Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Maybe a shotgun is better for home defense...

My thoughts on a shotgun vs handgun-rifle for home defense.
I choose a shotgun. A Mossberg riot gun to be exact.

If you did a random survey of gun owners, 90% would tell you they were good or very good with a handgun. Most of them would be wrong. Same results with a rifle.
You need training. With a handgun or rifle, lots of training.
One can acquire basic shotgun skills much, much quicker.

I have the training and experience with handguns to claim to be very good, but I still choose a shotgun.

A home defense shooting most likely happens by surprise, at night when you are ½ asleep, and pumped up on adrenalin.
I want simple, instinctive and effective. A shotgun fit that bill better than a handgun/rifle.

“You still need to aim a shotgun”. Well yes and no. You really need to ‘aim” a handgun, and even trained professionals miss more than 50% of shots fired at bad guys. Just review police shootings.
With a shotgun, you just need to point and with a 12 inch pattern close counts.
Another point to consider, most exterior walls will stop anything smaller than 00 buckshot.
Most handgun rounds or any rifle will go right through and who know where it goes after that.

Some years back, I took my ten-year-old son shooting. He had never fired a shotgun in his life, but he wanted to try the “Riot gun”

"Your arms are not long enough to shoulder it, you’ll have to shoot from the hip".
"I don’t care, I want to shoot it".
"It’s heavy, and kicks like a mule".
"I don’t care, I want to shoot it".

I put a chest sized cardboard box 20 feet away and showed him how to work the action.
In less than five seconds, he hit the box solidly with all three shells, shredding it into confetti.

Like I said, not much training necessary.

The fact is, I am that good with a handgun. 10 years of shooting IPSC Action Pistol will do that.
But when something goes bump in the night, I’m reaching for that Mossberg riot gun.