD NO EXPANSION
.357 MAG --- 8 --- JHP EXPANDED %50
9MM --- 9 --- FMJ HIT 2X4
9MM --- 11 --- FMJ NO EXPANSION
9MM --- 9 --- JHP NO EXPANSION
.45 --- 8 --- JHP NO EXPANSION
.45 --- 7 --- SWC 185 GR NO EXPANSION
.380 --- 6 --- FMJ NO EXPANSION
.380 --- 5 --- JHP NO EXPANSION
.25 --- 3 --- X-TIP NO EXPANSION
.25 --- 5 --- FMJ NO EXPANSION
.22LR --- 6 --- LEAD %30 EXPANSION

END OF INTERIOR WALL TESTS



EXTERIOR WALL TESTS

.44 MAG --- .5 --- JHP FULL EXPANSION JACKET STRIPPED
12 GA SLUG --- 1.5 --- FLAT SHATTERED FIRST BLOCK
9MM --- .5 --- FMJ FULL EXPANSION JACKET STRIPPED
9MM --- 0 --- JHP SOME DAMAGE TO BLOCK
.45 --- 0 --- JHP SOME DAMAGE TO BLOCK
.380 --- 0 --- JHP MINOR DAMAGE TO BLOCK
.25 --- 0 --- FMJ MINOR DAMAGE TO BLOCK
.22LR --- 0 --- LEAD NO DAMAGE TO BLOCK

END OF EXTERIOR WALL TESTS

INTERIOR WALLS WHERE CONSTRUCTED OF 2 SHEETS OF 1/2" DRYWALL MOUNTED TO 2X4"
STUDS ON 16" CENTERS.

EXTERIOR WALLS WHERE CONSTRUCTED OF 1 SHEET OF 5/8" DRYWALL MOUNTED TO 1/2"
x 1 1/2" WOOD FURRING FASTENED TO STANDARD 2 CORE CONCRETE BLOCKS

ALL ROUNDS WHERE WINCHESTER MANUFACTURE EXCEPT .45 SWC.
.45 SWC WHERE 185 GRAIN TIPS LOADED OVER 5.5 GRAINS OF WINCHESTER 231.

.44 MAG FIRED FROM 4" BARREL SMITH AND WESSON
.357 MAG FIRED FROM 4" BARREL DAN WESSON
.380 FIRED FROM COLT GOVERNMENT MODEL .380
.45 FIRED FROM COLT COMBAT COMMANDER
9MM FRIED FROM COLT COMBAT COMMANDER
12 GA FIRED FROM MOSSBERG 18" BARREL
.25 FIRED FROM COLT JUNIOR
.22 FIRED FROM HIGH STANDARD

[jbirds1210]

I have thought about this and discussed it in detail with my wife and neighbor. My neighbor (the one in the path of fire) and I have a clear understanding with each other that a risk does exist, but is outweighed by the need of protecting our life against a home invader. I am sure that our attitudes would not be so calm if a loved one was injured, but we have at least discussed it.

If time permits I will choose my 12 gauge loaded with #8 shot and eliminate a great deal of the risk.

Awareness is not necessarily enough against this breed of criminal.....It is a scary situation and hopefully with justice and good intention on your side....Murphy will be good to you

[sparx]

I've definitely thought about it, as well as discussing with my wife that, and other possible additions to the scenarios that we would have to take into consideration as well, such as the location of myself, wife and 3 dogs, time of day/night, etc. should a home invasion strike us.

Fortunately, all the houses in our neighborhood are brick, so that helps. It also helps that houses across the street are offset a little, so a shot directed straight out my front door, if missing the invader, would probably land somewhere in that neighbor's garage. Since we don't have a back alley and everyone's back yard borders another's back yard by a 5' wood fence, that would definitely be a concern if someone came through the back door. Those neighbors don't sit in front of their sliding-glass back door and are rarely in their back yard, so that's a good thing.

The biggest concern in my situation would be for the occupants inside (wife and dogs), as sometimes my occasional snoring drives my wife to sleeping in our guest room instead. That, and knowing that our dogs literally go nuts at knocks on the door, banging or other loud noises is another big concern. It would add a lot of confusion in our favor perhaps, but since we have no "real" children of our own, a loss of one of our "kids" would be devastating. When I was about 4 yrs. old, burglars came to our house one night when they thought we were away (I grew up on a ranch as another new member here). They didn't break in because our barking dog woke my dad, but they shot and killed it anyway. My dad left plenty of holes in the back of their van when they were speeding away, but they were never caught. The dog was a toy Sheltie, and Lucky was her name (really), but she wasn’t too lucky that night. I’ll never forget it, and it was heartbreaking, but it wouldn’t hold a candle to the death of one of our babies now should they be shot by accident, or on purpose by a BG.

Sorry for the drift off topic there, but aside from the concern for location of the occupants, the hallway from our bedrooms/office is perpendicular to the entrance and leads to our garage, so that's a good thing, and only two windows face the street (the others face brick walls on our next-door neighbor's houses, or out the back). And, the front entryway leads to the back of the living room (it splits the living room and kitchen in two), so there's at least some corner-cover there.

Yes, a home invasion is a very scary situation to consider... especially when we suspect a neighbor next-door to us on the corner are dealers, so the likelihood of a legitimate raid by the police but only at the wrong address is just as possible, too! That, I think definitely calls for planning and discussion prior to anything that might possibly (let's hope not!) occur. Fortunately our house is a rental, and we should be out and in our owned home within a year or so if everything goes well.