Whether or not a HD shotgun is ideal depens on the house, the user, and the neighbourhood. That's not just a can of worms, that's a whole barrel.Beiruty wrote:I would grab first my AK74 or M400. HD shotguns are cool but not ideal. As for your rd ending somewhere outside your house, I recommend not to miss.
Nobody will aregu that a carbine round is effective for HD...but few people would assert that a round of 5.56 or 5.45 is going to be as effective as the full payload of a round of 12 gauge buckshot (unless body armor is involved). Yes, a carbine has many more rounds on tap - but if you can hit your target, then a shotgun has a better chance of incapacitating that target with a single round.
Yes, the ammo choices offered for carbines can mitigate overpenetration issues quite well (sometimes). Yes, carbines tend to be lighter. Yes, carbines have less recoil. Yes, carbines are easier to accessorize. Yes, carbines are WAY faster to reload when they run dry. Yes, I have put 10's of thousands of rounds through the AR platform. Yes, the AR's ergonomics are outstanding. Yes, a carbine is my own personal choice for HD!
But that doesn't change the fact that a 12 gauge is a VERY good choice for HD if loaded with the right buckshot and used by a competent person. For some people it's a better choice than a carbine. For instance, the gentleman who's been shooting skeet for 20 years with an 870 wingmaster and has never picked up an AR-15 in his life.
For the OP - there's a ton od good suggestions in this thread. 000, 00, 0, or #1 buck will probably do just fine. Odds are that neither you nor the person coming into your home will ever know the difference between them. I would probably choose the #1 buck with the Flite Control wad that JAllen suggested....but if I couldn't find it, I'd but some plain-vanilla 00 buck (seems to be most commonly available) and not stress about the "what-if's" until I found the #1 buck at a reasonable price.