Tangentabacus
New member
Hey everyone,
I've been dabbling in making my own custom (read: weird) loads for my Mossberg 590A1 which I use as one of my home defense guns along side my AR and 1911.
I've put quite a bit of thought into it and the long stretched out style ranch house I live in isn't the best to defend with a .45. Though adequate it just doesn't give me the reach I kinda need (about 150ft give or take). So I've turned to using my shotgun... Birdshot obviously isn't ideal for home defense so knock that off the list. Buckshot... Eh... I mean I just don't trust it for home defense at that distance, but probably would be fine. Slugs on the other hand I feel would be the best round, but with a slug I'm very concerned about collateral damage. My neighbors are pretty far away, but hitting someone in the house other than my intended target is not the goal.
So, after some tinkering and lots of YouTube I've started loading weird rounds for my shotgun using the empty, refill with wax and assorted items method. These rounds so far have turned otherwise harmless target loads into a devastating force. I'm reliably getting out past 200+ feet with my loads. Another thing I'm noticing is fragmentation... I was shooting them at a steel plate getting closer and closer and multiple layered targets to kinda gauge their spread on impact. When they don't straight go through my target the "splash" zone is quite impressive. I can't exactly offer proof but I can say fairly certainly that they are spreading quite a significant amount on target which maybe would help them from penetrating too far after impact with a bit of sheetrock or a bad guy.
I know my argument for wax slugs comes from little experience and little to no scientific information, but what do you guys think?
I've been dabbling in making my own custom (read: weird) loads for my Mossberg 590A1 which I use as one of my home defense guns along side my AR and 1911.
I've put quite a bit of thought into it and the long stretched out style ranch house I live in isn't the best to defend with a .45. Though adequate it just doesn't give me the reach I kinda need (about 150ft give or take). So I've turned to using my shotgun... Birdshot obviously isn't ideal for home defense so knock that off the list. Buckshot... Eh... I mean I just don't trust it for home defense at that distance, but probably would be fine. Slugs on the other hand I feel would be the best round, but with a slug I'm very concerned about collateral damage. My neighbors are pretty far away, but hitting someone in the house other than my intended target is not the goal.
So, after some tinkering and lots of YouTube I've started loading weird rounds for my shotgun using the empty, refill with wax and assorted items method. These rounds so far have turned otherwise harmless target loads into a devastating force. I'm reliably getting out past 200+ feet with my loads. Another thing I'm noticing is fragmentation... I was shooting them at a steel plate getting closer and closer and multiple layered targets to kinda gauge their spread on impact. When they don't straight go through my target the "splash" zone is quite impressive. I can't exactly offer proof but I can say fairly certainly that they are spreading quite a significant amount on target which maybe would help them from penetrating too far after impact with a bit of sheetrock or a bad guy.
I know my argument for wax slugs comes from little experience and little to no scientific information, but what do you guys think?