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The other day, I watched a YouTube video titled, “Shotguns Suck for Home Defense.” I normally skip those, but decided to watch this one. I felt dumber when I was done. I’m not going to link to it so as not to make you feel dumber
I see things like this from time to time, and they’re always filled with nonsense. I’ll go through his specific “points” shortly, but for now just a few things.
First, we need to stop denigrating other people’s choices. We’re not them, we don’t know their situation, and we have zero qualifications to tell them what to do. That doesn’t just apply to someone like myself, but to some who think that their military/law enforcement background gives them the qualifications to see what other people need. It doesn’t. In the end, no matter how informed, opinions are just opinions.
Second, if you’re an “AR for home defense” person or an “AK for home defense” person, that’s great. If you think an AR is the greatest platform ever created and it’s the best home defense gun in history, then it is for you. That’s doesn’t mean a shotgun “sucks.”
Finally, there may be different definitions of home defense. I live in a small place on a very small plot of land. The absolute longest range in my house is 12 yards. Realistically, due to furniture and such, it’s 10 yards. More like five to eight. I have different criteria than someone who has 5,000 sq ft on 100 acres.
I’m writing this from my perspective and situation. I’m thinking of a “bump in the night” situation.
I’m not going to go through the whole, best gun for home defense, thing. It’s your house and your family; you can figure it out better than I can.
Table of Contents
First, my shotgun.
I bought this at a pawn shop during COVID Time. It’s a Mossberg 500 with a 20″ cylinder bore barrel. It has a basic bead sight on it.
I also have a 28″ ported barrel that I bought because it was a good deal. I’ve put it on once or twice just to remember how to do so.
I’ve made two modifications to this shotgun. First, the StreamLight TL-Racker. Second, a Monstrum side-saddle shell holder. I got that one from Amazon.
I’m sure you’ve noticed that it has a Picatinny rail on it. I may, at some point, put a red dot on it. However, see my home defense scenario. The center of the light from the TL-Racker is a really good aiming point at close range.
His list of “problems” with a shotgun.
- Shotgun myths.
- Recoil.
- Capacity.
- Slow reloading.
- Weight.
- Need for training.
Let’s break these down and look at them rationally, shall we?
Shotgun myths.
Anti-shotgun people always bring these up. There are two: racking the slide will solve the problem all by itself, and you don’t have to aim a shotgun.
I’ve never met anyone who actually believed either of those things, but they say it anyway. I don’t know; maybe when I was a kid I might have thought that?
Besides, these have nothing to do with anything. The fact that someone believes something about a shotgun that isn’t true has absolutely nothing to do with the weapon’s effectiveness when used.
When you rack the slide and they don’t run away, well, you’ll figure it out.
And the first time you shoot buckshot at five or 10 yards and see a fist-sized hole in your target, you’ll figure out that you need to aim the thing.
Recoil.
I’ll give him this one. It’s the hardest recoiling of all the normal choices, which I think of as shotgun, carbine, or pistol. That makes followup shots slower.
Good thing we’re not likely to need them.
For the TL;DR crowd, a shotgun has a stopping percentage of north of 85% with a single shot.
Capacity.
Ammo selection is its own article, but I’ll just assume 9 pellet 00 buckshot for now. That’s the most common, I think.
Let’s do some math.
Each pellet weights roughly 53 grains. They will be moving around 1,300 fps out of an 18-20 inch barrel. They will strike the target within hundredths of a second of each other, and within a fist sized group at the ranges in my scenario. So 475 grains, give or take.
No other firearm matches that. Carbines will fire heavier rounds moving faster, and they will be spaced out a lot more.
Anti-shotgun types tend to downplay shotgun capacities to “maybe three rounds.” If you’re using Grandpa’s shotgun, I suppose that could be true. If you bought one for home defense, you can do better. My Mossberg holds seven 2 3/4″ rounds in the tube. I don’t keep one in the chamber since I’m not sure it’s drop safe.
Seven times nine = 63. How many rounds does a carbine’s mag hold again?
See, this is a magazine. It is not a 30 round security blanket.
Anyway, if seven rounds is insufficient, then there are a lot more attackers than seems likely, or I’m missing a lot.
Reloading.
It’s not all that fast in my Mossberg, or really any other shotgun that uses a tube magazine. But see above. I don’t see it as a major issue.
I should say, it’s not that fast for me. I don’t spend a lot of time practicing it. I could probably speed things up quite a bit with just a little effort, although to be really good will take serious practice. I don’t see the need for it.
I’m pretty fair at reloading my handguns because it’s more likely to be necessary and I do practice that skill. Ten 9mm rounds is more likely to be insufficient than seven shotgun rounds. With an AR, I’m not bad. I do practice, but I honestly don’t expect to reload one of those any more than I do a shotgun. It’s more of a clearance malfunction thing.
While we’re on the subject, though, there are magazine fed shotguns. My son has one of these. It holds five in the magazine. Reloading is literally the same as reloading an AR. The button is the same and it’s in the same place. The magazines are larger, but work exactly the same as a 5.56 or .300 BO mag.
Weight.
I don’t even know what to do with this. I weighed my Mossberg, and it was 120 oz. I weighed my PSA AR pistol, and it’s 118 oz. I’m going to just call that negligible and assume he didn’t bother to check.
Besides, remember my scenario. I’m driving someone out of my house. I’m not trekking five miles through the back country with it. Weight isn’t a big deal here.
You need training to run it correctly.
Well, duh. You also need training to run one of these correctly.
And one of these.
Training with any firearm is a good idea. As is regular practice.
I will say that, having to manually do something between each shot does make a malfunction more likely with a pump shotgun. If you’re not trained and practiced up, you’re more likely to short stroke it.
I will also say that there isn’t exactly a shortage of good quality auto-loading shotguns that will eliminate that issue. I really like my son’s Rock Island, for example.
Conclusion
I’ve talked about some of this before. I believe I even mention my Rossi R92 lever gun as a home defense weapon.
If you want a carbine, or a handgun, or a PCC, then use them. But if you want a shotgun, then use one. They have their upsides and downsides, just like the other options.
And remember; your situation determines your needs which leads to your choices. If your definition of “home defense” includes defending livestock in the south 40 from predators, you may need something somewhat different than I do.
