No aiming needed with the shot, that 255 bullet has a lot of air around it. A 20" pattern of lead makes shooting in the dark in a panic and without any measurable recoil quite a nice load in the house where people in other rooms are often likely. A stressed out horrified and panic'd woman awakened out of a sound sleep without much experience holding the gun shaking like crazy might not actually have the calm precision of the experts in self defense so common on internet websites!
Also, discharging a gun inside a house, actually inside a room in a house, will deafen you for quite some time, days. It's also quite the effect on an intruder. There are plenty of other people down the road without guns in the house. You will experience a muzzle blast of pressure on your face and body that does not occur outside or even at indoor ranges for the most part. That concussion even if you miss the target is quite impressive.
Remember I lived in South Africa, home intruders are not the exception. My business partners 70 year old parents were executed while sleeping in the master bedroom both shot in the head. The mother lived about another week before dying in hospital. Just so they could be robbed without interruption. I could post up a number of photo's of what a head looks like when shot with a handgun bullet, shotgun blast or even one with a 308. I have them on my Iphone right now. It's simply to disgusting to actually put on this site.
I'm not speaking from a "what if" scenario that is remotely possible. I'm speaking from seeing this in person several times, many times, or better stated too many times! Then calling the SAPs only to tell me they have no fuel allotment remaining so I'm on my own. Yet another time, I had the intruders zip tied hands behind the back for 6 hours until the SAP's arrived. Only then to be scolded for wasting their time to drive all the way here when I have a back hoe parked in plain sight!
My opinions are not guess work and theory....... I lived in these conditions for a good portion of my adult life. Google South African Farm murders and then choose images or read about it. Hundreds of remote locations a year are attacked probably on a daily basis. Understanding home defense is not a hobby or interesting chit chat, is actually real life and death conditions.
Wait...you're using this for self defense against humans?
I see you're convinced that you're right about this, but I would recommend you look at some ballistics gelatin tests with 7.5 shot from a 12ga...It's very unimpressive. From a handgun cartridge, penetration will stay much the same, but with much less shot.
In all my years as a Paramedic, I have never once seen anyone killed by birdshot from a shotgun (or handgun for that matter). I've seen some nasty wounds, and some guys in a good deal of pain, but every last one of them could have got up and resumed the fight had they wanted to.
