Home defense shotgun loads

[Wildthang]

The other day I realized that for my Remington 1100 semi auto shotgun, I only had 3 boxes of skeet loads, and then the thought occured to me that since Kyrat always insists that a shotgun is the perfect defense gun, I had better gets some ammo for it.
So I got on the internet and began reading up on shotgun defense loads. Most say 00 buck is the king, some say 00 buck goes through walls and are dangerous for in house defense. Some say #4 is best, and some say to load 00 in the front, and slugs in the back of the magazine.
So my thinking is that since i am in the direct flight path of thousands of geese flocks flying to Lake Eerie, why would #4 goose loads do the job? I think even #7 bird shot would do the job within 20 feet, but since #4 is good for geese, I bought a case of that.
So did I make the right decision:

[crashdive123]

I use 00 for mine.

[hunter63]

00 buck as well, but have no doubt that #4's would do a number at 20 ft.

I have heard a lot of stuff, from #8 to slugs.....the 00 buck is kinda of a hold over from Grampa days, he never did say why.

Rem 1100 being an auto loader, you have destroyed the meanest, nastiest way a shot gun can be used....racking a round in with a pump, ...bad guys wet them selves and fall down whimpering for mercy...of course you know this part, Right?...and are 'dancing with who ya brung"

[rebel]

I picked up a box of Winchester pdx1 12 from Walmart. http://www.winchester.com/Products/N...s/pdx1-12.aspx
It reminds me of the "buck and ball" used during the American civil war.

[kyratshooter]

Is it steel or hevi-shot?

Can't use lead on geese if I remember right.

#4 is good for geese, coyotes, rabbits and would cause intruders to wish they were elsewhere. Back in the depression my people were buying thir shotgun shells two at a time and spending money on 00buck was not something they would do. I never remember any of them thinking #4,5,6 would not protect the family. Never remember any of them keeping buckshot.

Right now my 12ga is setting here with a #4 first up followed by 000 buck. I like getting the 12 pellets instead of 9 you get with 00.

I load this way for the coyote I am intent on killing. He is always moving like greased lightening so I figure the #4 will give good pattern for the first shot and the 000buck will carry to the far side of the yard for followup shots. I am using a super full turkey choke because I want all the shot in that critter I can get.

I am partial to tight patterns for defense guns. I want all those pellets in the target and not whistling past. You are not going to cover the whole world with a cylinder bore anyway, so get all the shot into the target you can. Even my short barrel shotguns have choke, 'cept for that one and it's not mine, I never saw it before in my life.

I have also done some good work on big animals with #3 buck in 20 ga loadings. I would prefer that in 12 ga to anything available over the counter. You would probably get 25-30 .25 caliber pellets in a 3" shell. Only way to get that would be to load it yourself.

As far as the sound thing goes, I think I remember the 1100 making a distinct sound when it chambers a round!

Then there is the sound a double barrel makes when you drop the shells in the empty chambers, sort of a sick sucking sound followed by the breech closing.

[mwp]

Just remember that from a high brass 12 gauge the wadding alone at 4-6 feet will go through a sheet rock interior wall and can kill a man at close range.

[Seniorman]

The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, the largest sheriff's department in the world, patrols some of the "meanest streets" in the United States. LASD issues its Deputies 12 gauge #4 buckshot for their pump shotguns. That load works quite well for those Deputies in some very dicey and dangerous situations.

At normal room distances, any of the buckshot loads will do just fine so long as you shoot accurately. Shoot accurately and you won't have to worry about blowing out the wall and killing your kid in the next room. I think your #4 geese loads would also be very effective on a bad guy at normal room distances, too. Unless he were wearing body armor. Then, none of the stuff listed so far will penetrate a vest. But very very few bad guys who break into your home wear bullet resistant vests.

FWIW.

S.M.

[Wildthang]

Thanks guys, I figured what I bought would work, and by the way the #4's are steel shot which are legal for geese. I love to buy things that are dual purpose, and some day I may have to start eating goose if times get bad. I swear there are more geese flying over this place than I have ever seen anywhere else in my life. I even have those giant snow geese that land in the fields around my house. You could make several meals out of just one of those things.

[Seniorman]

WildThang, something I forgot to mention and it is extremely important! For home self defense, no matter which shotgun load you choose, you must pattern that load at whatever is the longest room distance in your home at which you might have to shoot an intruder.

Take some taped together newspaper sheets, or butcher's paper, or large pieces of cardboard, etc., and at the range, place them on a stand at the distance of your longest room shot. Aim carefully at the center point, fire a shell and note exactly the center of the pattern and shot displacement. Change the paper and do it again. Three times and you'll know exactly where that load shoots according to your aim, your shotgun and the density of its pattern.

I never cease to be amazed at the amount of "gun people" who still seem to believe that movie myth of "Just point that ol' 12 bore somewhere in the vicinity of the bad guy, cap it off and you'll wipe out the whole room, har har har." That's absolute, utter nonsense, promulgated by a bunch of very ignorant people who know nothing about shotguns or shotgun patterning.

There is a general rule -- although it is not written in concrete -- that the pellets will spread approximately one inch for every yard to the target. There are certain exceptions, of course, but that is pretty close to most shotgun shells.

I strongly suggest you not neglect this. (That goes for anyone here who uses a shotgun for home defense.)

S.M.

[Wildthang]

WildThang, something I forgot to mention and it is extremely important! For home self defense, no matter which shotgun load you choose, you must pattern that load at whatever is the longest room distance in your home at which you might have to shoot an intruder.

Take some taped together newspaper sheets, or butcher's paper, or large pieces of cardboard, etc., and at the range, place them on a stand at the distance of your longest room shot. Aim carefully at the center point, fire a shell and note exactly the center of the pattern and shot displacement. Change the paper and do it again. Three times and you'll know exactly where that load shoots according to your aim, your shotgun and the density of its pattern.

I never cease to be amazed at the amount of "gun people" who still seem to believe that movie myth of "Just point that ol' 12 bore somewhere in the vicinity of the bad guy, cap it off and you'll wipe out the whole room, har har har." That's absolute, utter nonsense, promulgated by a bunch of very ignorant people who know nothing about shotguns or shotgun patterning.

There is a general rule -- although it is not written in concrete -- that the pellets will spread approximately one inch for every yard to the target. There are certain exceptions, of course, but that is pretty close to most shotgun shells.

I strongly suggest you not neglect this. (That goes for anyone here who uses a shotgun for home defense.)

S.M.

Yeah that is definately good advice, and I always assume in case I don't get to range test a shotgun that it will hold an approximate pattern the size of a dinner plate or smaller at about 20 yards. I always take careful aim with any firarm and never assume the rough point and shoot method with any type of firearm. I have shot a lot of skeet with this gun so a quick and accurate aim is pretty much automatic with me. I will do the pattern test just so I know................thanks!

[kyratshooter]

The inch per yard rule applies to a straight cylinder bore with no measurable choke and it does not apply past 10-15 yards.

Choke is actually a measurement of performance on target and not measurement of the gun.

At 40 yards a cylinder bore will not keep 40% of its shot inside a 30" circle. Full is 70%.

That means that using a cylinder bore, of the 9/000 pellets in a 12 ga load, only 3-4 will be inside that 30'circle at 40 yards and the average guy is not 30 inches wide.

That's why I want a little choke in my barrels as soon as I walk out the door to the outside world.