What I learned about slugs and buckshot for home defense

[Chipz]

Buckshot makes sense for most in-home situations. Slugs bring real over-penetration concerns unless you’ve actually tested your setup. The right answer depends on your home, your layout and your walls, not internet arguments.

 

[Magus]

I have a tacticalized load order, bird-shot up the pipe.
#4
00
00
slug.
At 15 feet, bird shot will severely wound and my neighbors won't get any.
If they decide to use cover, the next escalation is on the way.

 

[Brucer41]

I have the fearsome and mighty Taurus Judge loaded up with a cylinder full of Winchesters PDX1 .410's in 3" plus one speed loader full of same and another speed loader filled with .45 Colt 250 Grain Bonded Federal HammerDowns. If the first shot shells don't convince them to skedaddle or bring them down I am sure the last load will ensure the Popo will have to tote them out.

 

[Magus]

People give the Judge crap, but if I'm holding camp, I'll have my Judge on me. It is THE close defense weapon in a tight area. I found some #4 that mine loves to death inside 15 feet. Having a gunsmith mark a chamber and keep a bronze slug in it is a good move, too.

 

[MrVee]

The layout of your house matters more than what you see online. What’s safe and practical in one home could be completely wrong for another, depending on walls and distances.

 

[Magus]

Dove shot would wreck a 70s ranch house, let alone a camper.

 

[Mrhounddog]

Test this for yourself: Birdshot out of an IC choked shotgun creates a pattern that spreads approximately 1 inch per yard. That means your group size on the other side of a 12x12 room is about the size of your palm. You cannot just point it in the general direction. You have to AIM a self-defense shotgun. Therefore, a 1 1/4 oz load is hitting like a pre-fragmented slug.

 

[Brucer41]

That's why I taught myself how to use speed loaders correctly and fast with my Judge. Rapping off those PDX1's in a hurry will make a storm that will encompass an area that will totally suck for anyone not invited in. Lucky for practically all immediate areas of concern it is all wooded area for an acre plus.