Do You Keep A Shotgun Available For Home Defense

When I lived in rural Pahrump (an hour from Vegas) I kept slugs in my Mossberg 500. Now things have happened, I no longer have the 500 and we live in Vegas so I am about to buy a semi-auto Mossberg (940 Pro Tactical) and it will be for HD. I voted the first option.

My VR80 shotgun with ten round magazines is near my bed as my primary. Usually #4 buck.

Electrod47 said:

Behind the door is the Mossberg 500 w/ 9rds mini-shells mixed Buckshot and Slugs.

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I keep a couple of Shockwaves loaded with mini shells as well. When I took them out an tested with 3 versions of the mini shells I felt a lot more confident in the stopping power and hit ration with the buckshot than the slugs. The buckshot also seemed to have a little more power. Why are you mixing buckshot and slugs, if I may ask? One reason I chose the mini shells is that the females in my household feel pretty confident shooting the 12 ga mini shells vs the regular shells in my 20 ga Shockwave. Plus the increased capacity is a bonus I think. I just want to know if I should be putting some slugs in the mix.

WrongHanded said:

Whilst I'm not arguing against the "shootability" of a PCC (lever action or otherwise), the effect that buckshot has even before travelling enough distance to open up, is significant. From everything I've seen, it causes massive wounds. And we all know that if the attacker is determined - and so a psychological stop is not in the cards - there aren't too many ways to cause a physiological stop. Even at the sort of distance which would result in a 1" shot pattern, that's going to be a big nasty hole.

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Cant argue buckshot does a lot of damage but Id be happy enough with a 357 or 44 carbine loaded down a little with a positively expanding JHP. These loads stop pigs up close, should stop a human.

I've got my trusty Mossberg 500 next to the nightstand... it's not even loaded. I've read on the internet (so it must be true...) that just the sound of that slide racking will make any home invader wet himself, and curl up into the fetal position on the floor. Well.... maybe not.

I've got 5 rounds of Winchester military 00 Buck in it, but the 12ga would be a secondary (barricade) weapon next to my 9mm carry piece on the nightstand; this assuming it's a bump in the night, vs a daytime invasion. I have pistols elsewhere in the house for that occurrence. My house layout forms a choke point outside my bedroom door, the 12ga would seem a better weapon for that scenario than the 9mm.

I have a Stoeger M3000 thats being tweaked for a 3gun/HD rig.
Stock mod (recoil pad sucks, LOP too long), trigger is horrible, and front sight while fiberoptic, is so dull as to be worthless.
Hopefully after 90 bucks worth of aftermarket it becomes decent.

Id feel kinda bad about beating up a Beretta 1301 (if I had one).

AFAIC, EVERYTHING is on the table when it comes to the defense of my home and family.

There is no such thing as a fair fight.

That includes knives, baseball bats screwdrivers, furniture, fire...

Hell, I'll slam your hand in a door and beat you with a hammer until I can get an upper hand on my situation.

Having said that, while I have nearly every firearm I own in some form of readiness, a few pistols are my Frontline form of defense.

I keep one of the 590-A1s, cruiser-ready with 8 rounds 0 and 4 slugs in the speed-feed stock, just inside the walk-in closet door in the master bedroom.

I would have to go with "secondary HD option for my Maverick 88. My primary HD weapon is a SIG P229 with a laser/light combo on it, along with two spare magazines in case "things" go sideways in a hurry.

I would go with secondary since I have my EDC and another pistol near my bed.

When I'm home I have a Maverick 88 in cruiser ready mode with #4 buck loaded in an unlocked gun cabinet.

Next to it is a Rossi Circuit Judge loaded with the 4 disk version of the Winchester PDX1 shells.

At inside the home distances both should be effective. My elderly mother is able to handle the Rossi as well if she needs it.

Was giving the wife a run down of how the shotgun is setup. As it is closer and easier for her to grab than her handguns. Light is here, chamber is empty for this reason etc etc. Gun is too heavy for her to use comfortably. "Would you feel better with the AR pistol? YES!" So the shotgun will soon be retired once I get an optic for my AR pistol. That was a short two weeks of the 12ga on home duty.

Hookeye said:

.....Id feel kinda bad about beating up a Beretta 1301 (if I had one).....

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No reason...while I haven't beat mine as bad, I've only run 275-300 during a class, it will take it and ask for more.

Mossberg 500 with 00 Buck is my secondary weapon. My primary is a S&W Model 10 2in.in 38 Special.

I have children at home, so having quickly accessible loaded rifle presents an issue. Of course if it was not for kids I would just put it up on the wall above the wall closet entry on the inside and call it a day.

As it is, I have handguns locked up in fairly decent single handgun sized vaults and available in places around the house that are easy to get to, provide some cover, and have good lines of fire.

I only have one shotgun, a "tactical" over/under 12ga that is a little over 18" of barrel length, a front sights, and has pic rails all over (one of them is the rear sight) and it was originally bought because at the time I didn't have a shotgun and wanted the most bang for my buck in terms of survival use. What I got gave me tons of ideas as given it was a break action and had front & rear sights and a rail for an optic so much of it was based around chamber adapters for pistol calibers and a no muss, no fuss in terms of using low recoil short shells like the Aguila or the Herter's 2.25" that Cabela's use to sell before the awful Bass Pro buyout.

This was a couple years before braces became legal to shoulder, so at the time it was among the shortest shotguns in OAL on the market that wasn't NFA regulated. There were plans to use for home defense, but over time I got to realize that handguns and braced AR's were just superior.

I still have the shotgun, if I'm making a hot pistol load that I have an adapter for it gets tested in the shotgun for pressure before it touches my more expensive guns, but the shotgun can still find a role for home defense. Overall tho, it's more of a range toy and I've had a lot of fun and learned quite a bit about what works and what doesn't for the chamber adapters.

As I'm reading through the posts in this thread, 6am, not quite ready to jump out of bed to go to work, mossberg 590 with 7 shells of 00 is just an arms length away. As are a couple others. I imagine should the need ever arise I'll be able to work something out....

Eta: I'd probably follow the common trend and switch those 00's with #4B but I can never come across any in stores. Always, always 00 in stores. Nothing else.

WrongHanded said:

Oh, I wouldn't say people who prepare for unlikely but unpleasant situations are scared, necessarily. But people do suffer home invasions, regardless of the "status" (I suppose we could say) of their neighborhood. And whilst it may or may not be a daily occurrence, nationally speaking, it's far from unheard of.

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I've always been aware of the fact that things happen anywhere, anytime regardless of the neighborhood (good vs bad, etc) but since my wife is a voracious watcher of all these different true crime docuseries programs on TV, it's crazy how some of the most random, unspeakable things happen in the most unlikely of places.

Sometimes I tune into one of her shows if it's a particularly interesting incident and often think "man, you just wouldn't expect something like that to happen there" but evil knows no bounds and killers can just be random. But inkeeping with the thread topic, another thought I often have when I watch one of her shows is "shotgun by the bed would have solved that problem and everybody in that house would likely still be alive".......

I think a shotgun is a perfectly good weapon to have for home defense.
The round (00 Buck) is plenty devastating, and most home invasions aren't going to be like a full blown war zone where you will have a long, drawn out battle.
Either the bad guy / bad guys will get in before you know it, or you will have time to grab your weapon, and fight them off... but it will happen within a minute or two.

It's just that a shotgun is not for me. Were I more experienced with one, that would be different. However, I was a soldier for 28 years. The AR platform is more natural to me.

I keep a 10.5" barrel SBR handy. I have all the advantages of the rifle.. it's lighter in weight, lighter recoiling, more accurate, holds more ammo, and being an SBR, a smaller package.
I've mounted a light (that ALL defensive weapons need) and a red dot sight for the absolute quickest in target acquisition.
Best thing is, I have decades of training, and experience behind my chosen defensive tool... some of it, in real world application.

I do feel the rifle is the best choice, but whatever your choice, 2 things...
1 Have a light, red dot & sling on it.
2 Be well trained with it.

Y-T71 said:

AFAIC, EVERYTHING is on the table when it comes to the defense of my home and family.

There is no such thing as a fair fight.

That includes knives, baseball bats screwdrivers, furniture, fire...

Hell, I'll slam your hand in a door and beat you with a hammer until I can get an upper hand on my situation.

Having said that, while I have nearly every firearm I own in some form of readiness, a few pistols are my Frontline form of defense.

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I feel ya! I tried mentally counting how many firearms I have staged throughout my house ready for a HD situation.....then I had to put my head down on my desk and take a nap....it is well over a dozen. But I also have 3 machetes, 2 propane torches (!!!) and a big bag of ball bearings because I have all tile floors.

A 20 inch 12 gauge pump with 7 rounds of 00 buck is my primary defense weapon. There will be no racking the pump warning. Just a soft click and a boom.

Beretta 1301 Competition 10+1 as an end of the hall gun. I have a small place and no need to clear from my end of the home.

My go-to HD option is a 24" barreled 1897 Winchester, threaded for chokes. Granted, it's loaded with high brass #4's and it's more for "critter defense" than actual home invasion, but I think it'll get the job done if needed. We don't have any children, so there's also a Mossberg 500 20 gauge loaded with 3" #4's by the kitchen door, and a single barrel 12 next to front door for "critter defense". And pistols scattered around where I can get ahold of one should the need arise. But when the dog barks in the middle of the night, I usually grab the 97 and a flashlight first.

Mac

No.............

I chose shotgun Im a much better shot with my shotgun than any of my handguns . particularly in the middle of the night I have a light on my shotgun.