Home defense

[ebiggs1]

I keep a Smith & Wesson Airweight in the bedside table for home defense. Got to thinking what did the early 1800’s folks do? The Airweight is pretty much self maintaining and since it is a revolver, its easy on its springs unlike an auto would be.
But the early 1800’s people would have more to consider than just leaving a magazine loaded for long periods of time.
So what say you on a good home defense firearm in 1800? And how are you going to make, reasonably, sure it will do its job when needed?

 

[Mike Brooks]

A pack of dogs outside the door was quite popular.

 

[nkbj]

And armed children to go with the pack of dogs.
But for a firearm for the things that go bump in the night, a shot gun then as now.
Two barrels are obviously better than one. When did doubles become commonplace?

 

[David W.]

The best defense is a good offense. A dbbl 10 ga comes to mind. Other than that, a good dog or two outside that has a propensity towards raw meat.

Actually, I have two Remington 870 pumps for home defense. It makes a sound when being cocked that is translatible into any language.

 

[Bill Hall]

I recall reading a biography on Kit Carson in which one of his fellow travellers wrote in his diary about preparing for bed each night. He stated that before retiring, Kit would place a pair of pistols on his saddle, one on each side of his head, and use the saddle as a pillow. Not really home defense, but similar set-ups were probably done in-house by settlers in "rough neighborhoods". Bill

 

I keep a Smith & Wesson Airweight in the bedside table for home defense. Got to thinking what did the early 1800’s folks do? The Airweight is pretty much self maintaining and since it is a revolver, its easy on its springs unlike an auto would be.
But the early 1800’s people would have more to consider than just leaving a magazine loaded for long periods of time.
So what say you on a good home defense firearm in 1800? And how are you going to make, reasonably, sure it will do its job when needed?

They probably used whatever they had laying around. Unless they were rich, they didn't have the luxury of buying different guns for different purposes, like todays hobbyist.

 

[Jason Lewis]

i would imagine they simply put whatever firearm they owned above the fireplace or by the door. they probably left it loaded at all times. hence why we always check an antique to be sure if it was loaded or not.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Modern steel springs do not weaken with age, or compression.

Since most people lived in rural areas, far from neighbors, a good shotgun was kept on hand to shoot fox getting after the chickens, and to meet unwanted guests. People learned to Hail the household from a distance, to give people time to know someone was coming. If they didn't, and the dog alerted the owners to a " visitor", the shotgun was in their hands when they opened the door or window.

"An Armed Society is a Polite Society, out of necessity." People minded their manners back in those days, for good reason. And, crooks thought twice about what they were risking before attempting to invade someone's home. Home invasions, and burglaries simply were not as common back then as they seem to be now.

Every time there is a report in the news, NOW, about a home owner shooting an intruder, Burglaries and Home Invasions tend to drop for a month or so. The Crooks pay attention to the News, too.

I learned that from the crooks, who I represented as an Ass't Public Defender. They often knew more about these kinds of events, sooner, sitting in the County jail awaiting trial, than I did. And they knew who had been shot, when that information was not yet being released to the press.

 

[LeMat1856]

.
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So what say you on a good home defense firearm in 1800? And how are you going to make, reasonably, sure it will do its job when needed?

i've read of several instances on this forum where old shotguns were bought that had a powder load and newspaper wadding dated from the early 1900's.... and, yes, the powder was still good. :shocked2:

my prefered option would be to make a quick-load paper cartridge for the howdah - much more agile than any modern shotgun and almost as effective.

from what i've seen, in the early 1800's people were just starting to migrate beyond the Appalachian Mountains so the state of the art would have been a dual-purpose (food and protection) long rifle - hawken, kentucky, and possibly even muskets, etc... shotguns/coachguns might have been somewhat scarce.. that would leave a single shot pistol as the ideal personal defense weapon. :idunno:

toward the mid and late 1800's the shift to percussion and eventually centerfire is where more and more multi-purpose shotguns would be available..

that opens the door to dozens of choices.

:hatsoff:

~d~

 

[Sharps1863]

My grand pa always had an old rabbit eared double barrel 12ga above the front door. Old .38 beside the bed. He said thats what his dad done. Whats so funny his doors were never locked even at night. He might hook the latch on the screen door.
1800's what ever gun they owned was multi use home protection personal protection and hunting.
A good sharp knife was always handy, even today

 

[JJB22]

My family lore goes back into the 1840s or so and I have only heard about the "old scatter gun" when it came to what guns were owned. Wish I had it/them.

 

[Stumpkiller]

When we had geese no intruder: man, fox, cat, chipmunk, or winged insect got past without much fuss and announcement. Day or night.

Come to think of it, they worked so well they were useless.

Something to be said for a dog or two and a shotgun full of #4.

How do you make sure it will fire? You could do like Wild Bill Hickock and unload your firearms every night then clean and sleep with a fresh load.

 

[Zoar]

ebiggs---

That one is easy to answer! Early 1800 (late 1700's) they had a BLUNDERBUSS for home defense!

You can load them up and keep them for a long while and if you want to NOT prime it until needed that is an option.

My defense load is three 49 caliber round balls, six or so 36 caliber round balls, eight or so 24 caliber round balls, and 2 ounces of number 6 lead shot over 130 grains of black powder in my four gauge blunderbuss.

Anyone coming near my place looking for trouble will get a snoutful. :thumbsup:

(My back up is two twelve gauge modern shell shotguns. One being a side by side and one is a rem pump shorty with pistol grip. And then some other stuff... :grin: )

But 1800 home defense has BLUNDERBUSS all over it. As indicated in another post when the British confiscated some of the guns from the BOSTON colonialists just prior to start of the Revolution the primary guns they ended up with were rifle barreled long guns and BLUNDERBUSS! I don't think the blunderbuss were squirrel guns...

 

[Tom Compton]

Agreeing with most of what has been said. More settled types in the 1800s- farmers, ranchers and the like, even those traveling to new land -probably had some type of scattergun FIRST and most common. Most folks could not afford more than one gun and a 10 or 12 bore was probably the most versatile.

Not 1700s or 1800s but mid 1900s.

A friend of my Dad's sawed off a very NICE L.C. Smith dbl and loaded brass shells for it. Don't recall the load or size of shot. Every Christmas he shot both and reloaded them. When asked why an L.C. Smith when a Savage would have done as well, his reply was if your life is depending on something, might as well be something worth depending on.

 

[nkbj]

Hey there Stumpkiller.
About making sure they will go off...
Being super duper clean with no oil seeping around is the best I know. I leave the percussion house gun loaded one or two weeks at a time. Gonna see how a flinter works out now.

 

[Rock Island]

Shotguns are what everybody I know used going back a few generations anyway, I use a Ruger .357 magnum, and a Winchester 1897 Trench gun, the real thing, not a Chinese knock off, because as was said above, if your life depends on it , it should be something worth depending on! I know a C&B revolver would work fine because years back before I had the Winchester, or Ruger I used a 1851 Navy revolver, brass frame pietta. Once a month I would fire off the five rounds I had in it without difficulty's, clean the piece, and load five more before returning it to the night stand. Scatter guns were what most folks could afford, and that's what they used, that and dogs.

 

[54ball]

For the year 1800 I would say a flintlock fowler for the average rural family. Of course you would find a rifle and even a pistol on occasion but a flint single barrel smooth bore, buck and ball gun, was the no nonsense meat and potatoes gun.

As mentioned a pair of riled coonhounds can take care of almost anything man or beast. Especially a robust breed like the Plot which is really a bear hound. Two pair would give a grizzly a run for his money.

Do not forget knives and axes even pitchforks. For women the extra gun, kitchen knife or the much clichéd fryin pan and rolling pin.

The classic double gun IMHO wasn't affordable until mid century.

 

[MSW]

and remember that a classic rolling pin is a tapered bit of hardwoor, about twenty inches long and an inch to an inch and a half in diameter. they didn't have a central bearing or handles back then- just the taper.

can you say billy club?

 

[Claude Mathis]

Just a reminder. Here is the original topic...

"Got to thinking what did the early 1800’s folks do?... But the early 1800’s people would have more to consider than just leaving a magazine loaded for long periods of time... So what say you on a good home defense firearm in 1800?"

This topic is not about what you would use today.

 

[Short Arm]

My Wife!!!