Bird Shot For Home Defense

E

Ewok_Guy

New member
Isn't it practical?

12 ga. Bird Shot/Light Loads (No. 7 1/2, 8, and 9) are much more controllable than Buck shot and over penetration is highly unlikely compared to 00 and 000 ought. At close range it seems it would have sufficeint stopping power.

Whatcha think?
 
At most inhouse ranges, the shot will be in one big lump anyway. Don't think there would be much difference whether slug, ought, or bird.

Sam
 
At typical HD ranges, breath mints would be as lethal as 000 buck made from depleted uranium and rubbed with garlic. The load hits as a semi solid mass roughly .73" in diameter.

This has been hashed over frequently, check the Archives for lots of input....
 
breathmints12ga.jpg

What Dave said ;) Freshens the perp while stopping him...you wouldn't want to bag a smelly one, would you?
 
Pattern the shot yourself at the maximum distance you anticipate it will have to be used. Also, check it's penetration at that distance.
 
I find that bird shot will not have the stopping power needed from about 5-7 yards with someone wearing a heavy winter coat. I use #4 buck. Its enough to stop but not follow through to the next building within 5 yards.
 
I find that bird shot will not have the stopping power needed from about 5-7 yards with someone wearing a heavy winter coat.
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really??? would you be willing to stand in front of a 12 ga w/birdshot for demonstration purposes? :D

seriously, though, birdshot will do fine. just use what you are comfortable with and practice, rinse, repeat.

stinger
 
12 Gauge 1 Oz Game load. 3 of them.

1 Reduced Recoil Slug load and...............

One T Shot Goose load.

I load the game loads and reserve the T-Shot and Slug for "special situations."

Except the average LA Riots then I get........Belligerent ;)
 
I shoot clays using 7.5 shot. Was at the range the other day and happened to see this 55 gallon drum hiding in ambush. Well, I had to get it before it got me so I unloaded a barrel on her from about 15 yards away. After the smoke cleared, I noticed a large hole, about 3 or 4 inches in diameter in her midsection with a few lose pellet indents around it. I say it was DOA, no exit wound was found on the other side.

For home defense I would say that 7.5 or 8 shot would be perfect to stop a bad guy in his tracks. 15 yards is 45 feet, if you have a straight shot into a room and its over 45 feet, you have a really nice house with big rooms!

Bob
 
Given the fact that I live alone, that my walls are brick, and there are cement cored block walls between my townhouse and the ones to the sides, I use No. 4 buckshot in my defensive shotgun.

Recoil isn't really all that bad, and there's just something about 27 pellets that says, "I don't want you in my home anymore."
 
UPDATE:
I am now loading my tactical shotgun with No. 7 1/2 Federal.
At a max range of 7 yards I surely wouldn't want to be on the business end of the barrel, would you? :p

Sorry fellas, I'm just one of those Ewok's that favor light recoil on a 12 ga.:)
 
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A number of years ago a local "night creeper" got caught by a ladies boy friend coming out of her bathroom. Boy friend gave the creeper a load of #6's at less than 10 feet. The creeper was arrested three days later when he showed up at a hospital, claiming the wound was caused by an accident while hunting.

He had been wearing a heavy flannel shirt and a down vest under an insulated leather bomber jacket. The #6's failed to penetrate enough to really do any real damage. The creeper told the Sheriff that if he had had his gun that night, he would have shot the boy friend.

I use #4 or #1 buckshot. If I lived in a thin walled apartment, I might intertain the birdshot idea.
 
Sorry fellas, I'm just one of those Ewok's that favor light recoil on a 12 ga
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Try the Federal 00 buck Tactical (reduced recoil load). I found it lighter, more manageable, and more accurate than #4 field or #7-1/2 field.

- Aion
 
I still think birdshot will not deliver against a large adrenilin pumping perp. #4 buck with a couple of #9 bird shot to throw him off sounds about right :D
 
In the course of duty,I saw enough evidence pics of shotgun wounds to take that peeper story with a grain of salt.Load seems non consequential at across the room distances.

My trap load of 1 oz of 8 1/2 shot moves at a MV of 1150 FPS. A quite mild load by 12 gauge standards. Any volunteers willing to don Kevlar and take one of these center mass?

Funny, I don't see a lot of hands going up.....
 
We have gone from using buckshot to 7.5 shot at the house. To tell you the truth just the sound of racking the round usually is enough to get everyone on their stomachs. It appears that the bad guys don't want to be shot with either type.

Being hit with a load of 6 shot at 10 feet would be like getting hit with a slug. It would take off an arm or a leg without any problem. At 10 feet the shot is still in the wad and exiting the barrel at about 1200 fps...either you get hit with the whole load or you don't. Getting hit with the full load at that distance? Not good. Waiting for 3 days to visit the hospital? Worse. Telling the cops you would have shot they boyfriend? Idiotic.

Bob
 
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