Thoughts on shotguns

Ok, first, I am not a firearms trainer.

Second, I don't care what your "goto" home defense tool is. If you're happy with it, great, that's all that counts. (Now train with it!)

Third, by shotgun, I'm talking about the familiar pump action home defense variety. Remington 870, Mossberg 500, Winchester 1300, etc.

For giggles, here are my shotguns (although the second pic doesn't meet my definition):

The Mythical Shotgun

The shotgun is frequently recommended to first time gun buyers as the perfect home defense tool. They will often be told things like "just pump the action and the bad guys will run", or that they don't have to aim it, or one blast will fling the bad guys through the air, but at the same time the pellets won't penetrate through walls.

How do these statements match up with reality?

If you rack it, they will run

Honestly, I'm sure it has happened, but can you depend on it working all the time? I wouldn't.

You don't have to aim

Buckshot will typically spread about 1 inch per yard of distance from the muzzle.

So, if the bad guy is across the average room, say 12 feet away, that means your buckshot will spread about 4". That's pretty small, certainly not man-sized. You could easily miss the person altogether.

It will launch bad guys across the room

Newton tells us that the force the target is being hit with is the same force that is being driven into your shoulder. If it could launch them across the room, it would do the same to you.

It won't go through walls

If it can't go through walls, it certainly isn't going to be sufficient for stopping an attacker. Depending on the load, it may go through less walls than a pistol or rifle, but you still need to be sure of your target and what is beyond it (and aim too), especially apartment dwellers.

Ok, but what about after passing through a bad guy?

The shotgun does deserve some credit in this case. With something like a #4 reduced recoil load, the risk of over-penetration is minimized, but the chances of under-penetration are increased.

There is a trade off that can't be gotten around: smaller pellets reduce penetration, but may under-penetrate, and bigger pellets increase penetration, but may over-penetrate.

So what is the right size? If you look around "the net" you will see lots of conflicting opinions on what is the proper home defense buckshot load. I personally use 00 buck in my home defense shotgun as its easily found, penetrates sufficiently, and has a proven track record. I wouldn't go lighter than #1 myself.

Birdshot can be lethal, but not dependably so. It's not recommended.

Shotgun strengths

Reliable

Pump action shotguns have a reputation for being dependable and hard to break. Since they don't use the recoil or gas of the previous round to work the action, they will pretty much fire anything.

Powerful up close

Shooting 00 buck is literally like shooting nine .32 caliber handguns with each shot.

A 12 gauge slug is a solid ounce of lead traveling at over 1600 feet per second. (Even faster if its a magnum shell.) That's over a ton of kinetic energy at the muzzle.

Easy to aim

You still have to aim, but most shotguns have a simple bead sight that should be easy to use and understand by everyone.

Compared to teaching a new shooter to be accurate with a pistol, the shotgun is very easy.

Versatility

Thanks to the wide variety of shotgun ammunition, with basically the same gun, I can go bird hunting, go large animal hunting, and defend my home. (There are capacity restrictions on migratory birds, and I might use a different barrel for hunting with slugs, so I may have to change a few things from one use to the next.)

Shotgun weakness

Lack of precision

This is a big one for home defense. As I mentioned earlier, with every yard of distance from the muzzle, the shot pellets will spread about an inch.

As distance increases it becomes more difficult to place shots accurately. Think about if you are having to protect a loved one who is being held by bad guy. Can you take the shot?

At some point the spread will be so great that it's possible to completely miss the intended target.

Different shotguns will pattern differently. Different loads will pattern differently in the same gun. To use the shotgun effectively, you need to know how your gun patterns your home defense load at every distance.

Ok, but what about slugs?

Slugs are more accurate, and extend your effective range to about 50 yards. The tradeoff I mentioned earlier is now in full force though. You're odds of over-penetrating with a slug are higher, and the recoil is pretty stiff.

Recoil

Compared to something like an AR-15, or pistol caliber carbine, the shotgun packs a wallop.

Smaller people may need to move down to a 20 gauge.

There are various recoil pads which are helpful in taking some of the harshness out, and I'm told there are certain stocks with "thingamajigs" that can really absorb a lot of the recoil. They do work from what I am told, but they are also one more thing that can fail. Also you may need that buttstock to smash someone in the head with, it needs to be durable!

Capacity

Most home defense shotguns will hold 9 rounds or less. An AR-15 holds 30.

30 > 9.

Switching ammo types

If you've got buckshot in the chamber, and a magazine full of buckshot, how do you get a slug into it to take a precision shot at 25 yards? Rack the slide, put a slug in the magazine, and rack again.

For me, this is too much to do during a SHTF situation, and the reason I will go for my AR first.

Another option would be to carry slugs exclusively, but you are still stuck with the other downsides such as low capacity, and high recoil.