[thastings2]

Phil,
Unless you are planning to spend several hours on a range learning to shot your new handgun, and then an hours practice a month to maintain that, I suggest a .38 cal revolver. It is easy to shoot, easy to load and unload, and easy to tell when you have loaded it. Pull the trigger and it shots. With an auto loader, it requires you to follow a loading procedure exactly every time to assure that there is a round in the chamber. That only comes with practice and self confidence. Under combat conditions, you are not going to have time to try to remember how to use your autoloader.
As far as using a shotgun, try standing in your hallway and turning around, or walking around your house.
With a 38, using hollow points, the bullet will be expanded by wallboard and building materials faster than with a full metal jacket bullet. It will just make a bigger hole in your wall.
BUT, the biggest thing in owning a gun for self defensive is that you must train yourself mentally to accept that you WILL use it if necessary, and what those "fire/don't fire" conditions are. For me those are that if someone enters my house when my wife and/or children are there, then I will fire to protect them from a direct threat or failure of the intruder to retreat away from them. If its just me, then it will require direct action against me for me to fire. This is not a game and the worst thing that can happen is for you show a gun and then not be able to use it because you're afraid of pulling the trigger. This may sound extreme to some of those on line here, but if you cannot say out loud to your wife that you want a gun to "kill" an intruder, then I suggest that you reframe from buying one for self defense.
terry