12 Gauge Shotgun Shells - Slug it out

Am Shooting Journal ^ | 8/20/2016 | Oleg Volk

[w1n1]

Modern 12-gauge Shotgun Slugs Can Be An Excellent Choice For Self-Defense Distances And Beyond

Shotguns are a perennial home defense favorite. They are generally inexpensive, very common and perceived as being simple to operate. Nearly every gun-owning household has at least one smoothbore. But, since research and anecdotal evidence point towards the relative ineffectiveness of birdshot against large intruders, buckshot is typically used to deliver multiple simultaneous impacts while adding some margin for aiming error.

Buckshot, from .35 caliber 000 to .24 caliber No. 4, works fairly well on opponents up close and in the open, but doesn’t penetrate cover well. For people who want the ability to get through furniture, walls or auto glass, slugs provide another option. The same applies to rural residents who worry less about overpenetration but may have to fire in self-defense at longer ranges where buckshot spreads too much, and individual pellets lack adequate penetration.

Large-bore smoothbores and rifles have long been the first choice of dangerous game hunters. A typical musket was around .70 caliber, and black powder rifles varied from .70 to .45, with long conical bullets providing necessary penetration on ornery creatures like Cape buffalo or grizzly. Jacketed bullets developed by the 1890s and monolithic solids introduced in the second half of the 20th century continued this trend. Read the rest of the story here.

[Georgia Girl 2]

L-)

[Aut Pax Aut Bellum]

Lovely-for about three dollars a round. You could shoot a fifty caliber for that price.
I have been in the industry most of my life. I have double 0 (00) buck in most of my stuff, some have the 8 pellet reduced recoil 00 buck. Last round in the tube is a slug.
I prefer the cheap Remington Slugger slug. Performs well out of a smooth bore up to a hundred yards. (Zero at 75, then it’s 3” high at 50 yds and 3” low at 100 yds).
Humans are not thick like a deer, a fancy slug won’t have time to open up that much. A regular slug will make a hell of a hole.
For better accuracy, I like the Rottweiler Brenneke slug, but cost near $1 a round on sale. Very accurate out of a smooth bore.
#4 buck lacks penetration, it is only .27 caliber . Less mass. More pellets. 00 is about .33 and has the energy of a .380 (low recoil) to a 9mm (express). I don’t waste time with the 3” shells, You lose one round and the recovery from the recoil is slower. I have a ten gauge semi for big payloads. (18 00 pellets vs 9 in a 2 3/4” 12 gauge.)12 gauge is much more practical for everyone.
If you want to increase range, choke the gun. Riot guns are open bore-no constriction. Choose a modified to full choke and you will extend your range to about 35 yards. Still safe for the occasional slug. Saboted slugs are good for barrier penetration.
Buffered and plated 00 buck is great. Deforms less, so tends to spread less.
A hit with 00 buck to the torso is about 90% one shot stop. Also, it is about 75% fatal.
I love shotguns for defense, very flexible. Joe Biden says so.....

[JamesP81]

I am not sure I agree that a .223 is as effective up close as a load of buckshot but the difference probably isn’t worth mentioning.

I don't think it is quite as effective, it only "compares favorably". It works quite well.

My point is that 223 is still very effective and avoids most of the downsides associated with shotguns. As trade offs go, I think it's a pretty good one.

[yarddog]

Recoil is the main reason I wish I had a 11-87 set up for defense. I hardly notice the recoil from it or a model 1100. I had a Beretta Skeet auto and same thing, almost no recoil.

I owned a Browning Auto 5 for many years. It was a great shotgun which never failed but it kicked really bad. It actually seemed to pull back just so it could kick you again.

Same for a Benelli M1 super 90. It would have been perfect if it had not kicked even worse than the Browning. I suspect if my life were at stake, I would not even notice the recoil but still you need to practice a little.

[Rannug]

Google “loading wax into a shot shell”. I gotta try this.

[editor-surveyor]

.
Always give the snake time to line his eye with the bore of the gun before pulling the trigger.

Snakes are always curious about gun bores.

[CodeToad]

Makes my little 45 bullets look entirely inadequate!

[editor-surveyor]

Rifles are not a good choice for home defense.

Down-range hits could put you in the slammer for a long spell.

[Big Red Badger]

150 ft. SNAKE!?!
WITH a .410 ,
The Wife might be a problem.

[aces]

yep, no problem..then i lived in the middle of the florida swamp. lots t target practice with..

[JamesP81]

Down-range hits could put you in the slammer for a long spell.

Two points. First of all, I misspoke earlier. 55gr FMJ does not fragment much in drywall and come apart (though it will in other mediums). It does tend to lose its stability and veer off it's nominal path, and bleeds energy rapidly. It's the hollowpoints and varmint bullets that tend to fragment the most readily. In any case, you are, at best, equally as likely to have unintentional downrange hits from 9mm as you are from 5.56 / 223 Remington. The Ammo FAQ hosted on AR15.COM is is a good resource for test data to this effect

Another interesting test using drywall spaced out at reasonable room distances. The 5.56 rounds tended to veer off so much as to miss the third and fourth walls, but the one that didn't miss failed to penetrate the third wall, in contrast to the 9mm, 40 S&W, and 12 gauge slugs they shot the walls with, all of which cut right through all four walls.

Olympic Arms also has a summary of an FBI indoor penetration test of 40 S&W, 12 gauge, and .223 Remington. I'll let you read the entire report, but the money quote of the test is this: Bottom Line: In every test, with the exception of soft body armor, which none of the SMG fired rounds defeated, the .223 penetrated less on average than any of the pistol bullets.

The entire summary of the report can be read here.

The very worst case scenario of 223 vs any given handgun cartridge is that their wall penetration will be about the same. It's common, however, for .223 to penetrate less than handgun rounds because the smaller, lighter bullet bleeds energy more rapidly.

I make no recommendations, all information is offered so that you can make your own informed decision about selecting a firearm to defend yourself with.