#4Buck shell with decent spread from a Mossberg 500

[Snowdog]

My wife has warmed up to the shotgun for home defense and though I live in a house, it's a stick build with vinyl siding (I'd imagine I could put a .22LR through the wall if I didn't hit a stud or something of the like). The closest neighbor lives in a similarly built house about 40' to the side.

I would like to use something smaller than 00B, yet well larger than birdshot.
I looked into #4 shot Turkey loads, but I just can't warm up to something that small. A buddy gave me a couple boxes of Federal 2 3/4" #4 buck (27 pellets) and after playing around with it a little, I feel it's perfect!
Unfortunately, I found the spread to be about 5" at 25', about the furthest realistic engagement distance for the inside of our house. Though that's acceptable, I personally don't feel it's ideal. I would like a spread at that range closer to twice that diameter.

I noticed my Mossberg 500 prints much tighter patterns with buffered 00B (such as from Winchester) than shells of the same shot size without a buffering material (Such as S&B).

My question is if anyone know of a #4 Buck 2 3/4" shell that's known to rapidly spread, more so than what's typical?
I'm thinking I might purchase some PMC #4 Buck from my local shop and hope for the best, but I'm fairly certain S&B's 27pellet 4 Buck shells are nonbuffered and spread well.
I’d imagine the wadding makes a difference too. The Federals given to me have a plastic cup wad whereas the S&B shells have a couple paper wads.

Of course there's no hurry and the shotty's loaded with the Federal shells for now. I'm just curious if anyone here has any suggestions gleaned from their own experience.
Thanks in advance!

 

[foghornl]

In MY experiences, the shells that are un-buffered/un-cupped spread quite a bit faster than those so made.

IIRC, Wolf and Sellier/Bellot are both unbuffered/uncupped. Not sure how many different loads they make, though. PMC is also un-cupped, unless I am mistaken.

 

[Fred Fuller]

Keep all your buckshot in the BG (bad guy) and you'll have less to worry about regarding where stray pellets go and how much they penetrate. The bigger the pattern the more likely you are to miss with some pellets. Stick with the tighter patterning load and practice, practice, practice.

Arrange things so you do any shooting from low, barricaded positions. Elevating your muzzle gets your angle of incidence headed upward in the event of misses. And arrange loaded bookshelves, heavy furniture and other architectural features to serve as backstops to your established lanes of fire.

But mainly, get yourself up to speed as a shooter. You CAN miss with a shotgun, even at ranges measured at a few feet. It's actually not too difficult, given enough pressure and an adrenalin dump along the way. Good training is the best preparation to deal with those situations.

Stay safe,

lpl/nc

 

[DWARREN123]

There is a brand, I don't remember the name, made just for home defense. Short rounds for 12ga.

 

[skeeter1]

Shotgun loads for HD

After may years of shotgunning (hunting and clays), I've acquired quite a few loads: #8, #6, #5, #4, #2 birdshot. I've settled on #4 buck for HD. Effective enough, but not so much so that I think I have to worry about them going through my house and into my neighbors house. I still have a few rounds of 000 buck Magnums that I should shoot at the range one of these days just to get rid of them. Those are overkill for HD and sort of scare me.