The primary benefit is that buckshot is less likely to over-penetrate or penetrate through walls, whereas slugs will easily penetrate through multiple interior walls. Many slugs are effective to 75-100 yards, with some even being capable of ethical hunting out to 200 yards if shot from the right shotgun.įor home defense, I prefer the multiple projectiles buckshot offers. Compared to birdshot and buckshot, slugs have the longest effective range. SlugsĪ slug is one larger solid projectile. You can be confident buckshot will neutralize attackers and be effective out to 30-50 yards. If compared to slugs or rifle ammunition, it's much less likely to over-penetrate. As ballistic gel tests show, this would create a huge stretch cavity in your attacker while also penetrating deep enough to hit vital organs.īuckshot does run a greater risk of penetrating through walls, compared to birdshot, but it's also far more lethal than birdshot. My preference for shotgun ammo for home defense is #1 buckshot, which can deliver 16 pellets to your attacker at over 1000 feet per second. Buckshotīuckshot is the preferred type of shotgun ammunition for home defense among most tactical shotgun owners. Last to note on birdshot is many semi-automatic shotguns have issues reliably cycling birdshot loads. If overpenetration is a concern to you, I'll say that I'd prefer having a tactical shotgun with birdshot than no gun at all. Thus, some people living in apartments opt for birdshot loads for home defense. The one positive of all of this is that birdshot is least likely to over-penetrate through walls. Birdshot also has a very limited effective range. Put simply, this makes it less likely to neutralize a threat in a home defense situation. Birdshot will no doubt leave a horrifying wound, but it generally lacks the ability to penetrate deep enough in an attacker to hit vital organs. While being shot by birdshot would in no way be fun and quite possibly be lethal to a human attacker, it's not the best choice. Since birds and small varmint aren't what I'm looking to defend my home against, I wouldn't personally use birdshot for home defense. As you can see in the picture above, birdshot pellets are smaller, which allows more pellets to be loaded into a shell.Īs the name suggests, birdshot is primarily intended for and used to hunt birds.
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Each is optimal for different purposes.īoth birdshot and buckshot loads are filled with multiple pellets. There are three primary types of shotgun loads: Birdshot, Buckshot, and Slugs. So everyone is recommending a shotgun for home defense, but why? Ammo Versatility: Birdshot, Buckshot, and Slugs
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Benelli M2 (Best Semi-Automatic & Best Overall).
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Mossberg 930 Tactical (Relatively Affordable Semi-Automatic).Mossberg Maverick 88 (Best Budget Pump-Action).Before expanding on how we determined these picks, here's a quick list of the best tactical shotguns for home defense: