Better than a sharp stick, better than a muzzleloader, probably better than a .25 Raven.
Otherwise, most other things surpass it. If you've got better suited tools, you'd be kind of silly to hang your life on a single shot.
I really don't understand why people keep posting these goof ball questions. Can I carry an SAA for CCW? Is a .22 enough stopping power? How about a single shot for home defense?
Does it make people feel tougher to contemplate "handling a situation," with inferior tools?
You say you have them all? Very well then. Take your handy dandy 870 or 1100 to the range. Take your single shot. Take or borrow an electronic shot timer. Tack up five targets at about 10 yards. Hit the five targets with the repeater. Then do the same with the single shot. Which is faster? Why would you even think about the other one?
Home/Self defense is serious business. You're contemplating the use of deadly force, to stop someone applying deadly force to you. Put in plainer terms, you're talking about a situation where you have to kill or maim someone who is trying to kill or maim you. Now after you miss that first shot, because you were in a hurry, and fumble the second shell, what happens? He's on you, and all you've got is a poorly designed club, when you could have had a loaded shotgun. Does this really sound like a good idea?
Every time i go on this rant, someone thinks I don't know what I'm talking about. However, in this case, it happens that I do. I go to a lot of SASS matches. I see a lot of people miss close, easy shots. I see a lot of people fumble shells. All that with what sort of pressure? Someone just set off an electronic buzzer in their ear. Wow. Not much compared to an assault in progress, is it?
I myself am probably among the top 20 in the country as far as speed loading and shooting with a double barrelled shotgun. I've practiced. A lot. A whole lot more than 10 minutes a day. When I go to bed, however, the SxS doesn't stand near my bed. It goes in the safe. Next to the bed is a Remington 1100, stoked up with 9 rounds of buckshot, and a belt filled half with buck and half with slugs.
See sig line