A shotgun needs to be aimed to hit anything, just like any other firearm. They are quite precise inside of 10 yards or so. Patterns are quite small at household distances, even with a cylinder bore.
Some shotshells, such as Federals with the Flight Control wad, have very tight patterns out to surprising distances.
At household distances, with FCW shells, all of the buckshot will be in one hole.
18 feet, Rem870 cylinder bore, Federal FCW buck on the left, plain 00 buck on the right. You can see that with both, you must aim to hit a bad guy.
http://www.theboxotruth.com/images4/56-05.jpg
Also, you want all the pellets to hit the bad guy. You don’t want a wide pattern where pellets might miss.
You have to love The Box O’ Truth.
So much conventional “wisdom” destroyed.
Good information, and precisely why I have a laser mounted under the barrels of my shotties.