My 12ga shotgun comes ready with 4 rounds of 00 Buck backed up by deer slugs. When lives are in the balance, I’m not concerned with damage to my house. I am familiar with the spread pattern on my shotgun and therefore am confident that I can control the shot. Overpenetration with the slugs is possible, but again, if I’m on round 5, it’s a dire situation.

Handgun (Glock 20 10mm), I keep two 15rd mags loaded with 180gr bonded defense JHP, the other two with 135gr Nosler. They’re stored in such a way that I can identify which is which in the dark. It’s nice to have options.

I’ve heard of several real life examples of where too small of a gun was used in self defense. I don’t have any good examples to link to at the moment, but I think I’ll find a particularly good example and write a post about it sometime soon.

Regarding a .410 being similar in performance to a .357, I would just say that I would rather not trust my life to a .357, when much more effective calibers are available. Inside a home, where concealment of the self defense gun doesn’t matter, I would much rather have a 12 ga shotgun in a life and death situation.

If bigger is better, why not get a 10 gauge and use only slugs? As an apartment dweller contemplating a first shotgun, it strikes me that .410 with smaller shot, is a good compromise. Has as much power as a .357 and at 20 feet will be good enough. LAG, aware of any news stories where larger gun or shot would have made a difference?

I would urge against shooting to wound under any conditions, as discussed here: http://www.learnaboutguns.com/2008/10/17/second-guessing-crime-victims-who-have-defended-themselves/

I think the idea behind this article I read was that having your shotgun loaded in such a manner could potentially help you in a lawsuit if you were forced to shoot and kill an invader with your shotgun. Instead of racking your magazine full of “cop-killer/ultra-lethal/death-ray-like (or insert your liberal hyperbolic description of choice here) ammunition, one could point to the fact that the attacker had been warned and shot (twice) with the less-than-lethal load of birdshot, yet still came on, necessitating getting a lethal load of buckshot.

Also: from the chuckhawks article:

“Shotgun ammunition falls into three general categories:

BUCKSHOT – shell loaded with large-diameter lead balls (.24″ and up) used for big game hunting and self-defense. The number of pellets in 12 gauge buck-shot varies from eight .36″ balls in “000 buck” to 27 .24″ pellets in “#4 buck”. Buckshot ratings are archaic and hard to understand (as are shotgun specifications and ammunition in general), but thankfully there isn’t much you need to learn. Simply write down the recommended loads, walk into your local gunshop and announce your desired ammunition (note that “00″ is pronounced “double ought” and “000″ is pronounced “triple ought.” Don’t say “zero zero” or “oh-oh-oh buckshot” in front of gunshop employees. Then practice with both your selected defense load and low-cost birdshot to fully familiarize yourself with the operation of your gun and its terminal performance (e.g. patterns at various distances, the startling effects of buckshot on ballistic melons).

BIRDSHOT- small-diameter pellets used for bird hunting. Its stopping power is poor, except when used at very close range – out to 20-30 feet. For that reason it is not generally recommended, except for home defense use.

SLUGS are solid lead bullets for shotgun use. These are big, heavy, fat hunks of soft lead that have enormous stopping power (e.g. a typical 12 gauge slug is .73″ caliber and weighs 438 grains – a 9mm bullet is .355″ and 115 grains). Slugs must be carefully aimed to be effective. It is important to remember, however, that shotguns must be aimed with shot, too. Do not for a minute think that you can simply point your shot-loaded shotgun at the foe and let loose. Shotguns must be skillfully aimed and fired just like hand-guns and rifles.”

Actually, the site you mentioned in your last reply expressly recommends against birdshot, and the .410. That page said “Never use birdshot. . . Lose the .410 and buy a 20 gauge pump shotgun.”
Those websites that I mentioned, including the one with the ballistic gel tests, also strongly suggest against the use of birdshot. Birdshot just doen’t penetrate deeply enough to reliably reach an attacker’s vital organs.

Birdshot will certainly wound, but injuring an attacker is not sufficient to reliably stop them, especially when their adrenaline is going, or when they are on drugs. More on that in the first paragraph here: http://www.learnaboutguns.com/2008/11/28/there-is-no-substitute-for-a-gun/

If you really are intent on trusting your life to birdshot, it is certainly your choice. However I would urge you and others reading this to not make that choice. Birdshot just isn’t sufficient to stop an attacker, for the reasons I discussed in my last reply.

I would think that indoors, at close range, .410 birdshot would be sufficient in essentially all cases and would offer advantages in terms of recoil, ricochet, and overpenetration. If I were a combat soldier, maybe I’d be more worried about stopping power. But as a homeowner, is this really an issue? Anyone hit at close range with even one shot would be seriously impaired. Am I just missing the boat?

Poking around, at least one other site suggests that .410 is OK. See http://www.chuckhawks.com/ammo_by_anonymous.htm.

As discussed above, birdshot does not penetrate deeply enough to reliably stop an attacker.

Also, a .22 can certainly kill, but is too small to reliably stop an attacker before they can harm their victim. A .22 bullet may kill that attacker minutes or hours later, while the goal of self defense is to stop the attacker right away – before they can inflict harm.

Finally, birdshot pellets tend to be lighter weight and slower moving than .22 bullets, making them even less effective than a .22 bullet would be. Having lots of pellets doesn’t really help all that much if none of the pellets are penetrating deeply enough to stop the attacker. It really isn’t possible to have a projectile that will penetrate through inches of an attacker’s bone and muscle, while not penetrating through the relatively flimsily materials that make up the interior walls of a home. That is why shot placement, and knowing what is behind the target, are so important.

More information about the inappropriateness of birdshot for self defense, and ballistic gel tests showing this fact, can be seen here: http://www.shadonet.com/2008/01/25/choosing-between-birdshot-buckshot-or-slugs-for-shotgun-home-defense/
Another test showing that birdshot is for hunting small birds, not stopping human attackers, can be seen here: http://theboxotruth.com/docs/bot41_2.htm

A .22 rifle is lethal. Isn’t .410 birdshot like having a machine gun full of .22 shells?