A Shotgun, The Best Firearm for Defending Your Home

I have seen a lot of discussion on the subject of ammunition and what caliber is best for you to keep for home defense.  Now for the purposes of this discussion I am assuming that you are defending your home against burglars and the world has not come to an end.

The first thing that  you have to except, is that almost any ammunition will penetrate the walls of your home, since most of you live in stick build homes.  The problem you face is that you need a weapon that is easy to use, reasonably accurate and has a minimum of penetration, but still has enough energy to get the job done.

Having been around preppers for many years, I know that there is a wide spread in your levels of weapon training and skills. I have known preppers who do not own a firearm, to ones who have extensive firearms collections and lots of training.

If you are amongst the well-equipped and trained ones, the following may not apply to you. If you are a beginner or have not made firearms a priority, this article may help you.

For home defense under the circumstances I have described, I would recommend a good pump action shotgun like the Remington 870 or the Mossberg model 500. The shotgun is easy to use, has a bit of a spread pattern (not as much as most people think from watching TV) and is effective.  For ammunition, I would suggest nothing smaller than #1 buckshot.

Dr Fackler the world-renowned wound expert says that a round capable of adequately stopping someone should be able to penetrating deeply enough to reach and pass through vital organs in the body from any angular aspect. Anything less than 12 inches is insufficient and inadequate.  Not understanding this has already cost too many people their lives.  Bird shot is not an acceptable self-defense shotgun round.

The Firearms Tactical Institute states the following about shotgun ammunition.

“Number 1 buck is the smallest diameter shot that reliably and consistently penetrates more than 12 inches of standard ordnance gelatin when fired at typical shotgun engagement distances. A standard 2 ¾-inch 12 gauge shotshell contains 16 pellets of #1 buck. The total combined cross sectional area of the 16 pellets is 1.13 square inches. Compared to the total combined cross sectional area of the nine pellets in a standard #00 (double-aught) buck shotshell (0.77 square inches), the # 1 buck shotshell has the capacity to produce over 30 percent more potentially effective wound trauma. In all shotshell loads, number 1 buckshot produces more potentially effective wound trauma than either #00 or #000 buck.  In addition, number 1 buck is less likely to over-penetrate and exit an attacker’s body.”

Regardless of how easy a weapon is to use or how accurate, you still need to practice with it.  Skill and confidence only comes with training.

Understand that this round will penetrate the walls of your home, any round that will not is inadequate for self-defense.  However it will not have the extreme penetration that some other rounds will have. Tomorrow we will write more on the problems of over penetration.

Howard