Preferred Home Defense Ammo

[Epaphroditus]

#4 buck

Yup, and a 22" bbl cyl choke. 4 in the tube and one in the chamber should be enough to get me to the main safe.

[451040]

[19hugeracks57]

load my own...1 rusty old ball bearing and broken soda bottle...glas has to be probed to find

[ceh383]

so you live in a bad area?...was his name BARACK ?

No...no...and you should learn to read.

"If you live in an area where you think you will need a gun to defend your home....IT'S TIME TO MOVE"

and I'm about 99% sure I will never need it

[Mayor McRifle]

I recently switched from LE-132-00 (9-pellet 00 Buck) to LE-132-1B (15-pellet #1 Buck):

http://www.ammunitiondepot.com/Federal-Premium-LE-Tactical-12-Ga-00-Buckshot-p/le1321b.htm

[Wallabing]

Remington 3 inch 00 Buckshot at Bass Pro.

[Socalman]

First of all, congratulations on a great shotgun for home defense!

There are as many opinions on what load to use for HD as there are owners of shotguns. I have done a lot of reading and it can be confusing to a new person with a shotgun. I have my Mossberg loaded with #1 buck. MY REASONS are that it has a few more pellets, yet a little less penetration of the lath and plaster walls of my home. In general, I do not anticipate a firefight taking place in my home. I think on or two blasts from a 12 gauge will cause the person(s) in my home to decide to go somewhere else.

Now should SHTF occur, I will change the loads to the 3 inch 00 buck. I also have several boxes of 1.25oz slugs should I decide that is needed.

Ultimately, you need to educate yourself, try some different loads and decide what is best for your situation.

[LowThudd]

I'm in the #4 buck camp. 23 .24 cal pellets at 1500 fps is plenty lethal, but after two layers of sheetrock it is likely less than lethal. I keep slugs handy too, but doubtfull they would be necessary, even in the worst case scenario.

[iluvmycolt]

+1 on the feds

[CK_32]

00 buck or Slug.

Depending on the application and situation.

Low recoil buck, only if using a pump. I still would prefer full powered stuff if I could. Your not shooting 3 gun so 0.032 sec follow up shot times don't matter. Just hit your target and put em down.

Either federal or winchester

[Munny$hot]

What ever you choose know the distances you plan on using it at, then go to the range a pattern your shots to be sure your ammo selection matches your requirements which is overlooked 99% of the time.

[Danodog]

Thanks again for all the awesome replies.

[-hanko]

Do you live by yourself, or do you have four or five kids spread around the house in different bedrooms? If the latter, the suggestion above of bird shot is not a bad one. Even the humble one ounce #8 shot dove and quail load throws 437.5 grains of lead at 1300 fps muzzle velocity. At least on paper that is like two simultaneous 44 mag pistol shots. At likely in-your-house combat ranges, i.e. across your foyer, across your bedroom, maybe down the hall a ways, that bird shot will still be a fairly solid mass. Yet your interior sheetrock, particularly at an oblique angle, makes an effective barrier to slow and hopefully stop the fine shot before it can find a loved one.

You might consider one or two dove loads up front followed by the bigger stuff.

Your "knowledge" of ballistics ignores the fact that the .44 magnum single projectiles weigh 437.5 grains, while #8's from a shotgun shell weigh 1.3 grains.

It also ignores the fact that the impact on an actor is not calculated based on the weight of the total shotgun load, as it is for a rifle or pistol load consisting of a single pellet.

Both of your statements are bantered about the internet as if they have some scientific basis.

Why in hell should you have to cycle the weapon twice before you can shoot an effective load from the shotgun?

[Hogxtz]

I stumbled across this thread and it has incredibly awesome info on defense shotgun ammo. It wasn't my post but thank you guys for great info and thanks OP for posting your question.

[BigFatGuy]

I use hunting birdshot. It is not as effective as slugs or buckshot, but the requirement to simply "don't miss" with slugs is simply not acceptable to me.

I only have one direction in which I can miss and not be certain to hit a neighbor's house, and that would require the criminal to sneak in my back window past my dog. In every other direction the limited penetration is a life-critical requirement.

If I have to shoot the guy more then once, I will do so.