Shotgun Home defense rounds

[jimmycthemd]

I'm resurrecting an old friend...a Mossberg 500 that's pushing 30 years old. I'm real familiar with 00 buck and slugs, but was wondering what most folks would use for home defense (inside the house). The considerations are pretty obvious...enough to be (potentially) lethal but not so powerful as to go through 3 walls and then outside possibly harming a neighbor.

[prc-104]

With shotguns, the cup keeps whatever load you're shooting in a fairly tight pattern.
If you want to emulate the old blunderblus, you can can load the shell with wadding and no cup. Aimed down the hallway, the shot will go everywhere, definitely NOT a tight pattern.
BTW #4 buck doesn't penetrate walls like #00 does.

[jimmycthemd]

With shotguns, the cup keeps whatever load you're shooting in a fairly tight pattern.
If you want to emulate the old blunderblus, you can can load the shell with wadding and no cup. Aimed down the hallway, the shot will go everywhere, definitely NOT a tight pattern.
BTW #4 buck doesn't penetrate walls like #00 does.

Good advice but I don't reload shotgun shells. I do, however, reload my own rifle/pistol rounds. I'll take a look at #4 buck and see how it does.

[rice paddy daddy]

For me OO buck is the only way to go for personal defense.
The military and police use this because it is effective.

Bird shot does not have the mass to penetrate deep enough to do much of anything.

https://www.theboxotruth.com/
This is a very interesting site, it started out testing some myths about bullet penetration and snowballed into a very informative wide ranging site.
Remember - birdshot is for birds.