Is there a gun you would recommend for personal safety for someone that doesnt know much about them?
If you're looking for home defense, the AR-15 and AK-74 are king (not the 47 though). High velocity, light bullets don't penetrate walls as badly as higher weight projectiles do, plus you get 30 rounds per mag or more (unless you live in a state that has mag capacity limits) and they have very manageable recoil. The age of the shotgun is over for home defense.
Sorry, but you're wrong on that. The shotgun is still considered the best self defense weapon to own for house defense. 5.56x45mm NATO most definitely has over penetration problems, especially if you have other loved ones living with you in the house. Not to mention how finicky the AR-15 is with feeding and closing the bolt correctly (although proper maintenance on a modern AR-15 platform weapon helps negate this by the boatload compared to earlier equipment) doesn't put this weapon anywhere near the reliability of a pump action shotgun. It's not even in the same ball park. The AK-74 is super reliable, but you still face the over penetration problem, including THROUGH the target's body.
The shotgun stands as the ultimate home defense weapon, period. And any self defense or tactical school will tell you the same.
Here's the thing, nothing that you're saying is backed up by ballistic evidence. The facts are: high velocity, light bullets penetrate fewer walls than low velocity, heavy bullets. 5.56 will penetrate fewer walls than 00 buck, can have more rounds, with less recoil. Does 5.56 penetrate a lot of walls? Yes. Is it as bad as buckshot, slugs, pistol calibers, or heavy rifle rounds? Absolutely not.
I won't judge your choice of defense weapon, hell I'm a hypocrite using an AK-47 for my home defense, but do some actual research before parroting false information spread by fudds.
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You're assuming that I'd recommend using ball ammo for defense, which I don't. However, you also have to consider the shots that miss your target, which is a major concern when in a high stress scenario. 00 Buckshot has 9 pellets. What happens if you hit the bad guy with 6? Those other 3 pellets are going somewhere and they aren't stopping any time soon. I also can't recommend a 12 gauge for a brand new shooter either, the recoil is significant, and will cause the shooter to develop bad habits when they start anticipating recoil. Same concept on why most experienced people start newbies off with a 22 or 9mm in handguns instead of 45, 44 Mag, etc. If you can work your way up to 12 gauge, go nuts, but starting lower is preferable.
Fair points. I usually do start people off with .22LR for their first time shooting. But I know in a fairly heavy shotgun the recoil isn't too bad for 2 3/4" 00Buck. But I hear you. Should definitely train practice train practice and be extremely comfortable with anything you use for an emergency. ---
Hoppe hoppe Reiter, und kein Engel steigt herab mein Herz schlagt nicht mehr weiter, NUR DER REGEN WEINT AM GRAB