What's your choice for low recoil defense? .410, 20, or 12 gauge minishells?

[TTv2]

Actually, from a 20, the next step down is a 28 and Brennke makes a 5/8oz slug for a 28 bore gun...................and a 28 is a joy for birds too

28 isn't exactly common and IDK who recommends slugs for home defense.

 

[George P]

28 is very common - it was the only shotgun ammo on the shelves around here during the panic shortages; one of the great choices for everything from quail to turkeys to ducks

 

[Mr. Mosin]

Nothing, *absolutely NOTHING* capable of being owned by a civilian, is capable of going head to head with a properly loaded scattergun for CQC.

 

[amd6547]

I’ve had a 12ga for a house gun for years. At one point, a couple years ago, I was thinking about getting a semiauto 20ga. But I started looking at the ammo situation while I shopped for 12ga. Other than 20ga slugs (in deer season), defensive 20ga shells looked like a mail order proposition. There was nothing compared to the 12ga. In 12, I almost always found a selection of buckshot.
My homestead Mossberg 500 is loaded with Flitecontrol #1buck low recoil. I’m looking forward to trying the minishell loads…I just got the Opsol adapter. I’ve only got one single10rd box of the Federal shorty buckshot load so far…need some more, or Aguila to test out.

 

[Deanimator]

28 is very common - it was the only shotgun ammo on the shelves around here during the panic shortages; one of the great choices for everything from quail to turkeys to ducks

I think it's the only thing (plus maybe 16ga) that's available at the local Walmart. Utterly worthless to me since I have absolutely zero use for any shotgun smaller than 12ga., and then only for self-defense.

Weirdly, during riot season last year, not only could I not get 12ga. buck or slugs locally, I couldn't even get 12ga. bore brushes. EVERYTHING had to be ordered online. Even Cabela's didn't have 12ga. brushes. I had to order them from Amazon.

 

[mokin]

I'd go with the .410. I've shot lots of Aguila and Federal mini shells. While they seemed to work okay, I think given an option to use my 12 Gauge, I'd just go with the "regular" ammunition. As others have said, a .410 is plenty at home defense distance.

I have turkey loads 3 inch in my 12ga. home defense gun.

I ran a three gun course with turkey loads once. If you're curious, it's probably something you should try once also. Once was all it took to answer all the questions I had....

 

[CoalCrackerAl]

That would be fun to do a three gun course. I wish the gun clubs i belong to would host one. My home defense shotgun is a Stevens 320 security. Like this one.

 

[TTv2]

28 is very common - it was the only shotgun ammo on the shelves around here during the panic shortages; one of the great choices for everything from quail to turkeys to ducks

I think it's the only thing (plus maybe 16ga) that's available at the local Walmart. Utterly worthless to me since I have absolutely zero use for any shotgun smaller than 12ga., and then only for self-defense.

Weirdly, during riot season last year, not only could I not get 12ga. buck or slugs locally, I couldn't even get 12ga. bore brushes. EVERYTHING had to be ordered online. Even Cabela's didn't have 12ga. brushes. I had to order them from Amazon.

There's a reason why 28ga (and 16) was on the shelves and 12 wasn't: most people who own a shotgun own a 12 gauge. When pretty much every gun owner owns a 12ga and few own anything else, the demand for 12 during a panic is VERY high.

The few times I've looked to see what was available for 28ga, it's all birdshot. Now, I don't have an issue with birdshot in 12 or 20, but below that, I don't trust it, not like I would buckshot.

 

[BoBo522]

I'd want to run at least 100 thru and that would be close to $100 just to test reliability and yeah, most aren't going to bother doing that. Heck, most don't even buy more than one ammo to see which patterns better in their shotgun.

Sure the Opsol adapter improves reliability when using the minishells, but I don't think it completely eliminates issues and the Opsol only works with Mossberg shotguns. Given how much of a run there was on shotguns last year, I don't think I'd recommend to someone looking for a super low recoil option to go with 12 and minishells because they may not be able to get a Mossberg when a panic hits.

I'd say until someone makes a shotgun built to run minishells, every shotgun will be suspect with them, even Mossberg.

I have run nearly a thousand minishells through my Shockwave/Opsol configuration and have not encountered a single malfunction. Manufacturers include Challenger, Federal, and Aguila. I’ve run over a hundred through a Maverick 88 similarly configured without a problem. You’re certainly entitled to your opinion but ask around - there are a plethora of similar testimonials. The Opsol does allow Mossberg 12ga pump shotguns to reliably cycle minishells.

And since I used the word plethora, here’s an obligatory paraphrase from The Three Amigos: “would you say I have a plethora of piñatas?” “oh, sí, El Guapo, you have a plethora.”

 

[herrwalther]

My only experience with the options listed have been 12ga mini shells. Compared to full house loads, the minis are quite pleasant to shoot. They feed reliably in my Mav 88 with Opsol adapter.