I am not afraid of using a long gun at anytime. A long gun has its place and a rifle has been used for hunting and to protect family and self. I use many firearms that I have chosen the Glock and Sig Sauer out of them. The rifle includes from .30/,30 to .44 magnum. The ammo is a major factor that you have to be very careful and responsible every second when operating any firearm. Not only in memory do you need to follow your 4 Universal Safety Rules, but have then become a part of you like breathing, like breathing, not worry. I do not wish to put a hole through some ones home or hurt a person.
My Mossberg 500 home defense weapon because Its guaranteed to stop the intruder, if not by the sound of the slide racking, then the Slap ShotÂź sabot slugsâŠIve heard & seen too many times where someone still gets up from a handgunâ:us:
Slugs are not a good option for home defense unless your home is in a very isolated area where over penetration or a miss can never result in unintended casualties.
The more densely populated the area the smaller the projectile should be.
I live in a brick house that is located on the outskirts of suburbia, so the next closest residence is about 1/4 mile away & miss isnt what Im worried aboutâŠIts the HIT that I would have to make, but the safety of my family comes firstâŠ
I would not use bird shot in a home defense gun. There will be better and tighter patterning from buckshot, harder hits from buckshot, and both types have the ability to go through drywall, so regardless you still have to aim and be aware of your target and what is beyond.
âThe only reason for a hand gun is to fight your way to a good rifleâ modified from Clint Smith.
I keep a few things handy that can take care of business no matter where if I am still in the fight. Donât think I canât get to you on the other side of that brick wall. Just sayâin.
Sorry but that simply isnât true. In the home youâre looking at distances of 30â and less, not 30-50 yards like hunting.
The larger the diameter of the shot, the greater the energy and they higher the likelihood of unintended casualties due to over penetration, thatâs just simple ballistics.
As far as total energy on target or âknock downâ it has the same effect as larger shot fired at the same speed, same weight load.
At typical home defense distances 1-1.5oz of any size shot hitting center mass is not something someone is going to fight through.
Youâre not getting a really tight pattern with birdshot as with buckshot. I just patterned my home defense 12 gauge today, and threw in some birdshot as well. I did got incredible âgroupsâ with federal flight control 00 buck, and not near as good patterns with #2 goose loads. I disagree.
This is why I use buckshot.
This podcast might change your mind, some of the trainers featured primarily run defensive shotgun courses.
When I was younger, I was breaking in a rifle barrel and forgot to put my hearing protection on for one shot. The outdoor range had little cabins with 1/2 the wall down on the end we shot out of.
The rifle was a Ruger mini 30.
The sound from the shot caused physical pain and slight incapacitation for a few seconds⊠not to mention not hearing anything for a few minutes. I wouldnât want to be in that condition if more shots were needed, nor if I needed to communicate with family, police, lawyers, etc.
I donât know if being under stress when this happened would have had less of a negative effect. However, with only that one experience I limit my home defense to something with less decibels (e.g. handgun or handgun caliber).
I believe buckshot will do that. I do not believe that birdshot will stop a motivated attacker adequately.
Based on my personal research for my selection of what loads I defend myself and my family with, birdshot will not meet the 12 inch FBI ballistics gel test minimum, on the other hand 00 buck will get up to 14-16 inches of penetration on bare gel which is about the ballpark of most 9mm defensive ammo.
We will just have to agree to disagree on what load to use, but we can agree that knowing your target and what is beyond along with knowing good defensive positions in your home is important.
Your belief is completely unfounded as the demonstration video I provided shows.
Itâs not a matter of opinion, itâs a matter of basic physiology, physics and ballistics.
Is larger shot more effective? To a degree certainly but humans are not particularly difficult to stop and again, weâre talking about in home self defense and the dangers of collateral casualties due to over penetration.
At 10-20â feet any of them are going to put a fist sized hole through the middle of your chest regardless of shot size or choke.
If youâd watch the video I provided it shows you how effective all of the loads are and the benefits of the lighter loads with smaller shot where over penetration is a concern.
It takes no more than 3-4" of penetration to reach any of the bodyâs major blood vessels or organs and again, the total energy of 1-2oz of shot is tremendous compared to any common defensive handgun round.
A 1 1/8-1 1/4 oz load of shot traveling at 1300fps has approximately 2,000 Ft-lbs of energy on impact.
Put a single shot center mass with a load of 7.5âs into a bad guy and heâs done fighting and yet you greatly reduce the risk of collateral damages.
I have fired guns in close quarters without hearing protection and do not remember any ringing in my ears or physical discomfort while in the military. Not everyone reacts the same though.
But if you are comfortable with a handgun, then thatâs great!
