Many years ago, when running deer with dogs was legal in Texas and shotguns with buckshot were the prefered weapons, I came to some conclutions that I feel are valid for self defense purposes as well.
First is that buckshot is best used at very close range.....preferably under 25 yards or so. It can be effective at longer ranges but even the best patterning guns begin to spread the pellets pretty thin at more than 25 yards. For deer or self defense you want every pellet to strike in the "kill zone" and that means a spread of no more than 8-10". It matters not how many pellets strike in a 30" circle as many (maybe most) will strike "fringe" areas and not be effective killers. This is not a problem at all for typical self defense use as it would take an extreemely big room to offer a 25 yard shot inside a home.
In fact, with #4 Buckshot the very best patters are often had with a modified or even full choke.
endangering unintended targets.
I have not found this to be true. Specialized buckshot chokes are not usually full but rather modified choke at tightest. I got my best patterns ever with a patternmaster choke tube but they are not compatible with slugs and until recently, we could not hunt lions with buckshot so I kept a slug ready in case I called in a lion. I have killed a few deer with buck and slugs but not under the classic conditions for which they were intended, all were over 100 yards and were probably more luck than anything.
I used 000 towards the end because I felt like even if I got one pellet in I wanted it to make a big hole. I also felt it was better on cars than the smaller stuff and so I just loaded one type of shell.
