One of these for home defense?

[ml1209]

Marlin 1894 .44 Mag with 16" barrel. Loaded with .44 Spl HP ammo.

[Chemist45]

Since your post ends in a question mark I will answer the question.

If this is all you have for home defense - use it.
If you are asking should you buy this for home defense - no.

Buy a pump shotgun. Load it with bird shot. Keep the chamber empty and the magazine full.
Should you hear anything suspicious - rack the first round into the chamber.
A pump shotgun makes a very distinctive sound when a round is chambered.
That sound is hardwired into most badguy's brains and causes them to turn and run.
If you get a defective badguy, put the bead in the middle of his chest and squeeze the trigger.
Even though its only bird shot, an ounce of lead is an ounce of lead and he WILL fall down.
And if you miss, the bird shot will not penetrate your next door neighbor's house.

Make sure all adults in your house know about the gun and how to use it.
Make sure all children in your house know not to touch any gun without you present.

I like a Remington 870 with a Meprolight self luminous bead.
But I know lots of people with lasers and flashlights on shotguns.

[joe817]

What a beautiful rifle! I love checkering on wood. Nicely done!

For my tastes, I'd do away with the hooded front sight and the rubber butt pad. But that's just me....I'm a conservative traditionalist. I like the swing swivels though.

A great home SD gun.

Does it come standard with a 16" barrel? That's cutting it awfully close.

[KFP]

The biggest issue that I can see with it, is that it isn't all black.

Joking aside, I'd put it on par with a .44 revolver - better velocity out of the same round, but requires cycling the action after each shot. I wouldn't hesitate to use it.

[Pete92FS]

Since your post ends in a question mark I will answer the question.

If this is all you have for home defense - use it.
If you are asking should you buy this for home defense - no.

Buy a pump shotgun. Load it with bird shot. Keep the chamber empty and the magazine full.
Should you hear anything suspicious - rack the first round into the chamber.
A pump shotgun makes a very distinctive sound when a round is chambered.
That sound is hardwired into most badguy's brains and causes them to turn and run.
If you get a defective badguy, put the bead in the middle of his chest and squeeze the trigger.
Even though its only bird shot, an ounce of lead is an ounce of lead and he WILL fall down.
And if you miss, the bird shot will not penetrate your next door neighbor's house.

Make sure all adults in your house know about the gun and how to use it.
Make sure all children in your house know not to touch any gun without you present.

I like a Remington 870 with a Meprolight self luminous bead.
But I know lots of people with lasers and flashlights on shotguns.

I agree with Chemist45 - I've got an 870 loaded with #2 magnums. Beautiful rifle you have there.

[RiverRat]

It's on my wish list, also. It ought to work just fine. I'm with Chemist.......pulling throught a nice 12 gauge pump might defuse a situation before you hurt everyones ears by popping a cap on that one in the middle of the night.

[joe817]

ml1209, as you can see there is diversity of opinion on this. The folks that would prefer a shotgun is correct also. I am correct in saying that yes, it's a good gun for home defense. Both are up to the job. Both has its valid pros and cons. It comes down to only the opinion of the one you are asking. And you have both sides now.

Don't you just love it?

[LongHairedRedneck]

Nice Rifle! That'll definately put a nice hole in a bad guy, but I would be concerned about overpenetration or missed shots going somewhere they shouldn't.

My bedside choice is a 870 with fully rifled barrel and Federal 1oz Sabot Slugs, or a Glock 22 sometimes.

[srothstein]

There are pros and cons to any weapon choice for anything. The rifle will work for home and self defense. I admit that it would not be my preferred choice, but I would not feel defenseless if it was what I had.

The important thing is to learn the tactics necessary to use it effectively. With a long gun (rifle or shotgun), it is much more important, usually, that you take a defensive position and wait for the BG to come to you. The reason I say this is that it is much harder to effectively search with a long gun and it is easier for the BG to render it ineffective by grabbing the barrel and wrestling with you for it. Obviously, there are also many documented cases of people using long guns effectively in searches (say the military in Iraq right now, for example).

[Embalmo]

I wanna' .20 guage short barrel with a pistol grip. What's the cheapest, easiest way to secure it (shotgun), and still have easy access?

Embalm Oh!

[chabouk]

I would definitely not feel under-gunned with the lever-action carbine in .44 (whether loaded with Special, or Magnum).

I do choose to have a shotgun (18.5" cylinder-bore 12 gauge (full length magazine)) as my go-to house gun, but I disagree with the birdshot recommendation. No.4 Buck is a great compromise; great stopping power, but little risk of over-penetration. My load-out is: four rounds of 4B, 3 rounds of 00, and five slugs in the butt sock.

[chabouk]

I forgot to add: there's also the psychological factor to consider: the blue steel and brown wood carbine that looks just like Grandpa's thutty-thutty deer gun, is very unlikely to be seen as an "offensive weapon" by a jury. It's the opposite of an Evil Black Rifle. That's why I keep my home defense shotgun in "blue & brown" trim, instead of tricking it out with tacticool stuff.

[flynbenny]

Marlin 1894 .44 Mag with 16" barrel. Loaded with .44 Spl HP ammo.

I was clocking the new Hornady Lever Revolution 225 gr load over 1800 fps from my 18" Marlin. I would load up with some Hornady XTP 44 Mag or Speer Gold Dot 44 Mag though. The recoil isn't bad at all, with more power and a flatter trajectory. I'd put it's performance up to 100 yds up against my 5.56 chambered black rifles any day. I also have the XS Express sights on mine too. A fine rifle, fast to the shoulder, accurate, high rate of fire. I love lever guns, I think you have a fine defensive carbine on your hands.

BTW...
I keep a shotgun by my bed because I live in an apartment in the city, loaded in the chamber with birdshot, 4 rds 00 buck in the tube, 3 more and 2 slugs in the carrier. When I travel or go visit the woods back home in Colorado I carry the Marlin, it's light, handy, and well, doesn't raise as many eyebrows on the trail as the AR would. (see chabouk's post above).

[pedalman]

Too bad you don't have one of these to go with it:
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[sar]

I've operated on more folks shot with shotguns than I care to think about. Those of you who have birdshot in their guns are strongly overestimating the effectiveness. The penetration is miserable and if the recipient is heavily clothed, may be negligible. This is not speculation, but observation.