Best shot for home defense?

[Dusty Miller]

Ole' Mas sez that #1 shot is the way to go but there don't seem to be a lot of folks hereabouts that agree with him.  I'm partial to slugs myself but they can definitely leave one house and enter another with enough energy left to do real damage.

[Robert]

I would tend to agree with ol Mas.  Turkey loads or BB would work great too.  With a slug..you have one projectile and must be accurate.  If you are just waking up..poor light...can hardly see...with shot you can just point in the general diection of the perp and would have a better chance of connecting.  Now if you were to use a pump, most often all you would need to do is cycle the action and the distinctive sound would cause a criminal to leave real fast without firing a shot.

[Redhawk1]

#4 buck shot for me.  

[Ramrod]

I don't think it matters much indoors. You won't have any pattern to speak of at ranges found inside an average home. A cylinder bored gun only spreads about one inch per yard of range, so the shot is acting more like a slug at across the room distances. #6 or #7-1/2 birdshot would do as well as buckshot at these distances.

[Lawdog]

#4 buck shot for me.  

Oh no, there goes Redhawk1 and I agreeing again.   :-D  :-D   Lawdog
 

[Robert]

On the receiving end... I think I would rather take my chances with the buckshot..bird shot would leave a mess of hamburger that has no chance of repairing.

[JohnClif]

I vote for #4 buck also for home self-defense. Like getting the bad guy with a 27-gun firing squad armed with .22 WMRs.

I personally know of two bad guys shot with this load at distances of 20 yards and under. The first bad guy was pointing a sawed-off shotgun at the police officer, who shot where his eyes were looking (the threat). The bad guy literally lost every single bit of tissue on both of his forearms -- it was an instantly-disabling wound alright -- and was also wounded in the chest. He was down and out from shock. The bad guy survived and went to prison for several years with both hands locked at a 90 degree angle and without the ability to use them functionally. (We know what happens in prison, especially when you can't defend yourself.) Last I heard he had been arrested as a male prostitute elsewhere in the state.

The second bad guy decided to run away after his buddy got flensed (always wanted to use that word in a conversation!) but made the mistake of turning around and pointing a handgun at the officer. The first shot put him down with massive torsoe damage, and as the officer approached the second shot finished him off after he tried to point a gun at the officer again. I guess the bad guy didn't learn from his friend or from his first mistake.

I think that #4 buck is too small for police use where a shotgun has to be able to disable cars, shoot bad guys at longer distances, etc. But it is devastatingly effective at typical household distances, and it is least likely to overpenetrate.

[retrieverhunter]

I keep my "bedroom Benelli" loaded with 3" magnum 00 buck and have it "sighted in" to shoot where the Surefire Tactical light beam hits out to about 15 yards.

[RupertBear]

#7 in 20 gauge is ideal.. will fill a hallway and recoil is such that 20 gauge is easier handled by most people.

[mrlizzzard]

No doubt,20 ga. pump or auto,4's or 6's the best defence.When that racking sound happens,intruders generaly leave in a huff.Pistols just don't have the same flair and need extensive training.$100 your protected
lizzzard

[CraigJS]

#4 Buck shot. With smaller shot, 4's,6's,7's you better hope your night time visitor isn't wearing a heavy leather jacket...

[DEPUTY]

A few  here need to go to shotgun 101 again!.  shotguns do not fill hallways with a wall of lead!   and that racking sound, is a great indactor to the badguy or guys were you are and gives him or them an advantage of knowing your there and armed. which allows them to keep you at bay while they tear your house apart!  and or loved ones!  shotguns still need to be aimed and sight fired, and yes some training is involed.

bird shot is not that effective  at distance and when fired into layers of clothing  but what do i know !

[RedRyder21]

The racking sound is great for movies and that is it!

The sound of a round being fired is ALOT scarrier to an intruder than a shotgun being pumped... :eek:

I will have one in the chamber!

[dave375hh]

#1's or 2's are all you need inside the house. Down the hall from my bedroom if they penitrate the wall the Tahoe will catch the pellets, NOT GOOD!!! Outside I like #4 buck. If I was going to use slugs I'd use the .308 instead of the shotgun.

[JeffG]

High base steel BB (etc)does a credible "rathole" on a perp. It's less likely to go through the drywall, or out the exterior siding. The most important accessory(s) on a home defense gun may be the low light sighting system, and target identification method. Something most shotguns don't lend themselves to easily....

[gino]

Years ago I worked for a guy who had been accidently shot by a shotgun. He was duck hunting and took a load in the chest from 30-40m. I would think that he was hit with #4 or #6 shot given the duck hunting scenario, anyway, he ended up with several pieces of shot in his heart and was "stopped" instantly. He survived but still has a couple shot in his heart that they didn't remove. At a lot more than in house distances and wearing a jacket & hunting vest he got put out of action by relatively small shot. FWIW
gino

[Savage .250]

Buck-shot in a short barreled .................double barrel 12 ga.
      As some have said, shot spread may be in question but  i like my
      chances with this set up.  Put down the jewelry partner, your next stop
      will be in the driveway.  

 "The best part of the hunt is not the harvest but in the experience."

[Eddie in Delta]

Don't have too much personal experience, but Hemingway used to go after wounded leopards with birdshot and a full choke.

Eddie

[Rogue Ram]

I've seen people shot with shotguns, .44 magnums, and a .30-06  all at contact or very close range.

The gruesomeness (if that is a word) of a close range wound from a shotgun with bird shot is beyond description.  The .44 mag made a mess as well but nothing like the shotgun.  The .30-06 with 180 grain corelokt was at contact range in the chest......it did not exit (  :shock:  the word slosh comes to mind)  .

A Sergeant of mine once shot Billy Bad Guy 3 times dead center at about 10-15 feet with #4 buck shot........Billy wouldn't drop his pistol and pointed it at the Sergeant.  Billy got up after the 3rd shot and brought the pistol up again. This time Billy lost his head. Billy was loaded on PCP. Billy's torso was, uh, non-existent so to speak but he was still in the fight. We talked about this a bit, and I think its apples and oranges with the shot gun. I carry 00 in my duty gun, I'd lean towards any buckshot and like the suggestion of a 20 gauge.  Deputy is right, noise is for the movies.

 

RR

[45LCshoooter]

I keep #6 in the chamber but buck in the mag. The good thing about bird, is that if it goes astray, it doesn't do much. I don't think the first shot is the most likely one to be a miss, but will be the most likely one to go some direction it shouldn't. It is still effective up close, though. After that, everyone behind a wall should be on the floor waiting for "all clear," so i am not as worried about over-penetration.

I don't like sound effects, but you can't exactly confront someone without giving yourself away: i just prefer 95 lumens of brilliant-white "hello" to be my calling card and the bird if he "calls my bluff." After that, it will either be a route or a retreat and i want every shot to be effective. 00 just penetrates better. I still like to have a couple slugs on hand in case they retreat to their vehicle and start shooting into the house, but i don't really expect that to happen and i do expect the shotgun to be exchanged for a rifle if it does.

BTW, i am speaking in reference to home invasion scenarios.

[foss4936]

rouge ram is right , one shotgun blast with 3 inch mags and number 4's out of a 12 will stop any intruder that gets in your home especially at ranges of 20 feet and less, trust me your gonna have a BIG mess to clean up

[AndyHass]

I still remember the damage done when my grandfather shot at a possum (and missed) inside his garage with birdshot (looked to be #6 or 7).  Range, probably comparable to a house, 10-15 ft.  The column hit a piece of plywood and made one large ragged hole.  After covering another 6 inches, it reached the exterior wall, where it was scattered over a circle roughly a foot across.  Only pellets hitting the glass of a window exited the wall, and they did not damage the next building 3 ft away.
  I think any shot size will be devastating if the perp is the first thing hit.  If you want to be able to shoot through a door or interior wall, I'd say #4 buck at a minimum.  I doubt birdshot would fully penetrate an outer wall of most houses and still do significant damage (see the scattering by the piece of plywood above) but buck might.
   Personally, I have a Glock and double-twenty I have in mind for HD.  I say in mind because I cannot bring myself to have a gun in the house with a loaded chamber or internal magazine.  I figure if I can cross the room to the gun, I can get one from the stock holster into the chamber or slap the clip in the pistol.

[NYH1]

I like #4 buckshot in my 20" smooth bore 870 12 ga. As mentioned before, you really do have to aim a shotgun, but if you do your part a shotgun will do its part!

[corbanzo]

You know, when it comes to home defense, I don't really care what the skin looks like.  I just wanna make sure that there is no chance of anyone in my house getting hurt, besides who's breaking in.  I use a semi-auto 40SW for protection, and can pull a pretty acurate 14 shots pretty fast, but if I were to use a shotgun, I wouldn't go anywhere under #4 shot, and would probably use 00buck.

[Ocsamschainsaw]

Used to use #4 shot in my mossberg. It was cheaper at the local stores, and I could actually practice with it...
Frankly, I wouldn't want to get shot by ANYTHING coming out of a 12 gauge...
I personally think that sometimes we take this a bit too seriously-when we're talking, for home defense, about the difference between 00 buck and #4 shot...
The way I see it, if some guy survives a few shots from EITHER of those, I probably have ver large issues on my hands that no cartridge will solve, i.e. totally hopped up on heroin or something like that, and it's probably best to just get out of dodge. Law enforcement, I understand, might be a totally different animal, but living in an apartment?
If my .357 doesn't solve it in 6 cartridges, and my 9mm (which I traded in my mossberg for, wish I hadn't now)  in 13, something's VERY wrong.
But..
it's always fun to talk about, isn't it?

[Whiskey]

#4 buck shot for me.  

And it sells for $3.25 a box at WalMart too  :eek: