i really believe a revolver is best for home protection because of it's ease of use under stress . but john is 100% correct if using the proper ammo, meaning the ammo that feeds best in your pistol even the older automatics are reliable. and he gave some excellent examples though i do question the luger only because i have limited experience with one and the one or two i've played with seemed to be very picky. i at the time suspected it was because of very tight tolerences due to the finely made and fitted process of putting one together.but my hi-power and 1911 are 99.9 % reliable with most everything i feed them