Home Defence

Bamafan, IMHO, YMMV, I will use buck shot for any residential setting. From apartments, trailer parks to brick ranch homes. If using the 20 gauge, I will have the #3 buck as it is the largest I can find locally. 00 buck in the 12 gauge. I do have kids behind walls so I am charged with keeping them safe from criminals as well as my defensive rounds. As I said before, "nothing mitigates risk of unintended wall penetration like a squishy torso".
I am sure a few folks still believe and many others will buy into the 100% fictional myth that shotguns do not need anything more than "close". While not quite the same method, aiming/pointing to an exact and intentional POI is required for the responsible safe use of a shotgun for defense. Anything less is morbidly unsafe, irresponsible behavior beggin' to kill an unintended person.
As for the action cycling being scary... I rack my actions as quietly as possible. One risk is a resolved intruder will not flee, rather realizing you are now armed with one of the best defensive firearms created, will shoot at first sight of you to best avoid being the first one shot.

Brent
 
our longest shot inside the house is probably 15-20 yards.
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YARDS?!?! That's one looooong hallway

My neighbors house is 20 feet from mine - on either side - luckily, both neighbors' garages are on my side as well. Use what you feel comfortable using, but the recommendations for buckshot should be heeded.....
 
Why use birdshot for home defense? What's the advantage? Just buy one box of #1 or 00 buck, keep it in the shotgun at night, and hope you never have to use it. I don't even see why people argue about this, use buck and be done with it.
 
I use a 870 Wilson AR stock 18" cyl bore.

I don't subscribe to racking the pump to scare somebody. I would prefer not to give my position up and will take the extra round as oppose to possibly scaring someone off.
 
I don't subscribe to racking the pump to scare somebody. I would prefer not to give my position up and will take the extra round as oppose to possibly scaring someone off.
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Agreed. The only thing a home invader will hear in my house, hopefully, if anything, would be the click of the safety coming off.....
 
bamafan4life, Don`t know your layout but consider stratigically reinforcing inside and outside walls. There was once a great thread on TFL about secureing your home so as to not shoot through unintended walls. Bookshelves are a great way, it also makes you look smart:D. As hogdogs suggested, maybe a 20ga. with some #3`s. As for racking, I don`t. My H/D shotgun is an old Rem.1100 but if I had a pump and surely I.D.`ed the BG the only noise I would want him to hear would be the barrel tickling his ear hairs.
 
I'm probably the biggest fan of "other than buckshot" guy on here, but NOT 8s or 6s. I have a carefully hoarded box of # 2 lead goose loads I use for HD in the house.

SC Dept of Corrections uses #5 shot for close range as it gave suitable penetration and reduced down range hazard.

Folks, only reason to use a load other than buckshot or slugs is to reduce down range hazard. For people in a townhouse or apartment, I'd recommend carefully choosing a load based on probable engagement zones and Rule #4 considerations.
 
The biggest problem I have the large birdshot (BB, 1, and 2) is with these shot sizes is that they aren't available in lead anymore and tend to be 3" magnums. I would feel comfortable with lead BB and would love it in reduced recoil.
 
What's up with this constant buckshot goes thru walls bit?

Ok, I admit they do, any idea how tight a pattern is in close quarters with Buckshot? Where are all these stray pellets going if not IN the target?? Also, if one is that scared of a stray penetrating a wall, never use a handgun of course as you could miss, better think on pepper spray or a big dog. Unless the topic means if I miss completely and have ALL the buckshots penetrating walls, well then, perphaps it's time to see an optomotrist.
 
I'm impressed. I've only seen a few shotgun IDPA style matches, but I've witnessed several folks miss the target. Now the target was a bowling pin, but heck, we all know the bad guy will do exactly as we've told him, so he'll be standing tall and squared up. :barf:

No need to actually think things through..

Matches are not combat, but it gives you a better experience base to exercise your decision making.
 
Yeah! Especially if you are looking to defend your home from this villain...

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I have a question. I enjoy shooting rifled slugs in my shotguns. Are they not suitable for defense? I figure if I can drop deer with them at 70-100 yards they have to be able to stop people! Lol. I have training in handgun and rifle defense but not shotgun, so I just don't much about the slug as a viable home defense option.
 
Certainly. At HD distance, the slug would likely hit the same spot 00 would. My reason for the 00 is the same most that advocate birdshot are using.
Wall penetration.
Where 00 buck would have an increased pattern after a pass thru on a torso missing all bone (low gut shot), the slug is still one heavy ball. The individual pellets will have alot of energy soaked off per ball while in the torso but a slug will retain quite a bit. So after exiting the torso, the slug could still pose a ton of risk after passing thru 2 drywall sheets. The 00 will have their risk highly mitigated after the torso AND drywall. If I should miss the BG completely, a slug would sail right thru the drywall with a lot of retained energy. 00 would go in as one small hole and immediately begin a rapid pattern expansion and rapid energy loss after passing the second sheet of drywall.
Hope this makes sense.
Brent
 
Gunsite has it right- within about 5 yards any shotgun load is a prefragmented solid slug- after that the pattern opens. There is nothing wrong with bird shot at close range- it is only beyond that ( the B zone) that buck becomes markedly superior.
 
Except that birdshot fragments too quickly and the pellets are too small to penetrate deep enough to reach vital organs or the CNS.
 
So if my wife and I live by ourselves in a floor plan that dictates that I will always be shooting away from our bedroom (our bedroom is the farthest to the rear of the house) with the nearest neighbor being about 800 yards away, I'm pretty safe shooting 12 gauge slug as long as I don't mind patching up some holes in the wall and replacing some furniture?
 
About a week ago I was testing some .357 bullets for bullet integrity. To do this I use dry newspaper - it's really rough on bullets.

Last shot was a .357 Magnum, UMC factory load, 125 Grain JSP @ 1,450 FPS. It penetrated 7" (and did not expand). Then I took an Estate 12 Gauge 3 1/4 - 1 1/8 - 6 load and shot from 15 feet. It blew a large hole 3 1/2" deep in the same batt. I know, nice to know if you're ever attacked by some demented newspaper, but the point is, that's a pretty good hole compared to a .357. I would speculate that a 1 1/2 ounce load of #4s or #2s would produce a considerably deeper/larger hole. I was out of newspaper or I would have tried both the larger sizes (handloaded).

DC
 
I just picked up some 00 buck for the 1300 HD gun (formerly turkey gun). It's got a modified choke on it.. that'd be fine to shoot the buck through, right? I wanted to go to the range tomorrow and see how it patterns at 5-10-15 yards.
 
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