Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire SKS for home protection?

I trust this guy's results.

http://www.theboxotruth.com/the-box-o-truth-14-rifles-shotguns-and-walls/

From his conclusions: "00 Buck penetrates 4 walls with ease. It is a great �Stopping� round, but there is a price to pay. Until someone invents a �Phaser� like on Star Trek, anything that will stop a bad guy, will also penetrate several walls."



I've thought of a 10/22 as well, in my younger days I even recommended it to a guy to buy for his wife. And while it does have the advantage of being light and maneuverable, no recoil to speak of and has 10 shots on demand, I have one big problem. What bad guy is going to stand still and let you take 10 shots at him? I want something that will incapacitate with the first shot - as much as possible.

After doing several rounds of buckshot tests (patterning only at 7, 15 and 25 yards) from a cylinder choked 18" barrel and an IC choked 28" barrel, my 12 gauge Hall Monitor is loaded with Federal Personal Defense 00 buck with their Flite Control wad. That wad really works, even from a cylinder choke. It produces a tight pattern even at 25 yards. I've been trying to find the #4 buck version but it's pretty scarce, I'm not sure they even make it any more. Until then I'll use the 00.

My thinking is:
A. I'm not relying on the spread of buckshot to make up for bad aim. Instead, I want the massive trauma of multiple wounds in a small area. To put it as bluntly as possible, I want to smash that MF'ing SOB with as much force as possible,I want to put his ass down NOW with the very first shot. The only reason I have a shotgun is that an M2 .50 cal. takes up too much space in the bedroom and shaped charge warheads from anti-tank weapons nullify my homeowner's insurance.

B. While I have no way to test this and don't want one, my hope is that the bad guy serves as enough of a backstop to slow down the buckshot enough that I don't have to worry about penetration through drywall. Again, I don't want a wide spread of shot with errant pellets going hither and yon, I want a tight pattern to blow a BFH in the BG.



I still have one more round of buckshot testing to go but no one makes an 18" or 20" barrel for an 870 that uses screw in chokes and doesn't have rifle sights, so I may have to just get a 20" rifle sighted deer barrel. I want to try some standard #4 buck with IC and modified tubes to see how that patterns. If it's tight enough I may switch to that.


Standard 00 buckshot - Olin "Military Grade", at 7 yards from a cylinder bore.




Federal Personal Defense copper plated 00 (1145 fps) at 7 yards from that same cylinder bore, the pattern on the upper right. Lower left is Federal Premium Max - same copper plated 00 and same wad but 1300 fps and heavier recoil. If it comes down to shooting someone to save my life - a very serious business despite the banter tossed around here - I want to blow the wound equivalent of a 3.00 or 4.00 caliber hole in my assailant.