To each his own. I prefer to go with the advice of folks like Tom Givens, etc. Anyway, if it goes to a long arm, I'm going for the carbine, after shooting it vs. a shotgun in tactical exercises.
Yes yes, we've all been made intimately aware of your preference of rifle vs shotgun at this point, thanks.
I feel a lot of classes really push Flight Control, because a lot of students are often using their shotguns as tools for work. Flite Control is a very good innovation for pushing buckshot past that old standard of 25 yards or less. That can be a huge game changer when you are responding to an unknown situation at an unknown distance, and you may have to count on those pellets to make it that extra 10-15 yards for a consistent center of mass shot.
At home defense distances though, the pattern can be a bit wider and still be of great effect. You have the ability to measure the distances you may have to shoot, and plan accordingly.
Then it comes down to ammunition economy vs effectiveness. Right now, though very good, Federal Flite Control ammo is rare and very expensive when you find it. The average shooter may be able to find standard buckshot that patterns well(pattern your shotguns kids) for them, a lot more consistently and at better prices. You know what that means for that shooter?
More defense ammo to train with. More defense ammo to run through their particular gun to ensure reliability. Training and understanding your defense firearm/ammunition is king. Can you do that with Flite Control? Absolutely! But IMHO it's just not realistic for the average shooter, especially right now.
As for the age old debate on birdshot vs buckshot for home defense, well... I wouldn't ever recommend birdshot for home defense use. Even with heavier shot, there's just not enough penetration to consistently make it to areas that guarantee a quick and reliable stop.
I have seen a lot of mortician photos while looking into ammo effectiveness, and I can safely say that more often than not, photos that involve birdshot are contact wounds. There are quite a few hospital photos of patients that are still alive, but have awful looking wounds. If they had been a determined attacker, they could have kept up with the attack, and that's NOT a good thing. When I choose ammo for my defensive guns, I want to make sure it's going to stop the attack as effectively as possible, determined attacker or not.
Like I mentioned before, ammo capacity wise, I feel it's best to have more than less, but our situations differ person to person. I'd still prefer 6 rounds of buckshot versus 10-12 rounds of birdshot any day.
~ Leo