Just got my foid

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Just got my foid ,and need advice on a home protection good quality gun ,Home invasions are getting conmen around here not going to be at the range hanging out ,but will go to keep sharp , any advice thanks
 
Nothing is more effective than a 12 gauge shotgun. There are all types of loads and you can get one with a shorter barrel length to make it easier to move it through the house. IMO, next best bet would be a good .38/.357 revolver like a Ruger GP100. Also lots of ammo, including personal defense in both calibers.
 
You didn’t specify what exactly you’re looking for, but here are my general recommendations for beginning home defense firearms:

Shotgun - Mossberg 590 or Remington 870

Rifle - S&W AR-15 Sport

Handgun - Glock 17

Whichever you pick, buy plenty of cheap ammo and spend a lot of time at the range until you feel that you’re proficient, and then spend twice as much time as that.
 
I would suggest you get on Illinoiscarry.com and look at the training in your area. If you are in Chicago, an amazing amount of training is available.

There are some competitive pistol practice sessions at Article II in Aurora that will get you comfortable moving and shooting with a pistol.

Rifle and shotgun will be more of the 1-2 day classes but always worth it.

Weapon is almost secondary to you being comfortable and proficient.
 
an all steel 38 revolver is simple and reliable, absorbs recoil well. budget: rock island/armscor and taurus, premium: ruger and s&w. fast reloads are possible with speedloaders.

a 22lr handgun is useful as a soft plinker, and works well to introduce reluctant family members to safe firearms use. ruger sr22 semiautomatic pistol is common, reliable, and easy to load, shoot and fieldstrip/clean. for slower fun a single action revolver is useful, plus offers 22 magnum, which has enough oomph to be effective for protection. ruger single six or heritage roughrider if on a budget.

most important is safe and regular practice. a shotgun is an excellent long gun for lots of uses but if you have no easy, convenient venue to practice with a shotgun it isn’t practical. same for a centerfire rifle.
 
A single shot shotgun and a revolver (handgun). Both very simple to operate, the most dependable, and no thinking required when using. The single shot will have a simple safety, the revolver will have no safety, just hold, aim, and squeeze.

You can always upgrade as your knowledge base and experience changes.

Keep it very simple.
 
I am in the keep it simple camp as well. 38 and/or legal short barrel 12 gauge. You can get comfortable relatively quickly with these. The balls to shoot at ten feet will mean more than specific skills.
 
With any discussion on a firearm - I would need to know more: your priorities, your willingness to train, your experience, your budget, etc.

It's a lot like asking "what kind of car should I get?" - and then being asked "how do you intend to use it? How many people will be driving it? What's your budget? Is MPG important? Luxury?"

So, there are shotgun fans, handgun fans, and carbine fans. I'm a fan of all three, for the right set of circumstances.

When my wife has a weapon at the house, it's a Beretta 92, loaded with 17 rounds of Federal HST 124gr, or Speer Gold Dot 124gr. Why that gun? Well, she's ex-military and has qualified with the M9 dozens of times. She shoots it well, she knows it intimately. It's a good, reliable, high capacity full size service pistol.

When I've got a weapon at house, it's an H&K USP Compact in .40 S&W. Why that gun? I've been trained with it and qualified with it several dozen times. I used to carry it. I've put tens of thousands of rounds through it. I know it intimately. It's a good, reliable service pistol, and I like the tritium night sights, too.

If I knew that my house was likely to be broken into, however, I would have my LR-308 AP-4 with a 25 round magazine within arm's reach. Why that gun? If I know a fight is coming, I want a rifle, and a high-capacity one at that. This is a high-capacity carbine length rifle that I've put several thousand rounds through, and know intimately. It's a good, reliable gun. But it's a lot of gun to keep by the night stand.

I think the point is this: whatever you choose for a home defense weapon, you need to know it intimately. You need to practice with it regularly. Consider this - in a moment, you're awakened by a noise, the sound of glass breaking, and while you're burdened by sleep inertia and a bit groggy, you have to have this weapon ready to go. You can't be thinking about how this one works, it's just got to be something you know.

Further - You need to be certain that it's reliable. I would recommend a full-size pistol because of the higher capacity, and easier recoil management. No one cares about concealability in a home defense weapon. The Glock 17/19 recommendations are good ones. Reliable. High capacity. Easy to operate. Reasonably priced.

The .357/.38 recommendation is also a good one. Why? A wheelgun is simple: pull the trigger. No malfunction drills. Load it with .38 for low cost/recoil range practice and .357 for self defense. A great choice for a first gun or for a shooter that will not have the time/resources to shoot and maintain proficiency. But, they're not cheap, and they're limited in capacity.

In addition to purchasing the gun, get some training with that gun. Then start educating yourself on the use of lethal force. Lethal force is OK to stop a lethal threat, but it's immoral, not to mention, illegal, to use lethal force to stop theft of property. I would recommend that you start with a classic, Massad Ayoob's book, "In the gravest extreme". I believe in this strongly enough that if you PM me your address, I'll send you a copy from Amazon. I've got no association with the author, but I read that book over 30 years ago and it is still an excellent treatise on the how to use lethal force.

An example of how I intend to put some of his principles into practice: if there is a break in, I will remain upstairs. Many valuables, including electronics, tools, antiques and personal family heirlooms are on my first floor. If the intruder comes upstairs, they have bypassed the obvious economic gain of breaking in and are seeking out the people in the house. That clarifies their intent: violence against me and mine. That allows me to apply lethal force in good conscience, because their actions have demonstrated their intent.

You've got to both know your weapon and understand the legal and ethical context in which you might be forced to use it.
 
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Without getting political (discussion of politics is not allowed, and I don't want to get this thread shut down) I'm curious...what's required to get a FOID?

Assuming you had to take a class, at least, with a range session, right?

What gun did you use in the range portion of the class?

I also assume you already have a couple of guns in mind. Tell us what you have in mind and we'll offer some opinions. How much do you want to spend? There are some guns available that offer really good functionality, capacity and reliability...and you don't necessarily have to spend $500-600.

I would suggest a pistol with an accessory rail so that you can mount a light. It's critically important to be able to see a threat, for obvious reasons.

My personal nightstand gun is a Glock Model 20 with a Streamlight TLR-1S weapon light mounted. I also have a couple of shotguns (a Maverick 88 12 gauge that I inherited, and a Kel-Tec KSG) and a couple of rifles (Ruger Mini-30 and a Colt LE6920 AR-15), as well as several other handguns.

If you don't already have any other handguns, my suggestion would be to get something that would be multi-purpose. Something that you could use for home defense as well as fun at the range, and to carry (do you plan to get your handgun carry permit?). Something in the size range of a Glock 19 would fit all those categories quite nicely.
 
Getting a foid card in Illinois is simply filling out the appropriate paperwork, taking a picture and submitting it to the state. A series of simple questions...no felonies. Good for ten years. Basically registers one with the state.
 
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Originally Posted By: salesrep
Getting a foid card in Illinois is simply filling out the appropriate paperwork, taking a picture and submitting it to the state. A series of simple questions...no felonies. Good for ten years. Basically registers one with the state.


Oh, OK. Thanks.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
A dog is better protectant.


Love dogs.

Have two.

But while they're an early warning system, they are not a deterrent to the kind of person that the OP wishes to arm himself against. Those people shoot dogs first.
 
Originally Posted By: Bumble_guy
Home invasions are getting conmen around here


Related, do you have statistics to back this up? I was curious about it because I had read that the number of various entry types had decreased year over year the last few.

A firearm is prudent regardless, just curious if your claim is a local thing or if you have some stats. Every so often it also comes up that the groups invading are larger, more sophisticated, etc. too. The real numbers on this would be useful.

WRT firearms, some depends upon your living conditions, IMO, as well as your storage capability, form factor YOU prefer, and what you're most comfortable shooting. Have you rented many guns at a range to start to get a basis of what feels good in your hand and what you feel comfortable firing? Lots of flashy stuff that may not necessarily be best bets. Glocks are reliable, something like a used S&W model 15, 617, or ruger gp100 in .38 or .22 might be a good entry into firing a revolver well.
 
Originally Posted By: john_pifer

My personal nightstand gun is a Glock Model 20 with a Streamlight TLR-1S weapon light mounted.


An outstanding choice, for those that can handle the G20. I am still glad that that I own a G20. 15+1 of full power 10mm makes for an extremely effective handgun. I carry my G20 with Buffalo Bore 220gr hardcast as a woods gun. Buffalo Bore 180gr HP when the threat is, well, not bears...
 
Originally Posted By: Astro14
With any discussion on a firearm - I would need to know more: your priorities, your willingness to train, your experience, your budget, etc.

It's a lot like asking "what kind of car should I get?" - and then being asked "how do you intend to use it? How many people will be driving it? What's your budget? Is MPG important? Luxury?"

So, there are shotgun fans, handgun fans, and carbine fans. I'm a fan of all three, for the right set of circumstances.

When my wife has a weapon at the house, it's a Beretta 92, loaded with 17 rounds of Federal HST 124gr, or Speer Gold Dot 124gr. Why that gun? Well, she's ex-military and has qualified with the M9 dozens of times. She shoots it well, she knows it intimately. It's a good, reliable, high capacity full size service pistol.

When I've got a weapon at house, it's an H&K USP Compact in .40 S&W. Why that gun? I've been trained with it and qualified with it several dozen times. I used to carry it. I've put tens of thousands of rounds through it. I know it intimately. It's a good, reliable service pistol, and I like the tritium night sights, too.

If I knew that my house was likely to be broken into, however, I would have my LR-308 AP-4 with a 25 round magazine within arm's reach. Why that gun? If I know a fight is coming, I want a rifle, and a high-capacity one at that. This is a high-capacity carbine length rifle that I've put several thousand rounds through, and know intimately. It's a good, reliable gun. But it's a lot of gun to keep by the night stand.

I think the point is this: whatever you choose for a home defense weapon, you need to know it intimately. You need to practice with it regularly. Consider this - in a moment, you're awakened by a noise, the sound of glass breaking, and while you're burdened by sleep inertia and a bit groggy, you have to have this weapon ready to go. You can't be thinking about how this one works, it's just got to be something you know.

Further - You need to be certain that it's reliable. I would recommend a full-size pistol because of the higher capacity, and easier recoil management. No one cares about concealability in a home defense weapon. The Glock 17/19 recommendations are good ones. Reliable. High capacity. Easy to operate. Reasonably priced.

The .357/.38 recommendation is also a good one. Why? A wheelgun is simple: pull the trigger. No malfunction drills. Load it with .38 for low cost/recoil range practice and .357 for self defense. A great choice for a first gun or for a shooter that will not have the time/resources to shoot and maintain proficiency. But, they're not cheap, and they're limited in capacity.

In addition to purchasing the gun, get some training with that gun. Then start educating yourself on the use of lethal force. Lethal force is OK to stop a lethal threat, but it's immoral, not to mention, illegal, to use lethal force to stop theft of property. I would recommend that you start with a classic, Massad Ayoob's book, "In the gravest extreme". I believe in this strongly enough that if you PM me your address, I'll send you a copy from Amazon. I've got no association with the author, but I read that book over 30 years ago and it is still an excellent treatise on the how to use lethal force.

An example of how I intend to put some of his principles into practice: if there is a break in, I will remain upstairs. Many valuables, including electronics, tools, antiques and personal family heirlooms are on my first floor. If the intruder comes upstairs, they have bypassed the obvious economic gain of breaking in and are seeking out the people in the house. That clarifies their intent: violence against me and mine. That allows me to apply lethal force in good conscience, because their actions have demonstrated their intent.

You've got to both know your weapon and understand the legal and ethical context in which you might be forced to use it.


Should be read at least 3x by anyone and everyone. Great post.
 
The thing about a revolver is, most of them don't have an accessory rail to mount a weapon light. I'm a strong proponent of having a light mounted on a home defense gun.
 
We don't know your circumstances, do you have an alarm? Do you have children? This affects weapon selection, storage, and usage. If you really are susceptible to home invasions, i would suggest as much early warning as possible. You may want more than one weapon. Good security lighting is important. Perhaps some exterior monitoring would be good. Deer give me false alarms. But this may be a option, It can take 12 sensors, and you can know which area by tone.

http://www.homesecuritystore.com/security/driveway-alarms/optex-wireless2000
 
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Originally Posted By: john_pifer
The thing about a revolver is, most of them don't have an accessory rail to mount a weapon light. I'm a strong proponent of having a light mounted on a home defense gun.

I disagree. Puts a light on you too.
 
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