What is The Best All

Your favorite bird hunting shotgun just may be the perfect fit for home defense. (Photo By: Brad Fitzpatrick)

Shotguns are versatile firearms that can accomplish many tasks, but are they the best choice for personal protection? The short answer to that question is yes. Shotguns can make effective self-defense weapons but before you swap out your target or upland loads for buckshot, there are some things that you need to consider. Let's look at the benefits and shortcomings of using hunting shotguns as personal defense weapons.

If you’re an upland hunter or clay target shooter you’re probably very familiar with your favorite shotgun. You know how to load it, unload it, mount, aim, and fire the gun. That familiarity is beneficial in the field or on the range, but it's also critically important in a self-defense situation.

It's easy to underestimate the dramatic levels of stress and trauma associated with a violent attack. Assaults happen quickly, and it can be challenging to access the situation and react. Any experienced tactical instructor will tell you that having a firearm is important in those situations, but you must also be able to operate that firearm under extreme duress.

This is one reason why hunting shotguns make sense for personal defense if you shoot them often. Sure, a pistol is easier to conceal and has a greater magazine capacity, but if you have to shoot quickly and accurately, it's better to have a gun with which you are intimately familiar. If you aren't completely comfortable with that handgun, don't fully understand the controls, or haven't shot a pistol enough to know how to navigate firing and reloading, then you are at a major disadvantage. When you’ve put several thousand rounds through your hunting shotgun, you have a better chance of successfully operating that gun in a stressful situation.

Should you choose a semiauto, pump, over/under, or side-by-side for personal defense? That decision will likely be based on your experience with one action type or another, and all these shotguns make effective personal defense weapons.

Over/unders and side-by-sides offer the least capacity of the action types listed, but don't discount them for home defense. These guns offer a fast one-two punch, so if you shoot a double often and are familiar with these guns they will work just fine. Double barrel shotguns have a benefit that repeaters do not: shorter overall length. An over/under with 26-inch barrels will have an overall length that's similar to a pump or semiauto with a 22-inch barrel, and the shorter double guns are far more maneuverable inside the home. I don't like double trigger side-by-sides for personal defense simply because they require repositioning the finger to fire your second barrel, but single trigger doubles are a great option.

With a set of skeet chokes and some quality defensive ammunition, an expensive target over/under shotgun makes a very effective personal defense tool. There are even a few dedicated defensive side-by-sides and over/unders that make great options. Stoeger's Double Defense series shotguns are available in both side-by-side and over/under designs and feature 20-inch cylinder barrels and Picatinny rails, making them a solid (and affordable) option for anyone who wants to defend their home with a double. Both the side-by-side and over/under versions of Stoeger's Double Defense are available in either 12- or 20-gauge.

I personally prefer repeating shotguns for personal defense, but that's partly because I grew up shooting pumps and semiautos. I’m probably most familiar with pump actions since I spent countless hours breaking clays and hunting doves, ducks, and upland birds with a Winchester 1300, so pump guns are a natural choice for me. Slide action guns aren't as finicky over various loads as some semiautos, and pump guns are extremely reliable. Pump shotguns offer higher magazine capacities than double guns and they’re affordable.

The downside to field pumps, of course, is overall length. With a 28-inch barrel, most pump shotguns are approaching 50-inches overall, which doesn't make them very maneuverable for home defense. For years, the best option was to buy a second shorter barrel (usually 18 or 20 inches) with a fixed cylinder bore, and that's not a bad option. There are also combo guns that come with longer ventilated rib barrels and short defensive barrels. Examples include Winchester's SXP Camp/Field Combo which is available in 12-gauge and comes with either a 26- or 28-inch field barrel as well as an 18-inch Defender barrel and carries an MSRP of $489.99. Mossberg's 500 Combo Field/Security features a 28-inch ventilated rib barrel with interchangeable chokes, an 18-inch cylinder bore barrel, and a pistol grip in 12-gauge for $540. You can also buy a dedicated defensive pump shotgun at a reasonable price. One of my favorites is the Mossberg Maverick 88 Security 12-gauge pump. It boasts a 7+1 magazine capacity and comes with a 20-inch cylinder bore barrel for just $253.

Semiautos are popular for hunting and sport shooting and they make a sensible choice for as a self-defense shotgun. Today's semiautos are more rugged and reliable than those available a few decades ago, and most 12- and 20-gauge semiautos are capable of handling 3-inch (or 3 ½-inch in 12-gauge) magnum personal defense loads. Last year I had the opportunity to shoot Mossberg's 940 Pro Tactical quite a bit and found that gun to be very reliable. I’m especially impressed with Mossberg's receiver cut that allows you to add a reflex sight—a great tool on a self-defense shotgun. Savage's Renegauge Security is another great option, and it too has a feature that I especially like—a section of M-LOK rail on the front that makes it easy to attach a high-intensity tactical light. Both are gas-operated shotguns, which make them softer shooting than some competing semiautos, and both are available in 12-gauge.

Gauge selection is important, but I don't think it's particularly difficult: The 12-gauge is the obvious choice. There are lots of 12-gauge home defensive load options and the 12-gauge offers plenty of power and a hefty payload of defensive shot. There aren't as many 20-gauge defense loads, but the advantage of the 20-gauge is less recoil. There are so few defensive loads for the 16- and 28-gauge shotguns that I don't think they’re the best option, but there are lots of .410 defensive loads, largely in response to the release of .410 revolvers such as the Taurus Judge. The .410 is a light-recoiling option that can be effective, but there's no doubt the 12 and 20 offer substantially more stopping power.

Before we get into ammo and accessory selection, let's dispel some myths surrounding shotguns as personal defense weapons. The first of these is that a shotgun can be aimed "in the general direction" of an attacker with the expectation of stopping the threat. As any turkey hunter knows, you absolutely can miss with a shotgun. To test this, I fired a load of buckshot from a 12-gauge pump shotgun into a torso target at 15 feet, which is relatively far by personal defense standards. The nine 00 buckshot pellets created a pattern that was just over four-inches wide at that shooting distance. Shotguns do offer a wider impact area, but don't assume that the "general direction" aiming point rule applies here—especially if the shooter is afraid of the gun's recoil and muzzle blast.

The second rumor is that shotguns won't over penetrate when fired inside the home. That is simply not true—00 buckshot is notorious for overpenetration, and Federal Premium recently released their Force X2 Buckshot to remedy this problem. Force X2 pellets resemble a split shot sinker and, upon impact, the pellet halves separate to create twice as many wound channels without penetrating through walls.

Lastly, I’m not a fan of the notion that the sound of a pump shotgun being cycled will send every lurking criminal scurrying for the nearest exit. That makes sense to most of us, but you must remember that this is a person who willfully broke into your home while you were present. There's a very good chance that they mean you and your family immediate harm, and you don't know the person's mental condition. Home defense isn't about theater, it's about stopping a deadly threat. If an intruder forces their way into my home and I have retrieved my firearm, the time for scare tactics has already passed.

Should you use target loads for self-defense? Unless they are your only option, I believe the answer is no. FBI protocol testing requires ammunition to penetrate 12 to 18 inches into gel, and a heavy coat can prevent low-powered loads with small shot from reaching the vitals. Sure, the odds are that a shotgun fired into an intruder will incapacitate them, but when you’re talking about stopping an imminent threat at close range, you’re better off to rely on something designed for the task. Defensive shotshell ammunition like Winchester's Defender and Federal's Force X2 is designed and tested to perform in self-defense situations, and I think they make great options.

Shotguns don't need a lot of accessories to make good home defense weapons, but there are some great add-ons that will make your gun more useful. Adjustable stocks allow for a custom fit, and having a sidesaddle shell holder keeps ammunition available when you need it most. I prefer sights that are fast focusing and visible in low light, either a ghost ring with fiber optic or tritium inserts or a red dot sight. The most important accessory to me, though, is a bright light. You can add many of these features to your existing shotgun or, if you prefer, purchase what is perhaps the ultimate home defense scattergun, the CQB shotgun from Wilson Combat, which is about as close to a perfect ready-to-ship personal defense shotgun as you’ll find.

Are our hunting shotguns good defensive weapons? Indeed they are, and they can be even more effective than many people know. A shotgun can stop a violent attack, but only if the shooter does their part. I highly recommend you invest in not only the gun, but also the proper ammo, accessories, and training that will allow you to operate your shotgun effectively to stop a threat. The tools you use to survive a deadly encounter are only as effective as their operator.

Get everything Gun Dog has to offer. What's Included

Subscribe Now

Already a subscriber? Sign In or start your online account