I owned one several years ago. I liked it a lot - it was a very nice shotgun. A couple of things, though.
1. I would install a heat shield on the barrel. I found it was very easy to accidentally touch the barrel, which gets very hot when shooting, when I turned the gun over to reload it. The shield fixed that - I think I paid 20 bucks for mine.
2. My 1300 had a pistol grip, which looks nice and makes the gun more compact. However, it really punished my wrist, especially when firing heavy loads (such as 3" OO buckshot). I sprained my wrist with it one day when shooting it - it was a scorching Florida summer afternoon, and my hands got really sweaty and compromised my grip on the gun. I would buy the full stock version if I were to get another one.
3. Considering the gun will be used for home defense, you may want to invest in a set of sights for it (Winchester may offer this as an option now, but I don't know. My Defender had a bead like a regular sporting shotgun). My current shotgun (a Mossberg) has a ghost ring sight on it. Despite what people who don't know what they're talking about say, good aim does matter with a shotgun for home defense. The shot simply doesn't spread that much over the very short ranges you'll find in a typical home defense setting, even with a short barrel and a cylinder bore.
In regards to loads, a magazine I read several years ago did some tests. They found that the 00 buck was way too much for indoor use - it'll penetrate sheet rock walls and hollow interior doors and have plenty of velocity left to kill someone behind them. They recommended #4 buckshot - the penetration is much less, and anything you hit with that load is going down and staying there.
The ammo point is well taken. Number 4 should be more than enough to stop ciminals and not shoot through sheet rock.
The sights are also and welcome comment. The 1300 comes with a bead and I had to wonder about that one! Thanks again.