Shotgun Loads For Not Hunting

[jyl]

Another spoon question.

Mossberg 500 pump 12 ga, 18” cylinder barrel, six shot tube, for home defense.

1. Loads? Rounds starting from first to fire and going to last to fire. Round types are B (birdshot), K (buckshot), S (slug). So for example B B K K S S means first two rounds to fire are birdshot, next two are buckshot, last two are slugs.

Using that syntax, how would you load and why?

Feel free to add codes to our syntax for other types of ammo - if you would load with pepper, flares, less-than-lethal, whatever.

2. Stock? Full stock or just pistol grip?

[LWJ]

My buddy who was with the multnomah county sheriffs dept did B K S B K S for his service shotgun.

[Alan A]

BSSSSS

The first ones a warning.
I don’t need spread.

Full stock. Far easier to control.
If you don’t shoot shotgun look at an optic of your choice on top.
I like the eotechs - but the guns that have them don’t get a lot of abuse.
Ymmv.

[smadsen]

Does it make that much difference meeting an intruder in your house? I'd think six rounds of anything would pretty much do the job at 10-20 feet.

[Alan A]

Originally Posted by smadsen

Does it make that much difference meeting an intruder in your house? I'd think six rounds of anything would pretty much do the job at 10-20 feet.

I could shoot 50’ in my house on the ground floor. Hell my balcony down to the front door is 20’. And I don’t have a big house.

I also wouldn’t use a shotgun, but that’s getting off topic.

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by smadsen

Does it make that much difference meeting an intruder in your house? I'd think six rounds of anything would pretty much do the job at 10-20 feet.

Exactly. Seems some people way overthink this stuff. There is no "spread", no "pattern" across your living room. #7 1/2's or #9's in a light, low recoil skeet/trap load will be as lethal as anything.

Pistol grips make for great movie props. Even the lightest loads get very difficult to control in those guns. If you are going to use a shotgun, shoulder it - it doesn't take any longer and, yes, you do have to "aim" it, even across the living room.

[vash]

At 10-15 feet a load of birdshot is tight. It’s like a battering ram. It will blow a fist size home into a sheet of plywood.

[Cajundaddy]

12 GA loads are like motor oil. Everyone has their favorites and few agree 100%. Also in a perfect world all possible loads are available at any local gun shop. Currently mid-apocalypse, very few varieties of defensive loads are readily available and we take whatever we can find. A 12 GA is serious overkill with any load at short range in most cases.

My personal choice in an ideal world is essentially based on meat testing. This is where good ol' country boys set aside the ballistics charts for a moment, and actually fire rounds at short range 7-10 yards into meat-simulated bad guy targets. The target often is a pork steak>pork ribs>watermelon (lungs and gut)>pork ribs all wrapped in an old leather jacket. Then multiple layered bullet stop is placed behind the target to measure over penetration. This is the most realistic measure of effectiveness I have found and it is based on actual testing, not ballistic charts.

I want a round that will blow a fist sized hole in the bad guy at 7-10 yards, dropping him like a rock while absorbing most of the energy without a lot of collateral damage from rounds passing through a bunch of walls after the fact.

Personal choice is #4 Buck when it is available. Plenty of penetration w/ 3" hole, devastating hit, very little energy left after the job is done. Ideal at short range IMO.

Second choice is 00 Buck which is a preferred LEO round and widely available. Fist sized hole at short range, devastating hit, better at longer range up to 50 yards for police work, prone to over-penetrate and carry a lot of energy well beyond the target at down-the-hallway ranges.

12GA Slugs- A great choice when you are hunting bear or buffalo out to 100 yards. Far too much pass-through energy and over-penetration for home defense IMO.

Lighter loads like #6 bird shot have plenty of punch at close range and would probably work fine but the #4 Buck is meat-tested and a proven winner. I see no point in layering loads. If I must reach for my 12 GA it means my home security plan was a failure and now I need to end it with 1 fatal shot.

[mattdavis11]

Do you have a choke? Improved, modified?

[aigel]

Like others said: XXXXXX with X = B or K or S

Don't get crafty. I am posting a couple videos for you: At self defense distances, anything will be do fine, even bird shot. And there is another reason not to mix ammo which you can hear about in the second video. In short, it apparently it is something done often by criminals, hence putting you in a bad light if you are getting scrutinized having been in a self defense shooting ...

[Bill Douglas]

Buckshot is the business. Each pellet has much the same hitting power as a .32 cal pistol bullet.

[KFC911]

Fiocchi 00 Defensive load buck. 9 pellets that keep their football shape pattern, tame recoil compared to regular 00 or 04, etc. Doesn't over penetrate....

It's designed for the task...Instant "over" .

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

Buckshot is the business. Each pellet has much the same hitting power as a .32 cal pistol bullet.

IMHO, #0 or #1 is the sweet spot. 9/11 rounds of .32/.30 caliber pellets.

I laughed at "the person" who suggested "just give them a couple of blasts of a double barrel" shot gun. If you use #4, it is .24" pellet with about 20-25 pellets per shell. So two "blasts" from a double barrel is about 50 pellets. Most standard capacity AR-15 mags only have 30 rounds...

On the subject of shot guns and loads, for the person who can't handle a 12 gauge, I suggest a .410 with #4. It has nine .24" pellets and low recoil. When my elderly parents were considering a firearm, that is what I suggested.

This is a great video for showing the pattern of a shotgun at close ranges. Someone who thinks they don't have to aim a shotgun, please review. He is testing penetration of different types of shotgun ammo. Birdshot, #4, 00 and slug.

[legion]

Winchester makes "home defense" loads that are three pellets of 00 buckshot with a 7/8 ounce slug in the same shell. 20 of those in the first magazine. The second magazine is 1 1/4 ounce slugs.

[HardDrive]

As stated above, anything will work at short ranges.

For legal reasons, I think your best bet if finding any buckshot that has a deer on the package.

[jyl]

Originally Posted by HardDrive

As stated above, anything will work at short ranges.

For legal reasons, I think your best bet if finding any buckshot that has a deer on the package.

I went ammo shopping a couple months ago, most was sold out, all I could get was a box of birdshot that has a picture of a duck (or goose, I don't know my waterfowl).

Sounds like at across-the-room range, no-one is too disparaging of BBBBBB?

[Flat Six]

KKKKKK
#4 Buck
Mossy 500, 18.5", full stock

If you're worried about overall length w/full stock (tight quarters and/or flagging), give "short-stocking" a try. Learn a bit about it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCqJIW4_K7s

I can't stress this enough -- practice, practice, practice -- even if it's just dry-firing. I make this part of every range day in a tactical bay. I practice this with both shotgun and AR.

[Cajundaddy]

Originally Posted by jyl

I went ammo shopping a couple months ago, most was sold out, all I could get was a box of birdshot that has a picture of a duck (or goose, I don't know my waterfowl).

Sounds like at across-the-room range, no-one is too disparaging of BBBBBB?

Even #8 shot will be devastating at 10'-20'. If the bad guy is a great big fat person in a leather jacket he might need 2 hits instead of one but he will definitely stop whatever activity he was doing.

[sammyg2]

Got one of these, haven't fired it in 30 years or so. Gotta fix that one of these days. holds 7 rounds.

[svandamme]

the only answer is BS BS BS