Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Home defense input please

It ain't all that complicated...........

Just to ad, at bedroom distances the size of a shotgun pattern will be not much more than its bore diameter so that isn't helping anything. Same effect as the AR.

That said we generally have 3 in the bedroom, shotgun, AR and handgun. So we can grab whats needed.

Thankfully we don't live in a city and have no kids so rounds getting to the next room or out of the house are not an issue basically.

Others have a lot to worry about.

And back to shotguns, it would take body armor to defeat even a dove load across our bedroom.... but you still have to be able to precisely place a shot. Or shots. Regardless of choice.

birdshot is just wrong. You want to kill the fellow, not just pepper him. I load 00 Buck. You don't see any cops using bird shot. Or the military.

Sam, for the sake of clarity let me say that I'm talking about in-house SD. Were I on the front porch plinking at someone at distance I'd not suggest birdshot. Inside a residential structure of average size, say 1,000 to 2500 sq ft you aren't going to "pepper" someone with birdshot. They will be dead before they hit the floor, assuming center of mass/face shot placement. Shoot 'em in the lower abdomen/crotch/thighs and they will be rollin' around on the floor cryin' like the average democrat. I understand that many here have limited experience with shotguns, but I'm not in that camp. Average shotgun/choke will throw a pattern of about grapefruit to basketball size at 10-15 yards. #4-6 size shot will not bounce off the average tee shirt at that distance, not by a long shot, no pun intended.

Buckshot is fine, but do be aware that it will penetrate walls, both interior and dependent upon circumstances, exterior walls. You can minimize that potential with smaller shot, say #3 or #4 buck. It has the advantage of being useful on the front porch as well.

See the pig pic I posted previously. That particular gun accounted for 77 hogs over the course of about 2.5 years up in GA. The average porker won't stop #3 buck on a broadside shot and I was surprised to find out about that. It killed 3 pair of hogs with one shot for each pair and my Ex did one of those tricks on the front porch. By that I mean the hogs were on the front porch. Crazy girl threw the door open and commenced firing, putting 5 hogs down w/4 shots. The largest was about 200#.

I know a clown up in Georgia that killed an 8 pt buck deer with a load of #8 shot at about 20' distance. He said it collapsed and never twitched after the shot. It isn't something I would have considered doing, but.... Birdshot at close range is deadly stuff, don't ever doubt that.

Compact, reliable, high capacity and easy to shoot, you can't beat a Beretta CX-4 Storm in 9mm, 40 S&W or 45 ACP...

Um, our bedroom must be tiny then, but its spacious to us. Maybe 16 feet 16 feet. Go shoot a dove load at 16 feet once... I'll pretty well guarantee a human won't be peppered...

Cops and military have guns set up for longer shots.

Actually if folks are saying buckshot is best for penetration, at 16 feet you could really just use a slug too.

My buckshot for deer and pigs, is not. birdshot, but the ranges are further. By far. Then I swap to 3 inch or better, #4 plated buck if possible, sometimes a hare bigger, typically no bigger than 1.

Oops, DD... I drove otu to check on a brush fire close to us here in Talkeetna. You post while I was gone, I never refreshed... What Dan said!

Saw a man get shot in the chest with a .410 at about 10'. Don't know for certain what the load was, but highly doubt it was buckshot. He went down ASAP and drew his last breath in short order. Entrance hole about the size of a quarter.

I keep 00 in the shotty, but we are rural.

If buckshot isn't viable, why not look at some of the BB shot in waterfowl or coyote loads. It kind of splits the difference, but if you look up the penetration tests, it does a lot better than birdshot.

Just another consideration. Look at a photo realistic target w/ the badguy behind a hostage w/ only his head showing. Shoot this target w/ your shotgun at 10 yards then extrapolate the results to potential distances available in your home. We used to use an MGM IPSC hostage steel target as a reality check in advanced classes and it proves very humbling.

The reality is that unless your wife really likes to shoot and is willing to practice a lot, dryfire w/ regularity and practice scenarios at home she would be best served w/ a pistol caliber carbine equipped w/ a red dot sight that can be left on for extended periods of time. That being said any gun is better than none, and training and practice will be the factors that most influence the outcome.


mike r

OKl, I"m gonna settle this once and for all.



Y'all have a happy 4th and quit thinkin' so hard!

DD

Details on the stock finish used?

https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-...es/classic-gunstock-finish-prod9817.aspx

Pilkington Red and a bit of linseed oil.

Take a hard look at a Ruger PC9 set up for Glock magazines. The barrels are already threaded for a can.

Shotty. Geez, even when twig is working someone else has to use his vernacular... Shotgun. ONE extra letter. Rant off. LOL. Have a great 4th!

I know it annoys some folks.....just a little bait casting........grin

You have a great 4th too!

When I was a kid I used to lay in bed with a spring powered Daisy BB pistol and use my big toenail as a target. BBs won't penetrate my armor plated big toenails.

Mom yelled at me when the Kirby sucked them up later on. I never could find them all.

I bought a box of these out of curiosity. They cause quite a commotion at about 10 yards, blasting cardboard boxes. About a 10" pattern at 10 yards, cylinder bore.

That's just a little over 2,600 fpe, won't hardly hurt a flea.

I disagree with all of this.

At inside the home ranges a handgun is still the better option. There are just too many times where you need to use one hand for other things and it is too easy for an intruder to wrestle a long gun away from you. You don't need a lot of accuracy at ranges measured in single digit feet.

But if you're gonna use a long gun a 16" AR rifle in 223/5.56 is the way to go. At inside the home ranges a shotgun has no pattern. It has to be aimed just like a rifle. Shotguns loaded with anything that will stop a man will have 300 WM recoil levels. Even a 20 ga. In guns of equal weight a 20 recoils less, but a typical 20 is at least 1 pound lighter and recoils just as much or more. A semi in 223/5.56 has 1/6 the recoil, and 6X the ammo capacity of most shotguns. A softpoint 223 round is LESS likely to over penetrate and hit someone in another room than shotgun or handgun rounds. That includes birdshot. It is the safest option in this regard.

Another option is a pistol caliber carbine. I still like an AR better, but can see the appeal of a carbine in 9mm, 40, or 45.

Where a shotgun shines is OUTSIDE at ranges between 15-50 yards where the pattern of BUCKSHOT can be utilized to make it easier to hit moving targets. At closer, or longer ranges a rifle is a much better option. BIrdshot is for practice or small birds.