Good Ammo for home defense and range?

[ajl2121]

Hey everyone...I'm fairly inexperienced with shotguns and was wondering what kind of ammo would be good (reasonable price as well) for my 12 gauge mossberg 500...It is strictly for home defense and I would like to use the same ammo at the range as well (therefore would like inexpensive to moderate priced shells). The store I bought the shotgun from sold me some Federal lead 2 3/4" shells that are supposed to used for bird hunting. I asked the store about 00 bucks, and they said for home defense I need really small pellets so they do not penetrate the walls...Help Please!

 

[nemoaz]

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=241384

I wouldn't use anything but buckshot. It's discussed in the other thread.

There's no reason to shy away from light target load for the range. It'll give you a chance to shoot up the birshot they sold you. I'm not saying that you shouldn't shoot some buckshot and slugs. You should. You must have confidence in your ability to handle the slightly greater, but still easily manageable with proper form, recoil. But for general practice, such as stress reloading drills etc., birdshot works. You definitely want to measure your house and then pattern your shotgun at that range and shorter so you know how the weapon patterns. It will probably be eye-opening and remind you that you cannot merely point your SG in the general direction of the bad guy. You must aim or have polished point shooting skills even with shotgun.

 

[mountainclmbr]

I would say that it depends on your situation. If you live in a dense urban townhouse type environment, I would go with a smaller shot size (#4-#8) as the pellets won't penetrate walls as well and up close they would stop a bad guy quickly. If in a rural environment you have more choices if you don't have to worry about other people in your house or very close neighbors. I am in the rural situation and have actually had black bears try to break into my house. I use 12 ga 3-inch 00-buck in my shotgun with slugs as backup. I never had to fire a shot in anger and hope you never will either. But, it is a lot like insurance. You need it, but hope you never need to use it!

For the range I would not use buckshot or slugs for trap or skeet! You could use them if there is a good backstop.