12ga. #4 Buckshot for home defense

9

9ballbilly

New member
I keep slugs, #1 buckshot,and 00 buckshot on hand for home/camp defense in my Rem. 870. I'm wondering how you guys feel about #4 buck stacking up against the others I mentioned for this purpose.

Many years ago I kept a 12ga. side-by-side coach gun loaded with magnum #4 buck for HD. If memory serves it patterned very well at ten yards,which is why I stayed with the #4 the entire time . I'd also like your thoughts on the mixed loads such as BBx2 for HD.

Thanks and best wishes, Bill
 
Personally I only load my shotguns with either Slugs, #1, or 00 Buck for HD. #1 patterns very nice out of my HD shotgun. I used to use #4 Buck, it doesn't test too badly, it should work. I think its a little light though.

I'm adamantly against bird shot for HD. It just doesn't penetrate well enough.
 
Sure, no reason not to.
I use goose shot. Mostly because I still have a lot of it.

Well I don't "use" it. I intend to use it if the occasion arises. Umm not arises like a goose mind you..not in the literal sense. Metaphorically "arising", if you get my meaning.
But if a goose did break in I'd sure be prepared.
 
a square hit with a goose or turkey load will have the impact of a very hard punch in the stomach. that's not a 9 mm round, there is a great deal of genuine "knockdown power." a punch like that will, without a doubt, stagger and tamporarily disable an assailant. That load of shot, spread out to a few inches, will put a lot of small wounds in the area ofa person's vitals with a chest hit. Using tungsten rounds will enhance the penetration.

In my home, given the choice, I'd use heavy turkey rounds with tungsten shot over large buckshot rounds. Once you go past 20feet or so, that strategy is out.
 
I keep #4 buck in my 12 ga.

00 buck offers nothing I need in a Home Defense scenario.
Bird shot would be pretty effective in my home, but I still don't want to use it (you can't get a shot longer than 12 feet in this house, but bird shot still isn't ideal).

#4 patterns well; penetrates well; has significantly more pellets than 00, 0, and #1; and... it's easier to find in a 2 3/4" load, than many other options.

(I don't like the idea of using 3" or 3.5" mags for SD/HD. ...and my shotgun only has a 2 3/4" chamber, anyway. ;))
 
I second FrankenMauser

I've been partial to 00 buck in the past. But a dear friend swears by #4 buckshot. Having recently (last Saturday) patterned the #4 load, I'm quite convinced that it would pretty much ruin any intruder's day, and I have adopted it as my HD load. I know some folks who load #4 with some slugs as follow up rounds. At home defense ranges, the #4 should be more than sufficient unto your needs. In my little humble hovel, frankly, any 12 gauge round is going to do the job, but I have really taken to the #4 load.
 
#4

I've seen 2 deer killed with #4 Buck and a bolt of lightning or a howitzer would not have killed them quicker. Both tried to leap across a fire road running at full speed. Maybe 2-3 seconds apart. My friend was shooting a Browing A-5 12 ga. with #4 Buck. Both deer died mid-leap and kicked maybe once when they crashed into the ground. Amazing thing to see. I knew that if I was doing the shooting, with the rifle I was carrying, I would have missed them both.
 
I did a lot of searching and reading and decided on #4 for my 12 ga. The last round in my mag is 00, just in case.
 
I too have shot deer with buckshot and it is devastating at HD ranges. One in the chest with my 12ga and it game over.
 
One of the 870s kept ready here is stoked with 4 buck. Someone gave me a mess of it.

Patterning showed good patterns with a skeet choke. Probable use is at less than 5 yards.

The others here are loaded with 00, but their mission is a little different due to location and altitude.
 
Firearms Tactical Institute report recomends #1 Buck

For personal defense and law enforcement applications, the International Wound Ballistics Association advocates number 1 buckshot as being superior to all other buckshot sizes.
Click to expand...

Number 1 buck is the smallest diameter shot that reliably and consistently penetrates more than 12 inches of standard ordnance gelatin when fired at typical shotgun engagement distances.
Click to expand...

A standard 2 ¾-inch 12 gauge shotshell contains 16 pellets of #1 buck. The total combined cross sectional area of the 16 pellets is 1.13 square inches. Compared to the total combined cross sectional area of the nine pellets in a standard #00 (double-aught) buck shotshell (0.77 square inches), the # 1 buck shotshell has the capacity to produce over 30 percent more potentially effective wound trauma. In all shotshell loads, number 1 buckshot produces more potentially effective wound trauma than either #00 or #000 buck. In addition, number 1 buck is less likely to over-penetrate and exit an attacker's body.
Click to expand...


http://www.firearmstactical.com/briefs10.htm




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All of the old timer deer hunters I know use No. 4 on deer and have been plenty successful. If it kills a deer I think a person doesn't have a chance.
 
Secret Service Load

When I was with Treasury, the Secret Service had standardized 12 gauge, #4 buck as their buckshot load. They didn't do this by first reading an article in Guns and Ammo. They studied and tested available or popular buckshot loads before deciding. First, you're launching 27 .22 caliber pellets. For them, it could happen in a building or on the street. For us, we should be concerned with home defense. A .22 cal. pellet is not as likely to overpenetrate the house and perhaps an adjoining residence as OO buck, each pellet being .33 caliber. A stray .22 caliber pellet is more survivable than a stray 33 caliber pellet.

Within the confined spaces of our homes, does anyone really think an intruder will know the difference between #4 buck, #4 shot, O or OO buck? Either way you go, the recipient is going to have a bad day--a very bad day:D
 
question for you guys ??

my 870 wingmaster came with a 28" modified vent rib barrel [ 30 + years ago ] and I know it was OK to run a few slugs thru it. 15 to 20 years ago I traded that barrel [ and $50 ] for a 30" full choke for still board / turkey shoots and trap..
anyway , is it OK to shoot #4 or '00' through that full choke ?
 
Kenny, that barrel and choke should be fine with either flavor of buck. Pattern to establish the best load for your use environment.
 
I respectfully disagree about combining a full choke with buckshot.

A full choke will tend to cause the pellets to collide with one another, resulting in deformation of the pellets. Deformed pellets do not fly "true" so one is inducing flyers. At point blank distance, this might not be an issue, but it must be accounted for past point blank distance. Flyers with buckshot is a bad plan.

Buckshot should be patterned and shot through a choke no tighter than improved cylinder to avoid pellet deformation and the resulting flyers.
 
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