Ideas for self-defense shotgun loads?

squirrels said:

You can punch your fist through two layers of drywall. Anything that is stopped by an interior wall is insufficient for a home invasion, unless you get lucky and the bad guy gets "deterred", either by the sound or the sting.

Your protection against overpenetration and innocent victims is your own situational awareness. If you need your ammo to compensate for your lack of awareness, you shouldn't be using a gun.

BTW, in case there's some confusion about the "spread" of shotguns, at home-invasion distances, even unchoked, the round doesn't have enough time to spread. You can verify this at the range. The "just shoot in the general direction" assertion is a myth...you have to aim to hit.

Click to expand...

Augie said:

I'm of the opinion that in the OP's scenario the 8 1/2's worked great, the threat disappeared, no blood to clean up, not going to get arrested or sued, sounds like an ideal outcome.

Click to expand...

alucard0822 said:

Unfortunately bad guys are tougher than drywall, so any load worth shooting at a threat will also go through drywall. It's been discussed countless times, along with bird shot being for birds, just won't reliably stop a threat unless they run away as shown in the OP's story. Over-penetration is blown out of proportion in the vast majority of cases IMO, and there are few if any circumstances where you would want to handicap your defensive choices in fear of it. It does pay to know your target and what is beyond it, but you stand a good chance of throwing several rounds with most being clear misses. It's best to plan a place to dig in, and an area relatively safe to fire twards in advance, and use something effective and controllable, so you will probably have to fire fewer rounds.

Much safer IMO to send a slug or two than dump a mag of 22s or birdshot. In most instances where there are lots of people only a wall or two away, like an apartment, an AR in 5.56 with plain FMJ is preferable to most any shotgun or handgun load. Small fast bullets hit and break up soon after impact, they are effective when all that happens inside a badguy's chest, but the small fragments are relatively safe after going through a couple layers of drywall. For me in my house, I opt for managed recoil slugs or 7.62X39 from a long gun, or my CCW handgun if I can't get to one.

Click to expand...

“Some people protect their homes. If you come by and want to rob, people that's what you get. He probably won’t come back, but if he does, we'll handle that then," Reynolds said.

Click to expand...

basscat said:

Totally agree. The idea of home defense is to eliminate the threat, not always to kill. Sounds like it was a perfect outcome.

Click to expand...

No one was killed needlessly, and hopefully some idiot learned a lesson about breaking into ONE house at least.

Docster said:

Yes it has; seems to come up regularly. However in this case, it seems to have ended the threat. Looking closely at the photos, it's really hard to tell if the perp was actually hit. The glass was broken by the perp, but the blinds don't look like they've been hit with much especially considering it was a 12 gauge. Either way, the perp was off and running after discharge of the weapon.

Fortunately it happened in Texas where the homeowner is generally safe. If it happened in Maryland, and the perp was injured or killed, the homeowner would be in jail. In Maryland perhaps it would be better that the perp wasn't killed and the threat neutralized just from the blast? Sometimes just the presence of a gun (or it's sound).......

Click to expand...

12 Gauge

If you simply want to know the best defense load, go out and buy: 12 gauge, 2-3/4" shell, number 1, 0, or 00 buckshot. You shall live happily ever after, as this is the most effective man-stopping firearm cartridge yet devised by man. I recommend the Federal Classic, Winchester Super-X or Remington Express loads as the most useful buckshot defense rounds. Just one of these 00 rounds is almost like a nine-round burst from a submachine gun, with every round hitting.

Click to expand...

Two things to keep in mind about birdshot. The first is that birdshot is as lethal as buckshot at very close range and ineffectual at long (shotgun) range, which are good reasons to avoid its use except in special circumstances. Don't believe for a second that you can just wound someone with birdshot and he'll go on to live another day. If you aren't justified in killing a man, you aren't justified in wounding him, either. Never shoot to wound.

Click to expand...