Hey everyone,
I'm in the process of buying my first handgun for home defense.
What are some things you would recommend I purchase to complement the gun in terms of maintenance, storage, and other must-haves or even nice-to-haves?
Already on my list is a carrying case, fire-proof safe, dummy rounds for dry-fire practice, and a good pair of ear plugs for the range. Not sure if I should throw in a speed-loader with that or not. I feel like I'm missing some stuff, hence this post.
For the future, I plan to build the gun out. I have already decided on purchasing an optics-ready pistol, so I can throw a red-dot on it down the line, and also a light.
Looking forward to your responses, cheers!
A cleaning set. For a handgun, some handgun sized disposable barrel swabs, some oil (I prefer Hoppes 9 for general purpose), rags, and some q-tips are usually enough. For some guns like Glocks, a little bit of metal polish applied to the trigger mechanism can make them a bit smoother overall for not much investment.
A roll of painter's tape is good to have for a range bag to help plug up targets while you're shooting to make the targets usable a bit longer. Sharpies also work, I just prefer tape. It also works to put up targets if the range's staple gun or target clips aren;t working.
Targets. You can go from buying a fancy set of splatter targets to just printing off some on normal paper.
For handguns I have not really ever used speed loaders for the magazines. I just haven't felt hindered by putting rounds in manually, but if you want a little help it's out there.
You may want some way to adjust the sights. This can be a set of small precision screwdrivers, or for factory Glock sights- a tap and mallet. Eventually with the optics you'll probably want allen keys or star keys to make adjustments.
The investment that is you should learn both good shooting and responsible habits. Ranges tend to have introduction to shooting either as group classes or one on one, and getting those basics down may seem boring but fundamentals are important for everything else. I'd even soft suggest looking at a CCW course, even though you don't intend to carry, since the CCW courses do focus more on crash courses of legal and storage responsibilities. It can't be bad to have those things in your head.
After that point, regular practice is just something to keep the rust off your abilities and familiarity with handling. I have a habit of sharpie marking targets with dates/distances/drills/gun used and taking photos so that I can record long term. It helps identify certain trends where I need to work on them.
Just promoting your post, because you caught almost everything.
So much this. The type depends a lot on what OP is planning to buy, but it sounds like a pistol (as opposed to a revolver). The right size for the caliber - new people may not realize the brush size matters; 100% agree on the Hopes 9. I also like to have a set of those gun toothbrushes, one that includes polymer and steel heads - they're nice for getting into crevices. Also, Break-Free, and some type of light lubrication.
Good call on the painter's tape. I also started collecting the sides of larger shipping boxes (Amazon, what have you) for free target backing. Splatter targets are worth the $$ IMO, but I'm getting older and my eyesight isn't what it used to be.
Again, I agree with you about skipping speed loaders. Unless OP is planning on running a revolver, which it doesn't sound like they are, there's no situation where they'll be loading mags in a home defense scenario.
I'm low key off drills. I haven't carried in years, and I don't think drills help much in home defense. Target practice, yes. But practicing quick draw for in your house?
One suggestion I'd add for OP is that, if they're really going for home defense, skip the handgun and get a shotgun. Unless OP is going to be constantly carrying in the home, or they plan on buying a bunch of guns and stashing them around the house, they're going to have to run for their gun, in which case a shotgun is no worse for access, and is a far better home defense weapon.
Drills are more than just draw from holster. For example, point shooting is something that gets much better with practice time put in. Beyond that, while perfectly aligning sights at speed and being able to track onto targets or moving targets may not matter in a sub-5ft home defense range scenario, it isn't detrimental. Having more skill and familiarity than is actually needed can only be a positive in that scenario.
More time and experience is always better; I just think there are diminishing returns for running drills for home defense. If that's how you want to spend your spare time, sure. I just don't think it's going to measurably affect any outcomes.
This is a late tangent, but:
Steel? Does that not cause issues? Every metal I stick inside a gun to clean it is brass because I have always been told and do worry about causing undue wear and scratching on surfaces.
The sets I get have polymer, steel, and copper(? Brass?) heads. Break free and polymer works most of the time, but some carbon is stubborn. Yes, I don't use the steel ones much, but I use the copper ones all the time. What are your bore brushes made of?
TBF, some of the chemical products these days, I've been tempted more than once to just hose the barrel down with lead and carbon dissolvers, rinse the whole thing off with break free, give it a wipe and call it good.
All the metal bits like bore brushes, barrel snake brush bits, and metal picks are all brass for me. I would rather leave a microscopic speck of carbon that dig up the whole area with steel dental picks.
For cleaning the barrel just a bit of oil and a few runs with a bore snake are usually enough. The only time I go further is the special ritual when shooting Soviet surplus ammunition, where boiling water is first run through and then lots of barrel snaking to get everything dry.