A recurring topic, dealt with in some depth here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaR1EVybUgc. My first two shots out of a 14" barrel 12 ga. are 1 1/4 oz #6 Duck and Pheasant loads. Next three are #4 Buck. But that is only a backup. Remember that any load out of any shotgun, even with a cylinder bore, spreads no more than 1" per yard (ballpark), and that at across-the-living-room distance of 21 feet (7 yards) your pattern is only 7" wide. Lesson: you gain no more spread advantage from a shotgun indoors than shooting 6 rounds out of a revolver. Accuracy is still key. Last, even with the reduced down-the-line penetration, would you really want your infant lying in a crib on the other side of the wall, counting on those little #6 pellets not to make it through? Not me. First and foremost is mentally mapping your fields of fire from every likely shooting position in the house. A 9mm , or a 5.56, could end up 3 walls away in your daughter's bedroom. Shoot only where you know your fields of fire. My bedside gun is a Glock 17 with a Glock light . Finger on the button, whatever's in the center of the beam is a hit. Shoot only if you have identified the target (not your 17 year old son coming home late) and your field of fire is safe. If not, move until it is--or dont shoot.
