Home Defense Shotgun Ammo

[grumpyMSG]

Some of the Ammunition options I haven't heard you mention are just the variations on the 00 buckshot round, some of which would change your numbers significantly.

Hornady's TAP FPD 8 pellets at 1600 feet per second, which should give each pellet about a 20% increase in energy over the Winchester Military 00 Buckshot (Numbers from Cabela's info). The trade; 1 less pellet.

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/store ... erralID=NA

Lists a lot of the Buckshot rounds from Remington including:
A 3 inch 000 Buckshot load with 10 pellets at 1225 feet per second
A 3 inch 00 Buckshot load with 15 pellets at 1225 FPS
A 2 3/4 inch 00 Buckshot load with 12 pellets at 1275 FPS

Given the velocity and the size of the pellet each of the rounds unleashes close to the same amount of energy as a whole magazine of .380 ACP (95 grain bullet at 955 FPS for Winchester FMJ). The key for any ammunition's effectiveness is hitting the target. The question is, can you hit someone with a 12 gauge scared and in the dark. A 12 gauge slug gives you a consistent roughly 3/4 inch dispersion, that is all the biggest it is going to get unless you hit something or someone. with a Buckshot load as the distance gets longer, the dispersion gets greater. My guess is that in a home defense situation 30 feet is a long shot, using the Box O' Truth: http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot20_2.htm
and cutting their 20 yard shot in half, a 5 to 9 inch pattern would be a reasonable expectation for that distance and smaller at closer ranges. It increases tha chance for hits, but also increases the chance for a pellet or two to miss the target. The question is: Given your living circumstances, is a higher probability of hit worth the possibility of a stray pellet.

[gunderwood]

Some of the Ammunition options I haven't heard you mention are just the variations on the 00 buckshot round, some of which would change your numbers significantly.

Hornady's TAP FPD 8 pellets at 1600 feet per second, which should give each pellet about a 20% increase in energy over the Winchester Military 00 Buckshot (Numbers from Cabela's info). The trade; 1 less pellet.

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/store ... erralID=NA

Lists a lot of the Buckshot rounds from Remington including:
A 3 inch 000 Buckshot load with 10 pellets at 1225 feet per second
A 3 inch 00 Buckshot load with 15 pellets at 1225 FPS
A 2 3/4 inch 00 Buckshot load with 12 pellets at 1275 FPS

Given the velocity and the size of the pellet each of the rounds unleashes close to the same amount of energy as a whole magazine of .380 ACP (95 grain bullet at 955 FPS for Winchester FMJ). The key for any ammunition's effectiveness is hitting the target. The question is, can you hit someone with a 12 gauge scared and in the dark. A 12 gauge slug gives you a consistent roughly 3/4 inch dispersion, that is all the biggest it is going to get unless you hit something or someone. with a Buckshot load as the distance gets longer, the dispersion gets greater. My guess is that in a home defense situation 30 feet is a long shot, using the Box O' Truth: http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot20_2.htm
and cutting their 20 yard shot in half, a 5 to 9 inch pattern would be a reasonable expectation for that distance and smaller at closer ranges. It increases tha chance for hits, but also increases the chance for a pellet or two to miss the target. The question is: Given your living circumstances, is a higher probability of hit worth the possibility of a stray pellet.

While those are good rounds, the extra recoil of them makes them less than ideal for home defense/tactical entry options. The reason for the 9 pellet or lower 00 buck is to make room for the flight control wad. 3" magnums are stout no matter how you slice it and extra velocity doesn't help those round projectiles much.

Edit: Those Remington rounds have a lot more spread than the others. Wouldn't you be afraid of large % of those pellets missing?