Home Defense Shotgunning

I am a hard core advocate for the home defense shotgun. There is a lot of bullshit tossed around about the home defense shotgun, however. The biggest fallacy is that you do not have to aim a 18 inch shotgun at all. The gunstore commandos say the shot will spread out into an impenetrable hail of lead.

That is ignorant. Today I took one of my cut down cylinder bore shotguns to the range to dispel this myth. The shotgun I used was a Winchester 1300 that originally had a 28 inch modified choke barrel. I trimmed it down to 18.5 inches after I bought it for under $100. The ammo I used was Winchester low recoil 00 Buckshot. These are two & 3/4 inch cartridges with nine 00 pellets each. Each pellet is approximately the same as one round of .32ACP.

I shot at 10 and 21 feet. These are similar to the distances one would be shooting inside one's home. The 10 foot target shows a one and a half inch hole through the target, with an accessory hole that was punched by the wadding. The 21 foot target shows the pattern opening up to a little over 5 inches. The wadding, however, was the wild card, striking the target four inches away from the center of the pellets. Incidentally, I used the same target for both shots.


Hopefully, this will help dispel the myth that a shortened shotgun sprays lead everywhere, making aiming the gun unnecessary. You still have to aim the shotgun. You still have to work to build skills. The power of the shotgun is in it's ability to incapacitate with one solid hit. The shooter does have to hit the target, however. Thus, leave the full stock on the gun. Put it to your shoulder. Look down the barrel. Stop the threat. The weapon will work if the bullshit is left behind.