Show me ban on defensive use. I claim myth...

i'll dig a little deeper into that one.

Other extremely common shotgun myths denounced for the public benefit:

- They come in more sizes than 12 gauge. The 20 is still an extremely effective weapon, and a lot easier to use for most people.

- You don't need magnum shells. In fact you will probably fire it two or three times, go home bruised, and never practice again.

- 00 Buckshot is not the only option. It is effective, but in a home defense situation, most pellets will do just fine (super-fine sand-grain-sized bird shot has trouble penetrating heavy clothing). #4 buckshot is a popular one. It's a smaller chunk of metal, but you get a lot more of them, and they won't go as far (very important when you're shooting inside your own home, potentially with family members and neighbors on the other side of a wall).

- Shotguns require careful aim. A very approximate rule of the thumb is that the pattern of shot will expand by 1 inch of diameter for 1 yard of travel. At 4 yards (across a room), the pattern is 4 inches wide. You cannot shoot in the vague direction of your target and hope to hit them.

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Yeah, there are 10, 12, 16, 20, 28 gauges and .410.

But, I have seen a lot of people shoot 12 gauge with no problems, big and small.

10 is overkill, 28 is on the rare side, .410 is kind of sucky for home defense (use slugs, or get a different weapon). 16, fair enough. 20 is most common after 12, that's why I mentioned it specifically. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Hehe yeah.


Still...

When it doubt...

12 is the way to go.

i want a garand too.

Buddy just got one from the CMP. Loves it.

Dudes, as a noob I bought my shotgun after the rifle, AR, and handgun. The shotgun is the most fun and incredibly accurate to at least 25 yds. I was able to hit targets at 40+ yds with wind. Mine is a 12 gauge and if I can handle it Mag would have no problem. You can get a 20 gauge for as cheap as 280 in Cali, and a tactical 12 gauge for 380 or less even.

Says he shoots about 2 inch groups, prone, iron sights at 75 yards.

Fired the Garand and though it was nice, the shotgun still wins.

For what?

Home defense? -- agreed.

Lots of other things that the 30-06 is really really good for.