WHY A SHOTGUN IS BEST FOR HOME DEFENSE (AND ALL SORTS OF OTHER THINGS)

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ricco

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This from a local instructor

Pretty funny

Bill Regina

So Im in the kitchen with the fly swatter...
Working on eye hand coordination on farm flys...much stealthier than city flys.
Dee comes in..." watcha doing"
Zapping hipoint and 1911 owners .." killing flys"
Dee..."how goes it"
Me..." great..got 3 males and 2 females"
Dee" how the hell can you tell the difference "
Me..." 3 were on the beer cans, 2 were on the phone"....
 

TANSTAAFL

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Wow, would not have thought there were strong feelings either way on the venerable 12 ga. My 2 cents, welcome or not:

1) 12 Gauge - 90% plus stopper Anecdotally.
2) Flexibility of rounds - Much more flexible than an AR, 12 Ga slugs, Buckshot, Birdshot, BB's, flechettes, Breaching Rounds, shorty buckshot, Magnum Rounds and Rock Salt, even flares!
3) Many Configurations from the shockwave to semi auto, Box Magazine and others, more so than the AR;
4) Capacity, I have seen 27 rds, two 13 rd magazines with 1 in the chamber;
5) Chokes available,
6) You can hunt almost anything in America with a shotgun,
7) Makes a loud scary noise when chambering a round with most any action.

Downside:

1) Capacity in many instances,
2) Recoil - Hard for some woman or small frame men to handle (insert as many sexes as you want here.) Small frame human beings covers some, handicaps may also give an AR Favor.

I have not mentioned pistols here, but are worth consideration as well.

As far as I can see the AR and other rifles do offer a greater range, and in general higher capacity, as well as far less recoil. As far as proficiency with either the old adage practice makes perfect.

Am I a closet Fud? Not sure, I switch from time to time.
 

Foxfire5

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Use whatever gives you the most confidence provided that confidence comes from trained and practiced competence and not whatever happens to be the flavor of the month on YouTube.

Let's be realistic about home defense. We have seen enough videos to know that intruders somtimes have numerical superiority, that said, unless the home defender is involved in something nefarious and the bad guys are there for more than the microwave an extended gunfight in very unlikely. Typically after the first shot is fired by the home defender the bad guys will do a quick revaluation and decide they should be somewhere else. Unless the home defenders house is atypical is size most shots won't be longer than 12 yards +/-, most will be a much shorter distance. The typical 00 buck load fired from an 18 inch barrel open choke shotgun will spead about 1 inch +/- for every yard, so we are looking at about a 12 inch pattern at 12 yards. An improved choke with Federal Flight Control 00 buck 8 pellet will cut that pattern in half. Unless a bear happens to invade your home slugs are, well, just kinda silly. All the +/- are because every shotgun is different and why it is important to pattern each load you use.

If you wanna chase bad guys outside your home I suppose a slug is okay. From a legal standpoint chasing bad guys is really a dumbass thing to do, both the McMicheals got 2 life sentences for chasing down what they believed to be a bad guy and killed him.........but to each their own.

I still believe Mas Ayoob got it right about firearms for home defense. The shotgun is like artillery, it is devastating when fired into a known and plotted field of fire. The handgun is like infantry, fast, maneuverable and adaptable to rapidly changing situations.
BB Shot in a Twenty or Twelve Gauge for my home defense. Ouch!
 

TerryP

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“Why a shotgun is best for home defense “
“In trained hands your unlikely to miss close range targets and what you hit is unlikely to hit back”
These are goofy generalizations that apply to who’s home and what targets?
I love shotguns for where they work for me.
My favorite thing about them is they make gobs of power and dissipate it quickly even when you miss..
But this kind of calling it out reminds me of the recent proclamation by Mac that “the Glock 19 is obsolete “
 

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