What do you load your home defense shotgun with?

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I keep my Winchester loaded with 5 rounds of 6 pellet 00 2 1/4" Herters mini buck. I prefer the lower recoil as I tend to get slide bite with high recoiling loads due to the SXP's auto cycling feature and the fact that I've mounted a picatinny forend, and I worry about wearing the spring out in my mag tube by keeping it loaded for such long periods of time so I appreciate the shorter length.
 
In this video not even walls will help the poor wittle intruder. But I use a revolver for home defense.


 
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I am split between #1 buck and #00 buck, but #00 is generally easier to find and cheaper when I locate it. Empty chamber, full magazine, ESSTAC shotgun card velcroed to the left side of the receiver. More cards are close at hand. There may or may not be a buttcuff on the stock with five more rounds available, depending which shotgun I lay my hands on.
 
00 buck in cruiser ready condition. Loaded magazine tube, empty chamber, slide unlocked, safety off
 
In this video not even walls will help the poor wittle intruder. But I use a revolver for home defense.



Interior walls are typically more than 20" apart.
If you use a load that does not penetrate how do you know if it will stop a 250 lb attacker wearing heavy clothing?
I would have liked to have seen the barrier penetration in dry wall after 00 buck hit 16" of ballistic gel with 4 layers of denim.
 
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I use slugs in my shotgun. A shotgun is definitely a weapon where you need to worry about over penetration in walls if you're using any type of load that is suitable for defense against humans. But, to be perfectly honest, any load for any gun that is suitable for use against a human is also going to be able to penetrate wall board, so keep that in mind. My shotgun isn't my primary home defense gun, but I like slugs when I do use a shotgun against large game/people.
 
Watch at 2:39 they put gel behind the drywall showing how it penetrates with buck and ball. The slug penetrated through the entire 34 inches of gel.

I posted this video not because I agree with the guy who made it but it shows how devastating a shotgun can be. Of course there are a bunch of videos that shows the same thing.
 
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Mossberg 500 Bantam 20 gauge. Four rounds of Remington 2 3/4 #4 buck, followed by two 2 3/4 slugs.
 
I love the over penetration trolls. They are everywhere nowadays. An eight year old boy can punch through drywall. Using penetration through drywall as your criteria for self defense is foolish. Under penetration will get you killed. I stand by my assertion that shotguns are fine if you are trained and proficient in them but shouldn't be loaded with anything smaller than #4 buck if your life is on the line. I've shot A LOT of birdshot at a lot of different things, living and otherwise, and NEVER been impressed with its capabilities. I had a friend in college that had a pissed off landowner who apparently thought a popular walking/biking trail was on his property shoot him (my friend) and his black lab with birdshot from like 30 yards away and it didn't hardly break skin. I realize 30 yards is quite a bit farther than we are planning on shooting in home defense, but again, I've shot ground squirrels with birdshot through a 12 gauge with an Extra Full turkey choke at ranges I have inside my house and still had the ground squirrels scurry down their holes. If it can't stop a one and a half pound rodent, why are we advocating it for home defense against apex predators weighing 250 pounds? O yeah, because it doesn't penetrate as much drywall :scrutiny:
 
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#4 BUCK, I am very concerned with penetration issues. My home is designed in such a way that shots fired will go into the garage. My wife parks her Mercury Grand Marquis in the garage and that car is no longer being made. If I ruin the car that means that I would have to foot the bill for a new Lincoln Continental...gives me nightmares.
 
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I don't currently have a shotgun loaded for SD purposes. When I did, my father told me to load it the way his radio operator kept his loaded in Vietnam; three 00 buck followed by two slugs. It seemed logical, but I don't know whether it was based actual combat experience since my father was commanding a port and the only units they had that regularly saw action were the gun trucks that escorted the truck convoys.
 
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