"Home defense" rifle, eh? That would be a shotgun. Using a .30-06 or .308 or 7.62x54 for "[suburban] home defense" is like using a spear to hunt guppies in a shoebox.
SKS? Your best bet. Ammo is cheap and the guns are easy to find, customize with stocks, mags, optics, and they're pretty fun to shoot. Make sure you find a stock that fits right and it's totally worth it to put detachable magazines on it if you're like me and find strippers to be too unreliable.
M1 Carbine? Nice gun but hard to find ammo. Too WW2 nerdy to be useful today in a world of 5.56mm pieces that can do a better job. If you're considering this piece, why not just get a used Ruger Mini-14 or Mini-30 instead?
SVD? Show piece made famous in video games and as a status symbol for the stinkies that make up the Iraq / Afghan army. Not worth the price, IMO. The effort and expense of acquiring the rifle, mags, ammo, and optics will put you out way more than it is ever worth for either fun-time plinking or tactical usefulness.
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Remember the home defense priority mantra:
1: Accountability (where are the wife / kids?)
3: Light (flashlight on weapon and on your belt)
2: Communication (cell phone or land line to call the boys in blue and to CYA)
4: Weapons (the thing everybody wants to talk about for home defense)
A pistol-caliber carbine (dun-dun-DUN) might be a better choice for home defense. A Marlin Camp Carbine in 45 (hard to find) or a lever action .357 Mag or .44 Mag from either Winchester or Marlin makes a much more useful general purpose short range weapon than most of the above selections and can be had for pretty cheap. Bonus is having a revolver in the same caliber on your belt in a crappy situation. Double-super-extra-bonus is having a bunch of guns that shoot the same caliber for when you go to the range.
(My next project is to make a nice .44 Mag "scout gun" out of a Winchester 94 Ranger with a scout scope, tritium iron sights, and a synthetic stock.)
Go with a shotgun, a SKS, or get a lever gun in a magnum pistol caliber.
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Originally Posted by debaser
...AR...
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Hey, he said "cheap," no?
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Originally Posted by SSJTWIZTA
You know, i just realized Cromp or Moot would much better explain this, seeing how they experts on all that maims.
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Hey, we all have to be good at something. My writing sucks and whew... you should hear my singing.