Shotguns for self defence - my experiences so far.

I initially posted this on another Prep forum and thought I would share here as well.

My background includes 6 years in the military as a Platoon Sergeant. In this capacity I have been a shooting instructor, range officer and have organised and conducted several walk through action ranges. I am also trained in and have used the following firearms 9mm Hand Gun, 9mm SMG, 7.62mm Rifle, 7.62mm Light Machine Gun, 12.7mm Heavy Machine Gun as well as the 84mm Carl Gustav system. I am not much of a hand gun guy but I love my long guns :).

So when my wife and I were considering firearms for self defence I had a look around to see what was recommended. Surprise surprise here in North America the shotgun is widely accepted as a firearms which can also successfully be used for self defence. It is issued to Police and even used by the Military today. In fact its endorsed by Joe Biden himself so it must be right eh ?. Probably just about the only thing he has gotten right but I digress....

As a hunter I had several shotguns already in different gauges for different types of hunting. I also reload my own ammo so I have had some fun with home cast 00 Buck Shots. Not to forget that reloading allows me to control the recoil felt by the shooter.

For self defence I am considering our house and surrounding area. We are talking distances up to 50 yards maximum. With neighbours around me I have some concerns with over shooting that I need to take into consideration. So I wanted to use ammo which is not too powerful and damaging beyond 50 yards. However it needed to be powerful enough to stop man sized targets and be able to put down a tremendous amount of firepower in a short span of time.

I ruled hand guns out as they are a last resort for me. Its for when that aggressor comes through the boys bedroom door after going through the rest of us. He should be met by a hand gun. The rifles are all too powerful. I am worried about shooting through the walls and potentially into neighbours houses. As much as I love my 308 and 5.56mm rifles I have concerns with using them in such a closed and confined environment. Of course given no options I would take one over nothing but I am giving myself choices here. So really it was down to the mysterious shotgun that many people recommended.

SHOT SHELLS:
00 BUCKSHOT. The benefit over a pistol and rifle round is that with one shell loaded with 00 Buckshot shell (which is 9 lead balls (called shot) similar to a 30-30 projectile) you effectively spread 9 projectiles in a small area versus firing one projectile against a target. Firing a scatter of 9 projectiles allows for a certain margin of error. So if your aim was close you can still potentially hit the target due to the scatter effect. If you are firing at multiple targets you can enjoy the same advantage again. However with 00 Buckshot shells your maximum effective range will be within the 35 yard range. Beyond that the 00 shot will loose power fast as they are not as powerful as a rifle round. But it still met my goal of not over penetrating.

1oz or 7/8oz SLUG. In theory you could use a slug shell for self defence. A slug shell is a shot shell with a single projectile called a slug. It has an increased range which goes beyond my stated goal of maximum 50 yards. I use slugs for Deer hunting and I will take a shot up to 50-75 yards with it and be effective. But a slug is extremely powerful. An average 1oz slug will weigh around 400 grains and in comparison I cast and reload my own 30-06 projectiles and they weigh 180 grains and are capable of taking down a Moose. A slug is loaded to be very powerful and I would worry about over shooting. But you should have some in your ammo stock if you have a shotgun. I have successfully taken down doors with my own cast slugs (not pure lead, mix in some hardened alloy) by shooting in the door lock with a slug. I am confident a man sized target will stop advancing even if not fatally wounded by a slug round so don't discard the slug round if nothing else is available.

#4 BUCKSHOT AND OTHER HUNTING SHOT SHELLS. Use these wisely. Mainly for hunting. However if you have nothing else they will be better than nothing if you are still using the shotgun at that point. Generally the higher the number the smaller the lead balls inside the shell. What you substitute for weight and stopping power is a wider scatter area with less power. If you wanted to disperse a group of people from an area a #7 shot shell would be a great motivator. Aim for the ground in front of the group and let the scattering bouncing balls take care of the rest. It will not necessarily kills or seriously injure people but it will get the intention across quickly.

SHOTGUN GAUGES
Shotguns shoot in gauges versus rifles calibres. The biggest gauge is 10 gauge and the smallest is 410 gauge. I own shot guns for different hunting purposes in 12 gauge, 16 gauge and in 20 gauge. 12 Gauge is the most common gauge around. All police and military shotguns are found in that gauge. You could go for the 10 gauge shotgun but I have not seen many for sale and I worry about the shot shell being too powerful in 10 gauge. Similar I find the 20 gauge too small for this and the 16 gauge is close to my 12 gauge I just haven't seen many tactical options. So it was an easy decision to go for a 12 gauge shotgun. Honestly you cant go wrong with that choice.

SHOTGUNS.
So after looking into what firearms would meet my needs and what ammunition would be the best it was time to find a few shotguns for this task. First of I quickly realised that there were quite a number of tactical shotguns out there already. Mossberg 500, 590 and 930, Benelli M4 and M2, Remington 870 etc. There was also quite a lot of accessories to purchase and customise the shotgun for all models. We picked a cheap Mossberg M88 for inside use and close by the house. It holds 8 rounds and it is a very basic shotgun with nothing fancy to it. Next we picked a Remington 887 Nitro Mag Tactical. I like it as its made for outdoor use covered in ArmorLokt which makes it rust proof and it was designed for extreme outdoor use. It has Picatinny rails so we also purchased a red dot scope for it as it would allow us to make quick target acquisition with both eyes open searching for threats. Most likely unnecessary I assume but we got it anyway. We were somewhat limited by cost so that's what motivated our purchases. If I had unlimited funds I would have gotten in a few more of the above mentioned as you can never have enough firearms :).

TRAINING.
Shooting and aiming a shotgun for defensive purposes was very similar to simple shooting and hunting with a shotgun. What we needed to practice and work on was quick target acquisition, new carry positions, new different shooting positions, new different reloading methods and learning how to move tactically with a shotgun. Shooting lots of 00 Buckshot is the easy part. The other drills involves a lot of dry practice as we are very limited to what we can do at the local firing range. A training regime was setup with lots of dry practice and when we are proficient enough we will go up North and setup a walking action range to practice different drills such as carrying, situational awareness, shooting under movement etc. That will conclude our training anything after that will just be practising learned skills and maintaining readiness.
We will both look into more formalised training programs as several gun ranges do offer training courses in tactical shotguns and it may be worth doing periodically to keep up with new developments and to keep sharp.

Was it worth it ?. All that time invested in shotguns... Do I really think a shotgun will be useful in this limited scenario ?. Absolutely. I never knew there was so much to learn and that shotguns could have so much appeal for use. Now I do and I would advice others to seriously look into this too. I would even say that my old Browning A5 semi auto 12 gauge shotgun could be used for self defence if I had no other shotguns available. Although 28 inches long and limited to 5 shells it will still allow me to shoot the 00 Buckshot shells that I find so practical in this scenario. The majority of the dry drills will also be applicable to this old beater of a shotgun. But lets not beat around the bush. A purposely tool for the specific task is still the best option. We went for a cheap and an expensive option and have found very little difference in application. We just have more options for more extreme tactical use (patrolling, FIBUA etc) with the Remington 887. But the cheap Mossberg M88 will still get the job done and help keep our family safe.

Next step is August practice on a action range to finalise this training. Going forward will be adding new shotguns to the collection. My favourite part 🙂