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

I'll make you a deal, promise to buy one, enter local matches, and share your results with me, and I'll do the same.

Back in college, we'd shoot flies off the wall with 22 LRs. We'd run out of .22s on occasion, so we'd dump the pellets out of some quail loads, and fire the wads at the flies. Those wads never once failed to penetrate sheetrock. That's my way of saying, shotguns have serious potential, especially at self defense range.

Shotguns have made the absolutely nastiest wounds, on people or critters I have ever seen and yes: the sound of a pump being racked is a psychological deterrent. I've seen it. Maybe not to someone whacked out on meth, but to anyone resembling sober it can very possibly have a guy avoiding a lot of paperwork, lawyer troubles and mental issues. Killing anyone who breaks in may sound good in theory but I'll bet $ most folks who are unfortunately put into that situation have different afterthoughts...Lethal shot absolutely has it's place, but I think the non-lethal loads do too.

Probably 10-12 years ago, some Rambo near my hometown shot at a burglar in his home, fully intent on killing him and ended up shooting and killing a family member in the next room over. I can't remember if it was with a shotgun or rifle, or any specifics about the situation, but Rambo committed suicide a while later. Chew on that for a while.

Made me think the average homeowner might do better with a gauge as their choice for home protection.

Which class did you take w/ him? Or any trainer?

PCC or, in my case a pc with a brace! I've been shooting a gen 2 Sig MPX. Love the thing. Accurate as all get out to any distance you're likely to find in a house. Pleasant to shoot.

Don't get me wrong, I've been shooting every kinda Clay's I could find for two decades. But I can't get myself to buy an 18 inch barrel when even the 3-gunners recommend 26. I have two stories and six other people in the house. I need both accuracy, and fast follow ups. PCC or braced equivalent for me.
Pete

P.S., will probably pick up an M2 for local competition so my mind could change. It will be a 26.

Ted, it sounds like you shot a lot of wads in college. Good times!! In high school we found you could cut the crimps off a case, put a new 209 in, then seat a wad upside down and it shot pretty good.

Bb

Squill as described by the once famous forum beast known as Big Mortie are commonly called squirrel by most folks. As I recall he used a .30-06 to hunt them.

DD, I use a 20 with low base dove load 6s for cat squirrels and blue quail. Quite adequate to 30 yds.

People with 12ga high base 7.5s wont beat me on blue quail. They may put more down with broken wings, but they wont recover most of those. They cant run through the weeds, grass and brush fast enough to catch them or get close enough for an effective ground shot most of the time.

I do switch from IC to IM though for squirrels.

I was sitting with a friend in the woods for squirrels with a bud from S Texas who was new to the game once when a big spike walked to withing about 25 yards. He shot it in the throat patch with high brass 6s from a 12 and it went down right there.

It occurred to me that no one had mentioned a 9mm carbine then I had to look up what a Sig MPX was.

Seems like the right one could have all the ease of use of an AR without the muzzle blast.

Well duh....you think I was actually reading there or something?

I honestly don't know how I survived high school, between the beer and guns, and all the stuff I learned. God I miss those days

I don't know, Beav.

I am not qualified to comment on the latest and greatest, so I just listen to those that are not stuck in the past.

Over the years I've been reading, listening, and loosely keeping mental notes on what instructors recommend. These are guys that kicked doors down for a living. And now they teach the rest of us.

From what I have filed away in my brain, these guys seem to say that there isn't a semi-auto shotgun that has been proven reliable. Especially with some of the extended mag tubes.

And for pump shotguns, they see people struggle under stress. Stress in class.

They all seem to recommend an AR15, as being more reliable and easier for Joe-average or Jane-average to operate, in defense of their home.

A couple more gems.

Neat video. I think any shotgun is just fine for home defense. Within the confines of the average house, BB shot is probably more than adequate. In fact, if someone gets shot in the face with a .410 and no. 4's, his day is probably done. The only drawback to the shotgun at all is whether or not it is ready, at hand, when you need it. GD

You guys have a strange outlook on things.

I don't want to kill anybody.

Stars & Bars working just fine for me here.




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