The Best Handgun Caliber - A Real World Study

[Concrete Helmet]

You don't really need anything exotic in a shotgun, imo.

Hell I'd bet a target or bird load would do the job from across the room....still though I love watching the differences in opinion on self/home defense loads.....I personally keep 00 Buck stuffed in the tube because that's what I target shoot with so that's what I have on hand.
Here's one of the new plastic high velocity slugs that fly fast but bust apart almost at impact in contrast to the massive penetration/knockdown of the double ball round....ton of velocity but almost no chance of over penetration.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Hell I'd bet a target or bird load would do the job from across the room....

Maybe. Maybe not. In my years I've seen, first hand, two people survive (more importantly not out of the fight if they were attacking you) with head shots from small bird shot.

That wouldn't happen with buckshot. Nothing wrong with buckshot.

Birdshot will usually not penetrate more than a few inches of ballistic gellatin. It makes a hideously gory, very shallow wound. It may penetrate even less if they are wearing heavy clothing (leather?) or hits a shallow bone.

Your life, your call. And largely academic since 999 out of a 1000 won't ever need it.

 

[ThreatMatrix]

The concern I have with a shotgun as ur go to home defense weapon is keeping it concealed then accessible.
I keep my Makarov 9mm (reliable and accurate but sights are for ****) in a small cc holster attached to the back of my nightstand. I can reach it immediately and nobody knows it's there. The shotgun I'd have to keep in a closet top shelf so I could get to it if I had time. Having said that my next purchase will probably be a Mossberg Maverick 88. A third of the cost of a 590 and just as effective.

Wish I had property where I could shoot trees.

 

[ThreatMatrix]

A girl with a gun, what could be better... or worse.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

I keep my Makarov 9mm (reliable and accurate but sights are for ****) in a small cc holster attached to the back of my nightstand.

Get a safe. A small one for your nightstand. I prefer a phone style combo lock vs the more expensive biometric ones. If you are sweaty or bloody your fingerprint scanner might work.

You never know when a kid will be in your house.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

https://www.galleryofguns.com/genie/Default.aspx?item=21179&zipcode=45122

 

[Albert]

If I could offer any piece of advice, get a weapon that fits you, before any other particulars, right down to your fingertips. Nothing else will affect accuracy more, even at short range. I am more than a snack at 6’6” 280. A light glock gives me fits but give me your basic 1911 and I can show you something. Same goes for shotguns, I would prefer something a bit heavier and balanced, especially in self defense situations. A good friend of mine worked at Blackwater for several years had this advice: Get something that you feel confident with while loaded, and tough enough to bludgeon your opponent when empty.

 

[URGatorBait]

If I could offer any piece of advice, get a weapon that fits you, before any other particulars, right down to your fingertips. Nothing else will affect accuracy more, even at short range. I am more than a snack at 6’6” 280. A light glock gives me fits but give me your basic 1911 and I can show you something. Same goes for shotguns, I would prefer something a bit heavier and balanced, especially in self defense situations. A good friend of mine worked at Blackwater for several years had this advice: Get something that you feel confident with while loaded, and tough enough to bludgeon your opponent when empty.

6'6" 280?
Do you have any eligibility left?

 

[Albert]

6'6" 280?
Do you have any eligibility left?

Sure. Probably get 20 plus reps @225, good vertical leap. You would need a sundial for my 40 time though

 

[URGatorBait]

Sure. Probably get 20 plus reps @225, good vertical leap. You would need a sundial for my 40 time though

We'll make you a center then

 

[Concrete Helmet]

Same goes for shotguns, I would prefer something a bit heavier and balanced, especially in self defense situations.

I see it the same way. A little weight tends to keep the shot and follow up shots more on target. IMO opinion it is easier to fire a full stock shotgun from the hip if you had to than fire a pistol grip shotgun from the shoulder......besides in close quarters if caught empty/reloading/out of ammo I like having a heavier and balanced gun with the leverage to stick this in someone's throat of face...

 

[Swamp Donkey]

There is no reason EVER to have a pistol grip (only) shotgun. They are damn near useless and make a fine long arm into a point and hope proposition.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

I see it the same way. A little weight tends to keep the shot and follow up shots more on target. IMO opinion it is easier to fire a full stock shotgun from the hip if you had to than fire a pistol grip shotgun from the shoulder......besides in close quarters if caught empty/reloading/out of ammo I like having a heavier and balanced gun with the leverage to stick this in someone's throat of face...

You planning on breaching your own door?

 

[Concrete Helmet]

You planning on breaching your own door?

Probably not but it comes standard on my 870 Tactical....Unfortunately it also comes standard with a lightweight polymer stock which isn't as good for crackin a bad guys noggin....I think I would opt to breach his grill instead...

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Most attorneys and tactical instructors would advise you against something like that for HD. Remember that theoretically you could have to be in front of a jury someday, arguing that your self-defense was legal. Instead of having an evil black weapon with evil stuff on the end of the barrel, you'd probably be better off having a wooden stocked shotgun that looks like the one their grandpa had.

You can easily buy on of those (wood stock, 18 inch barrel, plain, no fangs of death breaching stand off device, flash suppressor whatever, no "heat shield"-- why?) and add a METAL magazine extension (for reliablity, Chinese plastic crap may fail).

Ayoob writes a lot about this and I agree totally. Even if they dont tell you, many furors might be persuaded just by a gun that looks too Tacklebury/Punisher.

 

[Gator By Marriage]

Most attorneys would advise you against something like that for HD. Remember that theoretically you could have to be in front of a jury someday, arguing that your self-defense was legal. Instead of having an evil black weapon with evil stuff on the end of the barrel, you'd probably be better off having a wooden stocked shotgun that looks like the one their grandpa had.

You can easily buy on of those (wood stock, 18 inch barrel, plain, no fangs of death breaching stand off device, flash suppressor whatever, no "heat shield"-- why?) and add a METAL magazine extension (for reliablity, Chinese plastic crap may fail).

Ayoob writes a lot about this and I agree totally. Even if they dont tell you, many furors might be persuaded just by a gun that looks too Tacklebury/Punisher.

Conversely, you could spray paint it hot pink and put some Dora the Explorer or Spongebob decals on it. It will still be an evil weapon, but the jury will think it looks pretty harmless.

 

[Concrete Helmet]

Most attorneys would advise you against something like that for HD. Remember that theoretically you could have to be in front of a jury someday, arguing that your self-defense was legal.

If you believe for an instant of a quarter of a fraction of a second....that at 3.30AM when my 11 year old son and his Mother are relying on me to save them from a bad guy when I can't get a round in or I am out altogether (not likely)that I shouldn't literally shove the end of my shotgun barrel through his eyesocket and impale his cranium into the wall behind him because I have a breaching choke on the end of my shotgun.....The last thing I WILL BE WORRIED ABOUT is what an attorney thinks...….unless he is there with me and has another sotgun or at least more rounds....

 

[Zambo]

Talk about completely missing the point....

 

[Swamp Donkey]

If you believe for an instant of a quarter of a fraction of a second....that at 3.30AM when my 11 year old son and his Mother are relying on me to save them from a bad guy when I can't get a round in or I am out altogether (not likely)that I shouldn't literally shove the end of my shotgun barrel through his eyesocket and impale his cranium into the wall behind him because I have a breaching choke on the end of my shotgun.....The last thing I WILL BE WORRIED ABOUT is what an attorney thinks...….unless he is there with me and has another sotgun or at least more rounds....

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Talk about completely missing the point....

Sometimes I wonder if he can read at all.

I imagine him grunting and coloring.

Let me try it again.

You can shoot the intruder in the face just fine.

And it won't freak out jurors and make them think you are a whacko just hoping for the chance to kill someone with an "assault weapon".

I don't really know why I'm trying to talk to a middle-aged guy with a fleet of Mustang GTs about not making your shotgun look tacticool and goofy.

Hell, I'm surprised you haven't found a way to connect a spoiler and a supercharger to you Instadeath Tacticool Knock them Down the Hallway shotgun.