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Combat shotguns and buckshot loads are used to increase terminal performance and not hit probability. To do that, the hit must be well-placed, the pattern must be fairly small and the pellets must penetrate deeply. For many years, the conventional wisdom was that a shotgun barrel that had no choke was best for use with buckshot. For new combat-shotgun shooters, the choke is a small section of reduced diameter at the muzzle end of a shotgun bore. Generally, the smaller the shot, the greater the effect of choke on the on-target pattern. Three rounds of a generic #4 buckshot load fired from a cylinder bore shotgun at 15 yards.
I have no idea why both exist, but either one is a great choice for self-defense. Before I leave you, I have three pieces of advice on buckshot. A flyer is an errant pellet that flys sperate from most of the shot. If a load has repeated flyers, then the load is disqualified. 12ga 00 Buckshot, nickel-platedBuckshot plating is said to ensure the rounds deform less when traveling together down the barrel. In fact, in my research, I can’t find a single tactical load of No.1 that’s still produced.
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Remember, they only spread one inch per yard, and at close range it is a lot like getting hit with a single, solid projectile. This load, by the way is excellent, one of the very best law enforcement loads, and one of the tightest patterning loads I have ever shot in any shotgun. It increases the safe usage of 12 gauge buckshot well out to 30 yards, and is great for headshots at seven to 10 yards, or a little further out in improved cylinder choke barrels.
However, in one of the patterns, a pellet landed a full 4 inches away from the others. Because the other 26 pellets were in a 7.5-by-7.5-inch square, this isn’t a bad loading. 20 gauge is the second most popular type of buckshot. It’s not as common as 12 gauge, but it’s gaining in popularity. A 20-gauge shotgun can also fire a variety of different loads, from birdshot to slugs. Most commonly, buckshot comes in sizes of 00, 0, and #12.
Home-Defense Buckshot: Which Size is Best?
The copper balls are designed to be safe when firing at steel targets as close as 4 feet. The pattern is surprisingly tight at 4 by 6 inches, with two pellets sometime opening up the group to 4 by 8 inches. The load is advertised to function in gas-operated shotguns, but it did not work in the Benelli, with about 20% failures. Penetration in water was shallow due to the pellets’ light individual weight.
Plating keeps buckshot patterns a little tighter and ensures more accuracy with easier shot accountability. No. 4 loads tend to penetrate through interior walls just as deep as No. 1 buckshot. From a defensive perspective, there are three popular loads used for self-defense and tactical use.
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He is the author of Tactical Shotguns, Own the Night—A Guide to Tactical Lights and Laser Sights, and Survival Guns. He is the founder of ArmorHoldings.com and creates some of the most helpful gun-buying guides and explainers. If not in the gun shop, you can find him on the nearest hiking trail or nearby hunting spot.
Carry your bullpup rifle, short-barreled rifle or large format pistol without attracting a lot of attention. They will penetration deep enough to do serious damage but not so deep that they will go through walls and endanger innocent bystanders. For home defense, you want something that will stop an intruder quickly without causing too much damage to your property. When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings.
Other crimp types, such as roll crimp shells, are a bit bulkier on the end and may result in having one less shot in your shotgun. For example, buckshot is good for beginners because self-defense-specific shells, for boh protection against animals and other humans, can be star-crimped. If you absolutely had to use birdshot for self-defense because you have no other options, it can still be used, but it’s not going to be anywhere near as effective. We all struggle when it comes to choosing the best buckshot for home defense from a plethora of products with almost similar characteristics. Going deeper to find out intricate details about the product is the only way to get your hands on the product that meets your requirements.
Getting your hands on the best buckshot for home defense is no big deal as long as you know all the necessary factors to consider. But having all those factors in one place is often a big deal. We compiled these factors so that you can have a quick look at them before buying. Go through the guide to find out factors that can impact your buying decision. Scrutinize each product on your choice list based on these factors.
This is a compromise between 7 yards as an engagement distance and 15 yards. We felt that at the 10-yard point, the pattern would have spread enough to offer an advantage in hitting a moving or running target, but it should still be fairly tight. In the text below, we report the width of the pattern first, then the height, in inches, such as 20 inches wide by 10 inches tall, or 20 by 10. In the accompanying table, the nomenclature is 20×10, width then height in inches.
I’ve also seen a getaway driver shot and killed by a single pellet of birdshot fired from an 870 at about 15 meeters after it passed throught a fullsized van. I think the important thing is the diffrence between trained and untrained, and the need to acurately aim a weapon, those of us who are trained could probably be deadly with a .22 if necessary. However, the average armed citizen would greatly benefit, in a life or death situation, from the added lethality and point-shot capability offered by a shotgun, sporting 00. Hornady’s eight-pellet Critical Defense 00 load delivers 1,872 fpe, which is about twice as much as a .44 Magnum round. Less recoil allows me to make faster follow-up shots—if any are necessary.
Slugs work best for taking long-range shots with shotguns. The hope in all of this handwringing is to have a load that works well enough but minimizes the risk of over-penetration with missed shots or periphery hits. We are looking for something that works well enough to reliably stop a motivated attacker but also minimizes the risk at the same time. The debate is, of course, what is actually the best solution to that problem. This, JJ, is why you are dangerous, ignorant, and most importantly, not a manufacturer of ballistic ammunition.
These loads are specifically designed for gunfighting and manage recoil, pellet spread, and penetration. I still stick by the points that I made in the book and the article. Considering the numbers of hunters over the years killed by close range birdshot, not to name people killed by these loads speaks to their lethality. Yes, I am aware they can penetrate drywall, but certainly not to the extent that any buckshot does. I stand by my assertion that birdshot will be just fine at close range, with a mass of 1 oz of lead held tightly together.
An Official Journal Of The NRAA very small, tight pattern with 000 or 00 buckshot is quite effective, but the smaller the pattern, the greater the possibility of a complete miss. I once set out to determine the longest-possible shot that might be required in typical in-house defensive shootings. We went completely through a typical three-bedroom home and measured possible maximum shooting distances.
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