Late Night Wake Up.......

twa

This happened last night.......4:23 A.M., there is a very LOUD knocking at the door, I jumped out of bed grabbed the mag light on the side of the bed and my Smith and Wesson 1911 .45 - I quickly cocked and locked and proceeded to the door of our bedroom which we always keep closed at night. I open the door and shine the light down the hall way as I get to the over hang (we are a 2 level house) I shine the light down to the door and through the windows of the front of the house. I go down the stairs and turn the outside lights on and scan through the windows.....nothing. I check the front door, still locked, I go the back door still locked. Whoever was pounding on the door was gone, I suspect my flashlight shining through the small window in the door and the front windows scared them off. I turned the alarm on (which we never turn on at night) and went back to bed. Of course I couldn't get back to sleep afterwards.......why didn't I grab the 12 gauge with buckshot? Why did I grab the single stack .45 when I have an XD with twice the capacity close by? Why don't we have the alarm on at night? (we will from now on) Was I right to not turn the inside lights on and proceed with the flashlight? How and the heck do you carry an extra mag in your underwear? :jester: Why didn't I hand the phone to the wife to call 911 if needed? All of these things and many more were rushing through my head for several hours afterwards. Kind of scary....and I am tired as crap and a little grumpy due to lack of sleep this morning at work..........:cuss:

Diver43

One thing that we are unable to do, is to go back in time and get a do over. You armed yourself you investigated and all was well. You took precautions in case the thump in the night returned and you now know a few ways to do things differently.
Sounds OK to me, hope that you sleep well tonight.

Varmintmist

Was it a dream?

I have to wonder for myself because the wife can only hear when I mess up or open my wallet. If she hears it, Godzirra is probably on the front porch. I cannot use her as a yardstick.

samzhere

Sounds like you did fine.

Shining the light may have scared away the knocker. This is, as I see it, a good thing. Majority of the time this is some drunk thinking he's at the right place but wrong. In the real world, chasing off the potential trouble without any overt actions on your part was the better thing.

I recommend maybe a series of small LED nightlights thru the house. They're cheap and you can see where you're going without a flashlight. That's helpful in ordinary night stuff, not just emergencies.

Choosing the right gun? A .45 1911 is fine. Realize that in a real world confrontation with a home invasion, if you have to stop to reload you're likely dead anyway -- the bad guys won't stop and wait. But in that real world, 3-5 shots are all that's usually fired anyway, so your 1911 is just fine. I might wonder why it's not kept cocked & locked all the time?

And as you correctly say, having your home alarm on at nights is the right idea. Just for knowledge, why did you shut off the alarm at night in the first place?

twa

We religiously use are alarm when we are away but do not use it when we are home - that is changing starting today.

NN

Our alarm is set at night

---

had a ring and run a while back that ended up with the alarm going off and the police visiting
to check on things. Better that than real trouble.

NCFUBAR

At 4 o'clock in the blessid AM you did fine. You didn't rush down stairs and kept your head. Only thing I might have done different was kick the dogs for not barking :jester:

horselips

You wear underwear to bed? LOL What's that about?

bullsi1911

twa wrote: »

We religiously use are alarm when we are away but do not use it when we are home - that is changing starting today.

Layered defenses. The absolute LAST layer is you in your underwear with a gun. Arm your alarm, have outside motion detector lights, outdoor cameras, trim shrubs away from door/ windows, , etc...

Sounds like you did pretty well. As for carrying a reload, I know people that have a quick release belt near the bed that has holster, spare magus, flashlight, and pouch for cell phone that they can quickly clip on if there is a bump in the night. Might be worth looking into

Jayhawker

You have a built-in mag holster....

coolgunguy

Jayhawker wrote: »

You have a built-in mag holster....

True. Uncomfortable, but true. :yikes:

N320AW

You might want to consider installing a front porch motion sensor that will activate your front porch lights when someone comes up the steps. I have one so I don't have to fool with a flashlight if I come home after dark. Also, it may be a small tactical advantage in a couple of ways. First, with the porch light on you do not have to announce you're up by turning on the front porch light. Secondly, just the light automatically coming on could entice a problem person to leave immediately.

pardog

I think you did fine. The upside of these incidences (I had one a while back) is that you get to evaluate how you responded and make any necessary changes for the future. Which is exactly what you are doing.

Teach

cpj wrote: »

(i was umm, busy. Errr, fixing to get busy :tooth:)

Oh well- - - -there's always next year!
Jerry

Fat Billy

The only error I saw was you picked up a 1911 that wasn't condition one when you grabbed it. My 1911 is cocked and locked 24-7. Pump gun could be easier but damage to interior of house would be more pronounced, just look out for the china cabinet. :guns: Later,

bobbyrlf3

Fat Billy wrote: »

The only error I saw was you picked up a 1911 that wasn't condition one when you grabbed it. My 1911 is cocked and locked 24-7.

FWIW, I agree. I don't want to fumble with loading in a situation like that; having it ready saves time and gives me more brain cells to put towards figuring out why I'm suddenly awake.

Gene L

Get yourself a butt-holster.

timc

bullsi1911 wrote: »

Layered defenses. The absolute LAST layer is you in your underwear with a gun. Arm your alarm, have outside motion detector lights, outdoor cameras, trim shrubs away from door/ windows, , etc...

Agree with a layered defense, our friends call us paranoid but I sleep well at night. We have an alarm system we use religiously, a 5 foot fence around the perimeter, remote controlled gates, motion sensor lights 360' around the house as well as night vision cameras. Just inside are the dogs, not very big but loud as heck. If you get through all that then you will find the cranky gun toting owner that most likely won't talk to you very much!

snake284

Diver43 wrote: »

One thing that we are unable to do, is to go back in time and get a do over. You armed yourself you investigated and all was well. You took precautions in case the thump in the night returned and you now know a few ways to do things differently.
Sounds OK to me, hope that you sleep well tonight.

Exactly. Good sum up there Diver. Now get some sleep TWA, that's life. We don't do it perfectly the first time. It's called experience. But I really think for a rookie at this you did fine.

snake284

I remember back in the 90s, in my other life, I had a red Dodge Dakota. And one night we had company, maybe my inlaws, I can't remember, (Edited to add)and I had my car parked out on the street, and about 11 PM my dog started barking. I grabbed my .357 and went to the door with a flash light. The porch light was on as usual so I left it on and eased the door open. There was some real tall skinny dude out there bending over getting inside(I had left the door unlocked by mistake). I put the .357 on his head where he could see me and he looked up and spun around on his heel and took off for parts beyond. Thinking on it later, I figure he was drunk by the way he ran and was just looking for a place to get out of the cold, but I sure put the fear of God into him.