Legends And Myths Of The Home Defense Shotgun - Brief Article

Guns Magazine, May, 2000 by Massad Ayoob

The shotgun is the traditional home defense weapon. Its stopping power is legendary, but we have to remember that at across-the-room distances, even a wide-open cylinder bore will allow buckshot to spread only about 4". Although it may have a bit more generous margin of error, the gun still needs to be aimed to hit something vital enough to take effect.

Beware the old shibboleth of using birdshot for home defense because "it won't go through walls and hurt your kids". Anything that will go deep enough into a man to stop him will go through sheetrock and lath walls. It's better to plan things out so that when you confront the intruder, he'll have something solid behind him. This means you don't go looking for him, you ensconce with the family in the safe room, get the police on the phone, and make the intruder come looking for you.

The 20 gauge shotgun is one of the best-kept home defense secrets. Its light recoil is less likely to make a petite or inexperienced shooter flinch and miss, but 5/8ths of an ounce of lead per shot will get the job done. The standard 20 gauge buckshot load is #3, which throws 20 .25 caliber lead balls.

The 12 gauge analog would be the "urban load," #4 buckshot, which launches 27 .23 caliber pellets at about the same velocity. Only the coroner is likely to be able to tell the difference.

I'm not the only one who thinks so. John "the Shotgun Wizard" Satterwhite once said, "The 20 gauge gas-operated guns and ideal for most women, since they require no pumping and recoil is modest enough for women to handle. People poohpooh the 20 gauge, but at close range it throws as much lead in one shot as you'll probably need to do the job."

I'm partial to the Remington LT-20 autoloader in-20bore-it weights less than 6 lbs. And handles like M-1 carbine. If anyone using the gun is likely to be 5'6" or shorter, get the Youth Model with short stock: it's no handicap for a taller shooter, but makes all the handicapp for the smaller person.

The auto makes sense for use under stress by anyone who hasn't pumped a slide action thousands of times and learned to do it on "auto pilot," and also works vastly better if one arm is injured.