You Don't Have to Aim a Shotgun Mythbusting VIDEO

[Amsdorf]

It's surprising how often I hear people say that the shotgun is the best home defense weapon because...."you don't have to aim it, just point and shoot." This video explains and shows why that is ridiculous, a bit of shotgun mythbusting, if you will.

[eagleeyes]

yea but bedrooms are usually not that big and i still say a shotgun loaded with 00 buckshot will do the job if you aim it at the perp even if your aim is bad you should be able to hit it and several bleeding holes in a perp should stop him if not blast another round at him
but if ya can't hit the broad side of a barn close up someone would need some target practice lolz
personally i wouldn't want to fire a shot gun in my house unless i had no other choice as all those holes would take longer to patch up than just one unless of course ya hit a water line or something like that
be safe and if a shotgun is all you have by god aim and shoot if necessary
a woman borrowed a friends shotgun when she was brutally raped in her home and the perp came back and she blasted his ass when he came through the basement door to the main level of the house where she was waiting aiming and he died that fatal night and deserved to do so imo

[Phillip Gain]

The point the guy is trying to make (but not articulating very well) is that a shotgun isn't going to blast a 45 degree radius cloud of death that cuts your assailant in half, even at close range.

When shooting a shotgun at long distances and moving targets...you put the front bead on the target with both eyes open - effectively "pointing" instead of aiming - then abruptly slap the trigger, continuing to track the target (follow-through).

When shooting a shotgun at shorter distances, with buckshot (a typical defensive scenario), you can aim it more like a rifle, and will get about a 6 inch spread as shown in the video. But it's also worth noting that if you point properly, ie "get a bead on" your target, you should get the same result.

It's worth noting that the diameter of each #00 buckshot pellet is .330 inches, and there are 8 of them in a standard 12 gauge shotshell. So one blast from a 12 gauge loaded with #00 is about the same as emptying an 8-round magazine of a .380 into your target. THAT is why shotguns are ideal tools for home defense.

[Amsdorf]

Thanks for the comments.

The only weapon I keep loaded, in Condition One, is a 12 guage with .00 buck, for home defense.

[eagleeyes]

i have an old browning i kept under my bed for years kept it loaded with one in the chamber too - still do
hopefully i won't have to shoot that thing in my house but i would if i had to

[Bighouse Doc]

As a rule of thumb, the dispersion is one inch per yard!

-Doc

[fstroupe]

The point the guy is trying to make (but not articulating very well) is that a shotgun isn't going to blast a 45 degree radius cloud of death that cuts your assailant in half, even at close range.

Which is an assumption made by far too many people, I guess from the movies. No idea how many times I've had to explain it to someone. (though I have always wanted to try a double-barreled 12ga pistol lol) I usually recommend a shotgun for home defense, though a full-stock shotgun with a 28" barrel is a little unwieldy in close quarters. But its funny, you start trying to tell someone how much better a "riot gun" would be, their eyes always glaze over.

If they were more available, I think that the Mossburg SA20 "Field" with a 24" barrel and a pistol grip would be what I would recommend for most people for home defense. (the various tactical models are awesome but pricy) I've never seen one in a store.

[Amsdorf]

Thanks for the comments guys.

[Rayb]

The main reason I keep two of them loaded in my home is higher firepower and less penetration, but you are correct that too many people wrongly believe that they don't have to aim and they will automatically wipe out everything in a room.

[Amsdorf]

A guy told me today that the main problem is not Hollywood anymore, it is video games, and showed me a clip of a video game in which the person using a shotgun was taking out bad guys at ridiculous distances with no aiming!

And there you go.