Bird Shot in your Home Defense Shotgun

My thinking would be that the fight starts inside, but may transition to outside where ranges are longer.

I had been thinking more along the lines of if the attack somehow continues to escalate after 2 waxed #7.5 shots, escalation to the remaining 2 slugs might be called for. Wishful thinking perhaps, but one can hope that after firing 2 shots, seeing the consequences of hits or misses, a better understanding of what's behind the intended target might be realized and better alignment for a slug or two obtained.

By definition - a violent home invasion is happening fast - the inherent urgency of getting off the first shot, or if very unlucky first two shots, is unlikely to lend itself to much thinking about what might be behind the target. The location of that target within your house is not something you can thoroughly plan. It will be likely you are in a highly confused state, having been aroused from sleep and scrambled to grab and load the shotgun. That leaves a lot of variability insofar as attacker progress through the home. You can't know where he'll be when the confrontation happens, nor how close to you he'll get, nor at what angle relative to various rooms in your house, as he rushes you. The first shot seems by far the most critical in terms of any potential for preventing excessive damage to whatever/whoever is behind this potential attacker.

Of course the intensity of an actual home invasion is unlikely to leave the defender sufficient time to load 4 shells, to be careful about which ones go first. So thinking this through some more I'm leaning now more towards just having waxed birdshot slugs available, no solid slugs. With Canadian safe storage rules it just doesn't make sense to plan for any complexity in the loading under stress. And ultimately it's unlikely one would even have time to load more than 1 shell, probably best loaded directly into the open chamber and racked to prime the trigger. So storing the shotgun, trigger locked, chamber open, with wax slugs as handy as the rules permit...

Then if there's time grabbing a couple more shells to have handy for reloading might be nice, but it seems very unlikely to work out considering one usually doesn't sleep with pockets. Which kind of sucks. But it sort of seems like from the reasoning above (hey, probably flawed, I've got zero experience with this stuff) it follows that a single shot break barrel is every bit as practical as a pump shotgun for HD in Canada. Very different from much of the USA where a loaded gun can be left handy. Dang.

Well, I guess for use at the range the Tac-14 will be fun, and obviously for bear defence on back country hikes the multiple slugs in the tube will be desirable. But for home use, better to think of it as a single shot shotgun, and stick with a wax slug and more in the storage container to fall back to if things kept escalating, ie more than one attacker, and those for whatever reasons persisting after the deafening roar of that first shot being fired, which seems unlikely... unless the 'target' of such an invasion were involved in gangster level nonsense. And for those guys safe storage and single shot loading don't really come into play anyway, they're going to be keeping multiple loaded firearms on hand 24/7.
 
There isn't a single angle in my house farther than 13 or so yards. I am confident that shooting a light #7 1/2 load at anyone will make them either turn around and leave (if they can still do so) or completely #### up their day.

This is a "risk" I am willing to take. As stated by others, I'd much rather keep the odds of injuring family members as low as possible. My plan is to stay as close as possible to my family members and protect them. If I am going to look around the house for a bad guy, it's with a pistol and my wife has the shotgun and is with the kids in a spot we have designated as the "safest" in the house. The only reason I would start blasting my 12G is because it's the middle of the night and the bad guy has made his way upstairs and at this point I am 100% concerned with my children's safety.

You can say "make your shots count" or "be careful of where you're shooting" all you want, but in a panic, at 3 AM, you just shoot. Two way ranges are a lot different than what most of you are thinking. The average dude goes gun-dumb when they get buck fever, now imagine a life or death situation, you get tunnel vision, you concentrate on the threat and not what's behind him.
 
There isn't a single angle in my house farther than 13 or so yards. I am confident that shooting a light #7 1/2 load at anyone will make them either turn around and leave (if they can still do so) or completely #### up their day.

This is a "risk" I am willing to take. As stated by others, I'd much rather keep the odds of injuring family members as low as possible. My plan is to stay as close as possible to my family members and protect them. If I am going to look around the house for a bad guy, it's with a pistol and my wife has the shotgun and is with the kids in a spot we have designated as the "safest" in the house. The only reason I would start blasting my 12G is because it's the middle of the night and the bad guy has made his way upstairs and at this point I am 100% concerned with my children's safety.

You can say "make your shots count" or "be careful of where you're shooting" all you want, but in a panic, at 3 AM, you just shoot. Two way ranges are a lot different than what most of you are thinking. The average dude goes gun-dumb when they get buck fever, now imagine a life or death situation, you get tunnel vision, you concentrate on the threat and not what's behind him.

You're thinking seems fairly consistent with mine. Light load is the default to cover a lot of the possible uncertainties present at the outset, and will be used until i can get a grip on the situation. If/once I get to the point where I know 100% where all the little people are, and they are behind me, then its either 00 buck or leave the shotgun with the wife and transition to pistol.
 
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Agreed on the fight leaving the house. I was trying to be a mind reader and probably failed.

My HD gun is a 20ga with light 7 1/2 loads. If the bad guy is wearing a heavy coat he'd better have a phone book underneath it.

That's very bad thinking. The fight can never leave your house. I have a police officer(pro-gun) relative tell me if I ever

get into a gun fight in my home, center mass with 00 buck_dead men tell no tails. If it takes a second round of 00 buck

because the pos is wearing heavy winter clothing then so be it.

If the pos makes it back out your door_even 1 inch_ high on meth or pcp and miraculously exits, you can't pursue him

outside and continue the gun fight. You'll be charged with murder_if his body is 1 inch outside-charged with murder.

He either dies inside or you let him go_that simple. He can die outside if he wants some fresh air. You can't drag a body

back into your house_it will leave a blood trail.

My choice is 00 buck, but birdshot will work at relatively close range-even if it takes a couple of rounds.

One caveat. Do not shoot the pos in the back_you'll be charged with murder just like a guy in ON (can't remenber his name young

ex-CDN forces) who was cleared of his charges of murder under self-defense laws by a jury.

The Crown appealed his not-guilty verdict on the grounds that when the accused fires the second round from his shotgun the

dead man was hit mostly in the back. Long story short, he is facing a 2nd trail for murder, unless the SCOC hears his appeal.

Either way his life is screwed_the aboriginal man's family has already started a lawsuit for damages_like he was gonna be

worth a million if he'd worked for a living instead of being a long term criminal.:rolleyes:

You have to have the scenario burned into your mind as to how you will respond_not on the fly. Stay safe.

PS always have a tactical light on your shotgun to be sure of what/who you're shooting at.
 
Everyone who advocates birdshot somehow always say they will have buck or slugs after it...whys that? lol

The bird shot ensures hits if the targets visible, after that you might be shooting through stuff, or need to humanely put down the threat.


Haha there is a difference though between ethical harvest of animals, and defending attacks from humans. If someone has a vest on your probably better off with shot directed at the belt/below the belt line.
 
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I'd say at least above YouTube level.

How about someone who has actually had to stop threats by using deadly force?


Edit - I see you changed your comment. And you are, imo, correct. The great experience and qualifications should still include either first hand experience in stopping threats or at the very least first hand observations of stopping threats. I am pretty sure that no military or LEO agency is using birdshot in combat or when needing to use lethal force to stop threats.
 
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How about someone who has actually had to stop threats by using deadly force?

That could be considered experience. One person's example doesn't provide much though. As I said before I don't care who uses what. I would never use birdshot for anything but clays and birds but that's just me. The likelihood of a home invasion requiring deadly force in response is so low this discussion is basically just mental masturbation.

Edit - I see you changed your comment. And you are, imo, correct. The great experience and qualifications should still include either first hand experience in stopping threats or at the very least first hand observations of stopping threats. I am pretty sure that no military or LEO agency is using birdshot in combat or when needing to use lethal force to stop threats.

Yes, there are plenty of actual experts on YouTube so my comment was dumb...
 
If someone has a vest on your probably better off with shot directed at the belt/below the belt line.

When hell is about to break loose, the last thing I want to do is to ponder how much clothing the threat is wearing and where would be the best place to take aim...
- Birdshot wouldn't be my 1st choice to deal with a rabid dog, nevermind a violent and aggressive intruder.
 
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