
These pellets are also capable of passing through most interior walls and easily through any, if not every, wall in a mobile home. These 00 buck pellets will penetrate very deep-about 20 inches in 10-percent ordnance gelatin. The most popular defensive load for the shotgun is 00 buck. Recoil is the prime detractor to the shotgun it’s the reason many cannot shoot it well and the reason many do not want to shoot it at all.Īside from recoil, there are other considerations. In short, shotguns kick hard-about eight to 10 times harder than an AR-15. To push this cargo out the barrel it takes lots of energy, and that push goes both ways. Nine 00 buck pellets will weigh about 480 grains, which is about nine times heavier than a. Whether it’s shot or slug, shotguns throw a large payload. And as Sir Isaac Newton so aptly explained, so will your shoulder. Hit your target with a slug and it will suffer. load and will make a very, very big hole going in and coming out. A ¾-ounce slug from a 12 gauge will deliver about twice the energy of any. Of course shotguns can also fire slugs, and slugs are wickedly powerful projectiles that make big holes and are hard to stop. A centerfire rifle bullet will expand and sometimes violently fragment, creating a much more ferocious and painful wound. To further exaggerate the difference in terminal performance, shot pellets are non-expanding they will only punch a caliber-size hole through the bad guy. But all that energy will be directed at a single spot. 223 AR-15 carbine will strike with about 1,000 ft.-lbs. On the other hand, a 55-grain bullet fired from a. If you can hit your attacker with every pellet in a 00 buckshot blast, it would be like shooting the bad guy a bunch of times, all at the same time, with a. This is very similar to a single bullet fired from a high velocity. With a nominal impact velocity of 1,250 feet per second (fps), a single 54-grain 00 buck pellet will have 187 ft.-lbs. Ballistic Differencesīallistically speaking, the AR-15 carbine chambered for the. But everything has its limits, and the shotgun’s limits are not that far away. The farther the target is away from the shotgun, the easier it is to hit. This is because it disperses shot into a pattern that increases in size with range. At the basic level, the shotgun allows for a slight bit of point of aim/point of impact variance. Many of those old wives were probably married to Uncle Bob. Just because old wives tell us the shotgun is the best home defense gun does not make it so. For the one-gun homestead, a high-power rifle was not the best tool for small game or flying foul. Carbines-short rifles-have always cost more than shotguns and require more training for most folks to shoot them accurately. Uncle Bob likely kept a shotgun behind the kitchen door because a shotgun was the only gun Uncle Bob had. Some would argue this is due to its suitability to the role, but I believe it’s more likely due to the shotgun’s prevalence in society. The shotgun has long been a popular weapon for home defense. Not a bad idea for a shotgun that will be used in a home defense setting. The Hevi-Duty loads from Hevi-Shot utilize frangible pellets that will not penetrate interior walls. As biased as I might be, I appreciate and understand that in some cases the shotgun might be the best answer. This is not in any way a reflection on the usefulness of the weapon system-it’s just representative of my taste in firearms.

Both deliver a lot more power, and both are easier to shoot with precision.

Handguns are personal defense weapons, and while one might very well be needed during a home protection scenario, if a long gun is wielded with authority and precision, the handgun will remain in its holster.īoth the AR and the shotgun have more reach than a handgun. A handgun, however, does not constitute a comprehensive home defense plan.

With a long gun, you’ll have to go fetch it when the balloon goes up. Why? Unlike a shotgun or an AR, handguns are easy to keep with you at all times. Which is the better choice for home defense?Ĭhoosing a weapon for home defense is a serious matter, and as far as I’m concerned, a handgun should be an integral part of any home defense plan.
