itppowell, I know exactly what you are aiming at with the posts about "squirrel shot" for self defense.
At 15 feet (which is a LOT more likely to be true inside a house than a 20+ yard shot) it makes little difference what load you are using....they all hit hard. The "goal" it must be remembered is to "stop" the shootee.....not nessisarily to kill him (although killing would be a very nice side benifit).
That's why I would choose a load of #4 Buck because of it's potential for "lethal" results, but I can't really say it would hit any harder than a load of #8's (or even rubber buckshot which is more effective than many believe at close range).
I'm not trying to argue with the effectiveness of OO or OOO loads in killing power, just that smaller buckshot has proven (to me at least) to be more effective at ranges of less than 25 yards.
Police and military agencies don't choose heavy pellets because of their superiority at close range, but rather because they know these loads may (and most often are) used at longer ranges. At 40+ yards (where police weapons are likely to be used) individual pellet energy and penetration become a very important factor where a single pellet strike might be the deciding factor in a gunfight. For typical self defense, this is not the case.
