Best Shell for Home Defense?

[ZeSpectre]

Let's think about this for a minute.

THE OBJECTIVE: Stop the Bad-guy from doing his bad-thing.

Be aware that if a firearm is involved then there is a very good chance that stopping the bad-guy will involve serious wounds, permanent disfigurement, crippling, and/or death. (Absolutely no condescension or judgment intended, but if you aren't ready for that part of the scenario then you might want to give serious thought to another plan because using a firearm is probably not the right choice for you).

Also be aware that there are two aspects to being shot.

1) The Psychological aspect where someone might go "oh Snap, I've been shot" and collapse in panic and terror, or at least run away.
2) The physical aspect of being shot where unavoidable physical response to trauma determines what happens next regardless of attitude or willpower.

The majority of the time a human who gets shot thinks (Psychological) "oh, I've been injured, I don't want that to happen again" and ceases most/all aggressive actions. This is a desired outcome, minimal force and quick capitulation....BUT...those who don't do that (for whatever reason, drugs, psycho, high pain tolerance, adrenalin, distraction, etc.) will ONLY, let me stress that again, ONLY be reliably stopped under all conditions by severe physical trauma in one (or more) of three areas.

1) Central nervous system disruption (brain, spine)...the electrical signals that control the body can no longer be sent.

2) Support structure (skeleton) disjunction...if you break the supporting structure (bones) the muscles have no levers to move the body about.

3) Exsanguination (bleeding out)...If the blood pressure drops below a certain point there is no longer an oxygen supply to the brain and the central nervous system shuts down (going back to #1)

1 and 2 can take place instantly with a good shot, #3 can take ANY amount of time from about 12 seconds (how many times could someone stab you in 12 seconds?) to several hours.

As the endless "what load for shotgun" debate rages on it might be wise to take the above points into consideration.

Personally I favor the notion that one round of "00" buck at close range is a lot like shooting someone up to 9 times (assuming most/all of the pellets hit) with a 9mm gun each time the trigger is pulled. That's a significant amount of firepower in anybody's book.

 

[NeroBrandt]

I would bet that if you shot someone with a load of 7.5 bird shot from 10-20', if it didn't kill him, you'd still probably be able to kick his ass. I tend to go with 00 buck shot though.

 

[LanceOregon]

The recent crime spree by British murderer Raoul Moat earlier this month illustrated that a 12 gauge loaded with birdshot can be a most deadly weapon indeed.

All he was armed with during his crime spree was a double barrel 12 gauge that he had sawed off. And it was only loaded with standard #6 birdshot game loads.

Yet, he managed to kill his ex-girlfriend who had cheated on him while he was in prison ( he had been imprisoned for beating his small daughter from another older girlfriend ). The ex-girlfriend had also started dating a Karate expert by the name of Chris Brown, in the hope that he could protect her from Moat once he got out of prison.

However, even her boyfriend's extensive karate skills were no match for two shots of #6 birdshot at close range, and he was killed also.

During the ensuing nation-wide manhunt, Moat was confronted by unarmed British police officer David Rathband, who he shot in the face with his 12 gauge. You should see the photos that the British press posted online of his face wounds. They are horrendous to behold, so I advise you to NOT google them. The poor officer lost both of his eyes, besides having his face extensively mutilated.

The British government then intensified the manhunt, and Moat was eventually cornered by heavily armed special police units.

Moat then held off police, putting his 12 gauge to his head, and threatening to kill himself if the police approached. However, police shot him with both a conventional taser pistol, as well as the new Taser shotgun. The electrical charges from the Tasers caused Moat to lose control of his muscles, and he then discharged the shotgun into his head, mortally wounding himself.

So just look at how many people were killed in this crime spree, just by two barrels of 12 gauge #6 birdshot? Even an unarmed police officer had no chance going up against it, and is now permanently disabled.

Here are some photos of the now dead British child abuser and killer Raoul Moat. Some folks have speculated that his heavy use of steroids to help with his body building may have contributed to his insanity:

And here is a press photo taken of British police officers as they surrounded Moat, just before his death:

.

 

[Glenn E. Meyer]

About alternating rounds - I think it is pretty clear that folks lose all ability to count or track which rounds are which under stress. So it's a dumb idea.

If you short stroke, etc. - forget your place in order.

Anyway, I have to tell this story.

I was in Cabela's and there was a guy with his gal buying an HD pump.

He said, he wanted it as the racking sound will chase the BG away. But if that didn't work - he wanted some blanks to scare the BG more! The clerk look askance at this. Dr. Big Mouth here, goes over and to be helpful starts the stopping mechanism lecture, the roll of the gun - blah, blah, blah.

The guy was so annoyed at me, I thought I was going to be socked. So much for helping - Never again. Anyway, the clerk said he shouldn't get blanks but rubber buckshot.

Sigh - someone later said to me that the guy probably convinced his gal to let him buy a gun and I screwed up the deal. She would only let him have a nice gun. That's a theory anyway. Or he was a putz.

To the original question - tactical 00 - for a shottie. You want to stop the guy and not fool around. If you dont' think you can use an instrument of lethal force - get a taser, big OC or the like. As bird shot can be lethal, don't fool yourself.