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

Those were the days. I loved the smell of Federal paper target loads fired on the skeet range.

I bought an 870 tac 14 20 gauge a few months ago but didn't get around to getting and 20 gauge buckshot before the virus hit.

I have a box of 1 ounce #6 pheasant loads sitting near it. They might be ok at in house range. I'd like to get a pistol brace for it instead of the little pistol grip it came with. I'm not sure if its legal to change it out though. The law on these isn't that clear to me.

Bb

You can put the brace on it and it makes a nice light handy little defender out of it. Much easier to shoot too. I built one of the Mossberg versions for a buddy and it shot great. The 870 is better in my opinion because you can reach the safety with your shooting hand.

I noticed several posters load a birdshot for the first round and then follow that up with buckshot. What is the point of that?

I do. Where I live you are more apt to need your shotgun for a critter than a kneeegar.

I follow the advice that was given to me by my long-dead best friend back in the early 80's. He was a retired Marine armorer who had worked as a cop and owned a gun store in a bad neighborhood. He said 12 GA was all you needed-- 5 shot pump or auto. He said your first shot will be coming out of sleep; you will be groggy. The perp will not be expecting it. Load low-brass #6 squirrel load in the chamber. Most times, this is enough. At close range, a round of low-brass #6 hits a perp at close range as a single mass, even from an open choke. If you're on target and hit the center of mass, it takes out heart or lung or whatever and does not exit. This may not be fatal, but it is the single most important thing that has happened to the perp all day, and it will be the only thing on his mind from then on. If you're lucky, that's all you need. The perp flees and does the favor of bleeding out somewhere else than your living room. If you miss, low-brass #6 will still penetrate an interior wall, but it won't wreck the place. Missing on the first shot is common. You're still groggy. However, the sound works on both you and the perp. Being in a room when a 12 GA goes off will clarify your mind as well as the perp's. The perp will now be doing everything he can to leave. You'll be sharp as a tack.

The next round should be #4 Buck. This is enough to kill, but now the perp is on the move as well. You should be withdrawing to an easily defensible room. The next 2 rounds should be #00 or #000 Buck. You're backing into your bathroom or back bedroom; the perp is now pursuing you. The vectors are now clear and linear. If this fool is stupid enough to pursue you, it's time to bring up the artillery. Your last round should be deer slug. This is for when you've locked yourself in the bathroom, and the door rattles. Aim through the door and finish the job.

You've filled 2 18 wheelers full of game and never had to shoot anything twice with a shotgun?

Did it sound like I was stuttering?

My dad was a rather meticulous teacher and taught me well. I have on a few occasions had to wring a few bird necks.

Guys, this racking the slide, slamming a bolt home on a semi, rubber bullets chit has got to go, if you're alone, job one is staying alive, if your wife, kids, grandkids are in the residence, job one is keeping them alive, ANYTHING that has breached your home doesn't even need to be able to hear you release the safety.

I have a 12 gauge shotgun in the bedroom for my home defense gun. If I can hit a rabbit that bolted. A squirrel running down a treelimb. Or a.dove zigzaging. I am certain I can center a man in the hallway. I feel pretty certain #4 Buck will end the threat at < 20 feet. My 90 pound German Shepherd dog that sleeps at the foot of the bed will have them bayed when they come in. She hears things out in the street and yard that we could never hear. I keep my shotgun in a rack I built 30 years ago for the purpose. I hope I never have to try it's effectiveness.

My Gramps left camp with an A5, cap, coat and a knife, he would shoot deer out of their beds, yes, I believe You!

Agreed. Along with some other good advice from Hotrod_Lincoln, Doc Rocket, and 260Remguy. Ironic that the guy with actual firsthand experience, with a positive outcome, is largely lost in an otherwise entertaining discussion.

Ah, you are a psycho, getting upset when someone asks about what you posted. That explains why you cannot accept that sometimes things don't die when shot with a shotgun and must be shot again. You have plenty of company. Lots of psychos on the Fire.

Wetting pants.

That reminds me of a story an instructor told us in the academy years ago.

Short version; he was was waiting in a house with the female RP for a would be rapist/stalker. The guy came to the door, she opened the door and the instructor was standing there with her. Instructor racked the slide, the perp was stunned and wet himself.

Great advice super T. As a civilian, if you believe your life is in grave danger, there is only one correct response; to stop the threat. Advice about warning shots and shooting to injure (like "taking their legs out") is really bad advice.

If you are unlucky enough to have to use deadly force to defend yourself, even the best outcome (stopping the threat and staying out of jail) will certainly turn your life upside down and have severe costs if you have to defend yourself in the courts.

*Edited to add: In many states or localities, civilians have the obligation to retreat before using deadly force. That is not so everywhere, and some "retreat" states, like Michigan, have since passed castle doctrine laws that give standing to the concept that your home is your castle and so you do need to retreat while defending your home. I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice; your laws, beliefs, and situation will surely differ.

Why do you come here then? DD posts the truth and knows more about chitt that kills then you will ever know. You obviously have zero idea of what a shotgun can and cannot do.

Upset? Surely you jest.

See my sig line. The first one.

From the Group W bench,

DD

^^^This. Dad found out the shotgun by my bed was always hot, round chambered, and asked me why. Said chamber empty was safer, and the intruder gets the warning of hearing that slide rack. I said, “Exactly”. If one breaks into my home, the last thing they will get is a warning. The first thing they will see is a disorienting and momentary blast of light, and if they are a threat, the immediate result will be muzzle blast. The only thing that may prevent that follow up is if the light identifies one as less than a mortal threat, such as a disoriented person from meds or similar, or being a member of the family or a friend. The latter group all knows better than to break in, and the former group would be assessed on a pretty harsh scale. But things happen, and I am willing to take that half a second to identify what I am fixing to snatch the life out of.

Years ago, as a young man, I was renting a room from a lady I worked with, and I usually left for work at around 5 am. So one morning in particular, I walk out the door, and as I turn to lock it behind me, I hear someone rack a slide on a shotgun in the dark. The sound came from the driveway around the corner of the house. That gets your attention.

About two seconds later, I am looking at a guy standing there in the light of my Surefire, across the sights of my Glock, and he is blinded and hearing some yahoo screaming at him to drop the weapon. Which he does immediately. About this time, I notice he is all geared up in camo, and my brain realizes it’s turkey season. Turns out he is the landlady’s son in law, coming to turkey hunt on her place. She never mentioned it to me.

Both of us were a bit frazzled after that, but he was pretty understanding about the whole thing, and the landlady was apologetic about it. All of us were simply glad that nobody got hurt or killed. It cemented in my mind early on the importance of a proper light being properly employed with a weapon, as well as the requirement to identify the target prior to opening fire. There are a million things that can happen, many of them may seem like a threat, but turn out to be something else entirely. The slim chance of being killed by taking a moment to identify your target in such situations is far less of a concern to me than living life having taken the life of someone who was no threat to me.

Apologies.