For all these people who say a 12 gauge is the best, have you patterned 00 buck at 15 feet? I havent, but have seen other loads out of imp cylinder at very close and it’s extremely tight. I shot 00 buck and 4 buck at 40 yards last year out of a mod choke and it very much resembled the pattern shotguns seem to throw in the movies at 12 feet when a bad guys blasts the door….
I think youre probably throwin a slug from across the bedroom with any shot/choke combo. May as well have 30 rounds and a light on a 400 dollar AR. Of course your rounds may end up goin through a few houses.
I have patterned several varieties of buck
an inch a yard is a fair estimate so at 5 yards a 5 inch pattern you can get tighter but that is about it.
when people say this they are thinking no engagement will happen outside the longest hall or room in their house. in my house if you jammed yourself in one corner and shot as far as you could see 30 feet is it and you would be back to the far corner shooting the front door so fair to say unlikely. much more likely would be in the 8-16 feet or 2 to 5 yards
the reason for a shotgun is 3 fold
1 they are cheap a 250 dollar shotgun will get it done reliably buy a used one you can probably get to sub 200.
2 most of use country types grew up with them and they are totally natural in the hands and to the shoulder and fast to the eye to new never use one before this isn't the case.
3 #4 buck is enough to work but not so bad after the 2nd wall , even if your pattern isn't much larger than a slug it isn't held together like a slug.
the reasons for ARs in the home are 4 fold
1 easiest to shoot platform , if we are talking training time to hits on target at speed it wins.
2 Ammo capacity this helps with hits on target at speed.
3 ease of mounting lights and dots
4 with the right choice of ammo it can be not to bad for over penetration.
