I would never use a shotgun for home defense. Why destroy your own property in the process of eliminating an intruder? Minimize damage to walls and furnishings by using a handgun.
You are certainly going to have to repaint the walls if you use a shotgun.
At indoor distance the spread on a shotgun pattern would likely be 10 inches or less.
In many cases you will do less overall damage to the house with a shotgun. A bullet may go through both sides of a wall, or downstairs through the floor. It may even hit a loved one on the other side of the wall.
If close enough to the target intruder; the house will take zero damage with a shotgun.
It obviously depends where you live.
If you own a home near a high crime area..the first thing I would ask is..why do you live a high crime area and why would you stay?
Otherwise, many people go there whole lives without a serious threat to their well being.
IOW I’d risk some damage to my walls and maybe some furnishings and blast away with double barrel. Good to have some back up weapon,too. Just in case there is more than one or two creeps creeping around.
“I would never use a shotgun for home defense. Why destroy your own property in the process of eliminating an intruder? Minimize damage to walls and furnishings by using a handgun.“
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You can repair your house and furniture. How do you fix a dead family member (or a dead YOU) if you miss with the accurate handgun and the muscreant doesn’t miss (or slashes you to death with a knife)? First priority is to eliminate the threat, everything else is secondary.
Oh, and there are a number of semi-auto shotties that can carry 10 or 20 rounds in magazines. If you shoot first defending your home and your family, no BG is going to be successful in that situation. Fix the house later, including installing a steel door inside of a steel frame so that you decrease the odds of having to deal with a similar situation again.
That’s intuitive, but not completely correct. The handgun projectile in a strong caliber keeps going after ventilating the intruder and residential structures are basically cardboard, so you have to worry about what is on the other side of the wall behind the intruder. With a shotgun the risk of killing your family member in the next room is reduced.
Some things:
1. Most folks aren't sure shots with handguns unless they practice alot.
2. Intruders at night moving around inside your home don't make the best targets.
3. Those who live in the suburbs are concerned about their rounds going through the next house over. That's one of our concerns.
4. Shotguns are repeatedly suggested for in-home defense because of their wide spread.
5. I won't be giving a shit about my own "stuff" inside if we are actually being invaded. Priorities.
Being 90 years old, my Winchester Model 1300 Defender is my last & most reliable line of defense...
“ I would never use a shotgun for home defense. Why destroy your own property in the process of eliminating an intruder? Minimize damage to walls and furnishings by using a handgun.”
You’re gonna have to call ServPro to cleanup all of the blood and brain matter anyway, what’s a few sheets of drywall in the bigger scheme of things?