Family defends against really stupid home invaders.

http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/103109-shooting-on-Corriher-Grange-Road-deadmons

The article is a bit long so I will condense the salient parts.

The Deadmon family was subjected to a home invasion a few days ago. The father was forced, at gunpoint, to open a home safe. Theives told the family not to report to the police or they would be back to kill them. Deadmon family reported to police. Then the Deadmon family armed themselves, just in case the home invaders came back.

The invaders returned and a gunbattle ensued, with multiple shots being fired by each side. When the shooting stopped, one home intruder was badly wounded and the others had fled.

Those crooks were begging to be removed from the gene pool.

Notice that the police were not around to be of any help when the Deadmons were visited a second time by the home invaders because the Deadmons had dared to report the crime. The bad guys may be part of a gang. (Speculation on my part.) The Deadmons need to get in some range time before the next visit.

was wearing body armor, and that they made it clear to the family they were there to kill them. Glad the good guys won...

One of my co-workers laughed when I told him my home defense rifle was a .308. What's sad is, it's not funny at all.

Some dirtbags wear armor. Felons are prohibited from posessing it, but that doesn't stop them from getting guns either.

and do lots of damage inside the body, but not have the overpenetration problems of a .308. You can loads of flechettes and load shotgun shells with them by yourself. Cheap and super effective.

Flechettes will penetrate SOME body armor, and have pretty lame wounding characteristics. Certainly no stopping power.

They're little darts, which have a small cross-section, so they make better use of the velocity you're chukking them at. Beyond that, they have no positive benefit.

if you use them in a real gun. I found them quite effective 40 years ago from the 90mm gun on the M48A3. The ones the tried in the shotgun and the M79, however, were pretty worthless. The beehive round also worked pretty well from artillery, but the fuze was unreliable at tank gun velocitis and canister was much preferred.



http://lh5.ggpht.com/_U7HUQGHumn8/RvqF8_kLBiI/AAAAAAAAAwI/Ad3zm7NM6nM/more+FSB+Jager.jpg

Out of a shotgun, not so much. :)

With larger darts, the penetrating power is undeniable. Just not something you can do with a SG.

Flechettes out of shotguns don't have much penetration, from everything I've heard. It's one of the reasons the military stopped using them--the individual darts don't hold enough inertia to incapacitate. If you want to use a shotgun to kill someone wearing body armor, the best thing you can do is aim for the face. Also bear in mind that even assuming the armor stops a load of buckshot to the chest, it's going to momentarily stun the attacker.

"Several years ago, I succumbed to temptation and bought 2 5-rnd packages of shotshells loaded with flechettes.

A few weeks ago, someone on another forum posted an inquiry about the effectiveness of that load and I offered to donate a few rounds for testing purposes. We set up at an indoor range with paper backing so that we could measure the pattern size and a IIA vest to measure penetration.


The results were, to say the Very Least.....extremely disappointing. The firearm used was a Mossberg 930 SPX which has digested everything from 3 inch loads down to the lightest birdshot I could find without problems. It choked on the flechette rounds, sound was more of a ''pop' and recoil was equal to some less-than-lethal rounds I've shot. I guess 20 finishing nails cut in half doesn't give much to recoil against.

At a measured 15 yards, the pattern of 19-20 flechettes (it varied per shell, how's that for consistancy?) stretched over 6ft in diameter. That's just over 113 square feet. That's one, finishing nail sized hole for every 5 square feet. That's IF the flechettes don't hit sideways. Oh, and they do, they certainly do. At 15 yards there were two hits on the intended target, both of which fell out when touched by a finger.

Moving forward to 7 yards, we fired again and saw slightly better results. Two flechettes penetrated the vest, but neither one went any further than the 'tail feathers'. So..you've been shot by a flechette and now you have a 3/4 inch deep wound from an ice pick. Can you suck it up and drive on?

Yeah, I thought so, too.

Three additional flechettes stuck in the plywood backing to a depth of about 3/8's inch each. Several, well many, really flechettes were found scattered on the floor, where they had bounced off either the vest or the plastic bucket supporting it.

Bottom line?
We cut apart some of the remaining shells and weighed the components. The rest I threw downrange, so I would not Ever Be Tempted to use them in a serious situation."

I had found some ballistic gelatin tests that seemed to be pretty good, and some other info on the net that indicated that they could penetrate a vest. The idea was that they would yaw once they were in flesh. With the info you and others have provided, I won't bother with flechettes (I haven't spent any money on them yet.) and will stick with buckshot.

I guess that they just develop the velocity needed from a shotgun. And that extreme pattern spread is definately undesirable.

Again, thanks to all.

Half the load is put in backwards, so they 'stack', and as it all separates, so the 'backward' flights can re-orient, it messes up the ones that were point-first to begin with. It's a huge pattern, some can hit while still sideways, etc.

Your earlier point about .308 was good though, my neighbors would appreciate it none too much.

because it combines rifle ballistics with less wall penetration than most handgun JHP's, given suitable load choice (i.e., light to midweight JHP's, not FMJ).

And not to under-arm yourself.

I'd noticed the mention of Williams wearing body armor as well, and the idea of comparatively petty criminals wearing armor over their center of mass disturbs me. Especially vindictive criminals. Given the circumstances, charges of attempted premeditated murder definitely seem appropriate. And the perps here do seem to have been serial offenders, given the charges arrayed against them.

the family would have been disarmed, the criminals would have either acquired guns illegally or been able to attack them with blunt objects or knives (etc) which would tend to favor the criminals. And obviously the cops were unable to prevent this attack.

So how would that have been a better scenario?

If I were a criminal I think I would rather everyone be disarmed so I could take my chances fighting it out with the homeowner hand to hand. Guns tend to equalize things.

Best with a open choke pump loaded with oo Buck and HP slugs. Prefer 12ga, but a 20 will do the trick with less recoil.
If the goblins are wearing armour, then a "Mozambique Double Tap" two to the chest and one to the head as they lay there trying to breath.

Oneshooter
Livin in Texas

only applies to those who still retain their weapons and are still a threat, right?

(I would hate to give the opponents of freedom any excuses.)

when you fire the third shot. First shot is center mass, second is high on the sternum, third is between the eyes.

What's the longest straight shot you'll have in your house? 60 feet? 70? Grouping size difference of probably 2" to 3" as you range up through the various chokes.

I live in an abusive city (NYC) where I would have to wait six months after registration.