That is my only regret, just leaving it leaning in the corner of the living-room while being upstairs in bed. So you should take that into consideration as well when evaluating various types of ammunition for yourself. You can stand as far as 75 yards from your target and hit it straight on with slugs. SABOTED SLUGS. Birdshot sizes are similar to how shotgun gauges are measured, but they use different terminology. The Foster slug is intended to be fired through a non-rifled shotgun barrel. Now days there are plastic hulls that have replaced the paper ones, which prevent it from getting burned. They figure you just purchase shotgun shells from the store, load them in the shotgun, and then fire. Providing of course you have practiced and know your weapon. The You will also need a secure area where you can safely fire your weapon. gauge otherwise, you would need to have a 20-Gauge available or have both weapons available https://www.rem870.com/2016/11/28/best-shotgun-cleaning-kit/. The ferret round is used to deliver tear gas and the rounds are designed to penetrate light barriers such as windshield glass, glass windows in a structure and though hollow core or light wood doors. There are certain variables that determine the shot pattern or density of the shot. Most shotgun loads are designed to be fired from a smooth bore, in other words the barrel is not rifled. You wouldn’t be able to do that with buckshot or birdshot because the pellets scatter as soon as they come out of the barrel. With home defense, you have to consider over penetration. The standard buckshot has eight .36 inch diameter balls, but they go up to 27 .24 inch diameter balls. Talk about irony there. The gauge is the diameter of the bore, which is the hollow part of the barrel. Over time, some shooters can develop a flinch and by using the low recoil loads, they can train themselves out of this habit. However, hunters are not often permitted to use slugs because local governments don’t want hunters being too far away from their target when they shoot. Sure wish I could find a pic of the original pig tail lever they talk about on these. If you were to use a rifle to try and hit them then it would be impossible because rifles are only useful for precision hits. Birdshot, buckshot and rifled slugs penetration effect on Wood Frame Door Unlike lead there is no give to steel and it can damage the bore especially if the choke is on full. If someone were to get shot with a slug then it would either kill them or cause permanent damage. You can also make the slugs less lethal if you use rubber material for the bullets instead of lead. The first shotgun is my Mossberg Maverick with a 20 inch barrel. Vitaly. A shotgun shell is cased in plastic with a brass base containing the primer. Thanks for a great article. Flechette and Soft Body Armor, Best Shotgun Shell (Shotshell) Reloading Presses, 10 Steps to Upgrade Your Remington 870 Express to Police Version, 10 Must Have Upgrades for Your Remington 870 Shotgun, Remington 870 Followers Overview (Vang Comp Systems, CDM Gear, SBE Precision, GG&G, S&J Hardware, Scattergun Technologies, Choate, Nordic), Magazine Extensions for Remington 870 Shotgun (Nordic Components, Choate, TacStar, Remington, ATI), 7 Remington 870 Upgrade Ideas for Less Than $20. I’ve shot for many years and still get confused. Conventional rounds test and penetration effect on Vehicle Door Some are of the mind that any round out of the barrel toward an intruder works. Obviously, the more pellets you have in the gun the more spreading that will occur. Pheasant are typically hunted with # 6 with a modified choke. I’m looking at a shotgun suppressor for which the manufacturer specifies wadded shot only. Remember that recoil is the kickback you get from firing a weapon. Then holding the other end of the string with the pencil, draw a 30-inch circle around the shot pattern. Usually it is stamped on shotgun’s barrel and it is easy to find it. When hit you want penetration and knock down. There are also low recoil buckshot shells available now that reduce the kickback of the shot, since buckshot is more powerful and usually gives a greater kickback than birdshot. The one thing they have in common though is that the larger the number, the smaller the shot; and vice versa. The 12-gauge is the larger of the two with a bore diameter of 0.73 inches/18.5 millimeters. This ammunition was not meant for bigger mammals, like humans. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Buckshot? Either that or just experiment with low and high brass shells to see how they work with the various shotguns that you own. Thank you so much. The action on semi-automatics relies on the energy from the shell’s charge to eject the spent shell and to chamber another. It is typically used by hunters who want to shoot birds or other flying wildlife. For instance, Hornady uses a 24″ barrel to test and record muzzle velocities for their 223 ammo. In the case of deer, they typically cut their heads off after they are dead and hang them on the wall. It is still my recommendation that, for home defence, you load your shotgun the way I did. A 12 gauge shell contains more gunpowder, so it will have a lot more recoil. How about replacing the 16g in 12g sell. Birdshot is a type of shotgun ammunition that is designed for hunting birds in the wild. Shotgun shells come in all different lengths. Low recoil loads obviously produce less energy and The best type of shotgun ammunition for home defense is buckshot. :( I’m on Gmail, so that’s likely the reason, LOL (Yes, I checked my Spam. The high brass shells actually sit in the barrel when the extractor is all the way extended but there is a gap with the low brass shells which seems to catch the edge of the barrel when closing. Always check the shell and the shotgun for compatibility. Birdshot contains the smallest pellets out of all the other shotgun ammunition types. Different types of ammunition are effective in different situations and on different ranges, and the best video on this topic was made by Federal Law Enforcement Training Center and called Rounds of Authority: Shotgun Ammunition. It sounds like you definitely should get some basic training before you handle a firearm. Additionally, you do not want to injure several birds by scattering shot everywhere, you want to bring the targeted one down. This is an old term that refers to the barrel diameter. Do this three times. However, it has great stopping power and it will be able to incapacitate any intruder from up to 30 feet away. These are modern variations between the Foster and saboted slugs. The salt is very coarse and may even resemble chips of rock. Just bought my first shotgun in years (870 Express), since my old .410 went away years ago. Tungsten is also very hard, but it is often alloyed with other metals making it softer causing less damage in older models shotguns. Secure a backboard of plywood or even heavy cardboard between the posts so that a 35 to 40 inch piece of white paper can be attached. But if you are in the woods and a bear tries to attack you, then the buckshot will certainly stop them. Homeowners while they want to protect their family and possessions do not necessarily want to cause a fatality while doing so. As you can see, the higher number contains more pellets. Armed with your new knowledge, your next stop at the ammo store is going to be one heck of a good time! Darn that .22 barrel is accurate. Conventional rounds penetration effect on soft body armor How to find out the size of a shotgun ammo? Any shorter than 26 inches and we’d be looking at a short-barreled shotgun…and NFA complications. High brass shells, like magnum shells, are typically advertised as having more power because they have more powder in them. Anyone who uses slugs is looking to kill something quickly and from far away. I hate using Google’s Gmail or having anything at all to do with Google. Id like to read more. Traditional sabots can be accurate at greater distances. Shotguns come in different size gauges which determine the size of its ammunition. If there is more than one person in the home that may use a shotgun as a home defense weapon While the .410 shotgun shell theory has tested well in close quarters scenarios, it is not highly recommended for anyone attempting to engage a target at over, say, fifteen feet. 24″ is the SAAMI (industry) standard despite the fact that most .223 ammo is probably fired from an 18″ AR-15 barrel. Thanks for all the good info on shotguns and home defense. But the ones made for shotguns are almost nonexistent. We are the original gun news source. Many shotguns will come with a fixed choke, which means you have to adapt to the spread that it gives you. I walk with two kids so something that will hurt the animal enough that it will want to bigger off as fast as it came. (Explained above.). GND is community supported. They vary in shape but are usually bullet shaped. These slugs are smaller than the bore or diameter of the shotgun and are wrapped in a plastic ‘sabot’. Birdshot however at close range is devastating but not as guaranteed as a rifled slug would be at close range. One good peppering with #4-6 birdshot will hurt and scare off your average meth head robber and you will save yourself the legal headache of killing them. However, at very close range birdshot will penetrate certain doors and walls.