[Troy26]

I'm trying to research the best choices for home defense shells for my REmington 870 Express (takes 2&3/4 or 3 inch shells). Any opinions are appreciated.
Thanks!
-Troy

[mattw]

low recoil 00 Buck 2 3/4 shells. any brand as long as they are reliable and pattern well in your gun. accept no other answers.

[Mighty Hd]

How about the winchester ranger 12 guage?

[Rupestris]

Mine (short barrel) does well with Hornady TAP (Reduced Recoil).
Best suggestion is to get several brands (Federal, Hornady, Winchester etc.) and take the 870 to the range and patern all of them. Best patern or combination of patern, POI (point of impact) and kick wins.

Shotguns are finikey eaters sometines. What works well in one may be terrible in another. My 26" barrle agrees with one brand of slug while the short HD barrel throws the same brand all over the place. Because of this I use one brand for hunting and another for HD. Same goes for buck shot and/or bird shot and target loads.

Steve? Whats the name of that book again? :p

If you're really intersted in becomming a shotgunner, pick up a copy of "Shotgunning - The Art and The Science" by Bob Brister. There is a wealth of information in it. Most of the important stuff is on the pages between the front and back cover.

Chris

[James12g]

Fiocci makes a law enforcement load 2 3/4" with reduced recoil. I have heard that this is really a good shell from a lot of people and it is relatively inexpensive.

[RecoilRob]

First, ANYTHING you use MUST be 100% reliable in your gun.

Then, it boils down IMO to what distance you are going to be using it.

0 to 10 ft.....doesn't much matter what you use. It will barely have left the shotcup if at all so 1-1 1/2 oz of lead is pretty much the same.

10ft to 25yds.....Buckshot or Slugs. Some prefer 000, some 00, some #4. I kind of like 12ball 2 3/4" 00 loads as they don't kick as hard as the 15 ball 3" and will penetrate well out to the 25yd limit. #4 might be a better choice if on the short end of the distance with more pellets per shell but that is a subject of MUCH discussion. Slugs work well here too, but normally recoil pretty stoutly. Shot spread to help poor marksmanship isn't really a valid concern as my 18" cyl bore guns normally will pattern 00 in about a 24" circle at 25yds so you must aim well to hit.

25-100yds.....Slugs. Only. But, it surely can be argued that a rifle would be a much better proposition for long range shooting. And, what kind of 'self defense' are we talking about when shooting at 100yds?

During 'Crowd Control' training in the service, we were taught to fire the 00 several yards short of the malcontents to spread the charge and hit many of them in the legs. Happily, I never got the chance to try it and still wonder if that really was an effective method. But, if that tactic is on the menu, then 00 is preferred.

Some will mention the 'overpenetration' of slugs and buckshot, but the 'Box o'Truth' showed pretty good penetration for birdshot through apartment type walls too.

Home defense is 00 Buck for me.

[_N4Z_]

2 3/4 00buck will do the job on any 2 legged interloper.

maybe a couple 2 3/4 slugs on the sleeve in case said interloper is wearing a suit of armor.

that covers ALL the bases.