Quote Originally Posted by Jaimecbr900

Slugs will penetrate interior walls like a hot knife thru butter. If you have little ones, collateral damage is NOT an option IMO.
True

There is absolutely no need for anything more than bird shot or a mild buckshot for home defense. Anything else and there is a big possibility that you will hurt an innocent person. If you've ever seen the pattern of even the lightest bird shot @ 20 ft, it is about the size of a large pizza coming from even an 18 in defender barrel.
Bird shot is exactly that: designed to stop small birds, NOT humans.
Even if you live in a box, your hallway is wider than 2 ft, and even if it wasn't the bird shot is not going to over penetrate and hit your sleeping child two rooms over. The power level of even bird shot @ 20 ft is greater than most and certainly plenty to stop 99% of intruders dead where they stand if you hit anything vital.
Birdshot is not effective and lacks the power to penetrate to vital organs. This why birdshot only travels through approximately 1 wall instead of 4-6 like a slug will. yes u can kill people with birdshot, but as far as a defense load goes: birdshot isnt one. Buckshot #4 and smaller are NOT defense loads, they are simply too small and lack the power to reliably and predictably penetrate to vital organs on a human.

If you want to risk your children's life to "make sure they stay down with big buck slugs"......then go for it. It's just not smart science IMO.
Absolutely. Slugs are not ideal for defense loads. They are normally used as special application loads/ long range engagement loads.

It should be noted that your average handgun will penetrate more walls than a shotgun will. As always dont pull the trigger unless your sights are on target, this will help alleviate most over penetration issues. But of course, thats easier said than done

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