Another POV for using buckshot for home defense.

[NewbieAKguy]

Interesting food for thought: http://www.gundigest.com/tactical-guns/buckshot-overkill-for-the-home-defense-shotgun

I guess with all things YMMV.

[FunkyPertwee]

Some of us like overkill. :)







2012 update: Still using 00 buck.

[stinker]

I'm guessing the author would'nt approve of my preference of 000 buck with the last 2 rounds in the tube being slugs just in case, and that was even when i was living in an apartment.

:oh:

[El Laton Caliente]

I'm in the country with the only other person in the in bed next to me. The nearest neighbor is over 100 yards away. The Saiga 12 is loaded with full power 2¾" 00 9 pellet Buck. The Mossy 835 is loaded with 3½" 18 pellet 00 Buck.

I stand a better chance of facing a couger or boar in the yard than an intruder in the house.

[nitewatcherXX]

I prefer #4 lead shot. I want a bigger pattern with more shot. If someone or something is coming at me out to 40 yards, it will hit them from head to toe. Not much chance for missing with that much shot. Under 15 yards they or it will have no face left.

[Solidus-snake]

Keep my Mossberg 500 loaded with 8 rounds of Hornady FPD 2 3/4 00 8 pellet buck and im not changing it. Shit groups tight at 25 yards which is longer than any distance in my home or front yard.

[American Rage]

I keep mine with 8 rds of Remington 2 3/4" 00 buckshot.

Normally, I think birdshot should be for birds, but I play with the idea of a 3" #4 turkey load for HD.

[RiJiD]

I use 1 or 2 rounds of birdshot for the first 2 in my shotgun I have kids in other rooms. after the bird shot I have 2 00 buck and 2 slugs.

then a few 00 in the sling.

[old Grump]

#4 birdshot in my shotguns because of my house set up but 158 gr in my 357 magnum. I'm fairly sure boogerman wouldn't want me going to plan B, plan c would be even meaner, 170 grains in my rifle.

[Woogiebear]

I keep mine loaded with 1 slug, 2 00 Buck, and then followed by 2 more slugs. I have a side saddle on it that holds 3 more slugs and 2 00 Buck.

[Helen Keller]

00buck, last 2 slugs and then breachers if they are still walking



If you're gonna use "bird" shot use 3" Drylok steel shot. They'll die. believe me they'll die .

[Schuetzenman]

I prefer #4 lead shot. I want a bigger pattern with more shot. If someone or something is coming at me out to 40 yards, it will hit them from head to toe. Not much chance for missing with that much shot. Under 15 yards they or it will have no face left.

You ever pattern it to see how big the shot spreads? Next point is about penetration. Buckshot works because it has enough mass to get in there. Your #4 birdshot isn't going to do anything but wound the perp and piss them off seriously. Now they may turn tail and run and they may not. If you're shooting somebody, better to make them stop breathing all together, than just wing them. Corpses don't sue you.

[FunkyPertwee]

You ever pattern it to see how big the shot spreads? Next point is about penetration. Buckshot works because it has enough mass to get in there. Your #4 birdshot isn't going to do anything but wound the perp and piss them off seriously. Now they may turn tail and run and they may not. If you're shooting somebody, better to make them stop breathing all together, than just wing them. Corpses don't sue you.

I wonder if he meant #4 buckshot.

Either way, that post was made a year ago.

[ready]

If you're able to, just change your angle. For example, if the bad guy is between you and a bedroom with children and you're in a shoot situation, kneel down and aim upwards.

[skorpion]

Most criminals are too dense to realize that they face an equal amount of damage, maybe even more, due to shredding effect of all those little pellets from a close range load of AA Trap and Skeet as they do from the 00. However, don’t be misled. These loads can and will punch right through drywall at close range.
To hell with birdshot. You want to kill the adrenaline/drug-crazed bad guy, not piss him off with superficial wounds. 00 Buck all the way.

[old Grump]

To hell with birdshot. You want to kill the adrenaline/drug-crazed bad guy, not piss him off with superficial wounds. 00 Buck all the way.
I live in the woods, not to many crazed junkies out here. I have seen enough body bags to last me the rest of my life. If boogerman dies I prefer he do it running away from my house and not where he stood with blood, guts, bone and brains scattered around my living room. If you think 2 or 3 rounds of #4 at 10 feet won't change a boogermans ideas about continued aggression then try it out on yourself. If you absolutely must kill then you should be signing up for a mercenary company and they will send you round the world where you can kill all you want and get paid for it too.

Longest possible shot in my house is 8 yards, most likely will be less than 3 yards. Here is what my Win 1200 20 gauge using Fiocchi #4 turkey loads does to a MAPP can at 8 yards. Smashed to half of its original thickness and with 4 of the pellets having enough energy to penetrate into the heavy steel can.

http://imageshack.us/a/img585/4504/afterno4birdshot.jpg

The objective is to stop the attack not raise the body count just because you can.

[Schuetzenman]

You don't shoot to wound somebody, you shoot to kill or you don't shoot at all. The scumbag survives he's liable to sue you and win given the liberal douce-bags in our society. The other danger is, he fires back and you die. I'd much rather they die than me. If they're breaking into your house, they aren't there to present a lecture on Quantum Physics or sell you a set of Encyclopedias.

[skorpion]

If you absolutely must kill then you should be signing up for a mercenary company and they will send you round the world where you can kill all you want and get paid for it too.Already did that in the Marine Corps where I learned that in an engagement you can't be nice or it gets you or your buddies hurt or killed real quick. I'd rather be scooping up the guts and brains of the burglar off my living room floor than have the coroner scooping my guts off the floor in my own home while the bad guy laughs about it during his hospital stay.


The objective is to stop the attack not raise the body count just because you can.I definitely agree. It's not about getting a kill count and bragging about it to your buddies at the bar. It's about neutralizing the threat as swiftly and efficiently as possible, and a consequence of this tactic is often permanent disfigurement or death for the guy being neutralized. It's about coming out on top; gaining the upper hand wherever you can. It's about making sure that motherscruffer is incapacitated so that he cannot even attempt to lay a trigger finger on you. I've seen it with my own eyes: Wounded men, even men with critical wounds, can still be dangerous. Dead men are only dangerous if they carry disease.

My HD boomstick is loaded with 7 rounds of 00 Buck plus one in the pipe. There is no racking the chamber in an attempt to scare bad guys away. That's the job for alarm systems and dogs. There is no pleading with the bad guy to stay away because I have a gun. I'm not a negotiator. There is no firing of warning shots. I'm not in the process of conducting a 21-gun salute. There is no shooting to wound. I'm not torturous. Someone is in my home who has no business being in it and they were brazen enough to enter it. I do not know what their intention is. I do not know what they're armed with. I do not know what skill sets they have. Someone's life is at stake in this situation, and I'd rather it not be mine. Taking a life is not pretty. It is not fun. Guts and blood will make a mess of the entire room. Buckshot will put holes in the surrounding walls. But at least I will be alive to have to deal with it.

Birdshot can create some crazy-looking wounds at close range and has killed many-a-man. However, penetration and depth of the permanent wound cavity caused by it is not sufficient enough to be effective in most situations, unless extremely close-range head shots are the goal. The central nervous system and heart are tucked away under many inches of fat, muscle, and bone, as you already know. Then factor in a bad guy wearing heavy clothing (especially in your neck of the woods, Grump) and hiding behind furniture and walls.

Here is an awesome link of tests done with common shot sizes and the outcomes of each. I forgot who did it and what website it was on, but somebody saved it and reposted it:

http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=109958

[old Grump]

No single answer but the man with only one answer is usually missing something. My situation is I have an open house plan and an old crippled brother and crippled legally blind sister living with me. Last hing I need or want is to shoot through a wall and hurt them and in an adrenaline charged situation no matter how good you are things do not go as planned. I don't believe in cocking the gun or shucking and jiving with the slide action either. My guns are loaded, ready and only need the safety pushed to off. I have a dark carpeted room I would be coming out of and intruders would be on a hardwood floor back lit by my night lights on the porch, kitchen and living room. Advantage mine. I have a bright flash light on my night stand that I would use to illuminate and blind them, advantage mine. I practice defensive drills outside in my yard at ranges from 8 to 25 yards with multiple targets with both shotguns and .357 mag revolver on a regular basis. Advantage Mine.

What I give up in punch on the target I gain in my ability to see, identify and hit the target with a variety of weapons. I have done my own tests on the water jugs, dry wall, wet magazines 2x4's and as you saw the MAPP can. I know what my guns will do from 8 to 25 yards away. I don't want to think what would happen to them if they were only 10' away. Best choice maybe not but for my house it is the most practical choice and I really don't mind if boogerman goes running down the highway crying for his mommy after I shoot him if I have to shoot.

If I have to shoot two or three times then so be it, this is the wrong house for a boogerman to think I am going to run out of loaded guns or ammunition any time soon.

[skorpion]

I didn't realize you had a brother and sister residing within the same walls as you, Grump. The same walls that buckshot would easily fly right through! True that buckshot and shotguns in general (or any single type of firearm) are not the end-all answer for all situations.

[mrkalashnikov]

In all seriousness & not trying to be a smartass; I live in an old Victorian house with original shellac oak woodwork and plaster-on-lath walls. I've spent the last 20 years restoring the grand old lady & damn if I would damage my abode by spraying #00 buck or any other ballistic shot at some scumbag burglar or intruder.

I keep a loaded SIG 226 9MM with a Streamlite LED/laser attachment in my nightstand for unwelcome guests. Downstairs in my home office I have my RIA .45 1911 in my desk. I also have several loaded Kalashnikov variants squirreled around in various closet locations on 3 different levels, only to be used in case of extreme civil unrest or SHTF. Or if things get really ugly w/ multiple home invaders. Shotguns are great outdoors, imho but I really wouldn't want to use one indoors @ close range. Just my 2 cents.