mikemck wrote:
I had a chance to do some shooting in a deserted/empty house, and I wanted to see for myself just what kind of penetration a few different 12 gauge loads would have.
7 1/2 birdshot at an average living room distance penetrated both sides of an interior wall but not much more. Probably almost harmless by the time it went through.
#4 buckshot easily went through an interior wall and into the wall across a hallway and into a bedroom wall.
00 Buckshot went through the living room, through the hallway, through the bedroom and into the exterior wall.
Different wall, it went right through a wall seperating living room & kitchen, through the kitchen wall, through the garage, out of the other wall which was sheetrock interior and some kind of thick stucco material exterior. No idea how far it went after that as I could not find any evidence or buckshot.
The lesson in this, for me, is that I I'm not using buckshot for HD. While I don't have kids, I do have a wife and occasional guests, and unless they are in the same room I'm shooting in, they could easily get hurt/killed unintentionally.
Is birdshot a one shot threat ender? Maybe not, but I guess I could just shoot again if needed, same with any other firearm that might be used for HD.
I have two experiences with birdshot showing what it can do at close range.
My FIL dropped a doe at 25+ yards with 4 shot out of a 20 gauge. When me and one of the BIL's dressed it the shot made it all the way to the heart. The other was I was standing in a hospital (small town hospital where I was friends with the Doc) when a shotgun accident victim was brought in, shot at 10 yards with a trap load in the chest. There was just a hole in him and no chance of anything being done.
No need for buckshot at interior home defense ranges at all. Full choke, less than 15 yards, trap loads are like a slug hitting someone.