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Very cool. Nice to see that 00 Buck has such uniform penetration.

The Box o' Truth points to No. 1 buck as the just right combination of pellets and penetration.

#4 Buckshot is my load of choice for my 870.
I use 2 3/4" shells because I can fit one more round in the magazine than will fit with 3" magnums.
18.5" barrel with no choke, just "cylinder bore".
This is a dedicated home defense weapon. Longest possible shot inside my house would be about 38'.

JALLEN wrote:The Box o' Truth points to No. 1 buck as the just right combination of pellets and penetration.

I think he has a video or at least pictures over there (haven't looked at his site in a while) that demonstrates 00 Buck penetrates more layers of sheetrock than does a .223 rifle.
Lots of good stuff at Box o Truth.

Good point on how many layers of sheetrock will "X" load perforate? Anyone remember why down south they used to be called "shotgun houses"?

Federal #1 Reduced recoil LE 15 pellets plated is what I use. Stuff patterns so tight compared to other standard buckshot I could not believe it. It makes one ragged hole at 15 yards. I thought I loaded a slug at first! Then realized that this stuff basically doubles the effective range of my 12 gauge with buck. Here is an article on it. Stuff is second to none imo! http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot56.htm

Edit: I also get the same results with my wife's 870 youth 20 gauge with federal #4 buckshot personal defense.

CC Italian wrote:Federal #1 Reduced recoil LE 15 pellets plated is what I use. Stuff patterns so tight compared to other standard buckshot I could not believe it. It makes one ragged hole at 15 yards. I thought I loaded a slug at first! Then realized that this stuff basically doubles the effective range of my 12 gauge with buck. Here is an article on it. Stuff is second to none imo! http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot56.htm

Edit: I also get the same results with my wife's 870 youth 20 gauge with federal #4 buckshot personal defense.

I use the Federal No. 1. I don't recall if I posted the results of my range testing last fall, but make a long story short, it was 15 yards before a pattern was evident. Closer than that was one great big violent hole. At 20 yards, there was a big hole with a few outliers in the close vicinity.

Now, having moved from the close quarters of a tiny lot in Coronado and houses 10 feet apart, to the more expansive openness of rural Texas, I wouldn't fret about it.

I wonder how much difference it makes to have 15 .30 caliber wounds rather than 9, or 20 etc.?

Inside the home 4 shot , outside Buck or BB's .

Honestly I don't think it will matter much within 12 yards. Unless you live in a large home with a huge room or very long hallways #4 buck, #1, 0,00,000 won't differ much. I will go one further and say 20 gauge vs 12 there is little difference. I think the wad control, plated, low recoil and of course shot placement are more important as long as it is #4 buck or bigger. I would never ever use birdshot! All the evidence is against it. Even some of those Coyote T shots I would be leery of.

Birdshot is best left for birds. Plan and simple. Your goal is to incapacitate or stop an attack ASAP. Birdshot is not the way to go about that! I am not saying birdshot couldn't work but all the actual shootings point to buck. If your worried about others in your home it is something to consider but don't think birdshot is the hammer of thor.

00 buck or slugs.

From all the research I have read on buckshot the only reason to go bigger then #1 for in the home defense is for increased penetration and larger buckshot has greater momentum. Meaning 000 buck hits with more energy at 50 yards then #4 because of each pellets increased mass. So if you are not worried about others in your home or neighbors and live out on some land I would go #1 or heavier. No reason not to. For all us living in the suburbs or city #4-#1 is all you need. All of those penetrate averages from 11-18 inches and that is all you need. I have seen 00 go over 20 inches in ballistic gel many times. LEOs use it because well lets be honest they are far more likely to need barrier penetration then a civilian. If your really worried about penetration I would try one of the T-shot coyote loads but they penetrate 8-10 inches and will still go through at least one room.

Well I can tell you the Federal #1 load penetrates 14-18 inches from the data I have seen. If you think you need more then that then step up to 00.

Well, I have my shotty stocked with Hornady Critical Defense 00 Buck, but that is largely because that is what Cabelas had on hand the day I bought my shotgun (this was at the height of the ammo buying panic). AndyC has seen how it patterns in my gun, an 18" barreled Savage 350 Ithaca clone. That ammo, in that gun, performs adequately well, but it could be better. I'd like to try some of that Federal low recoil #1 shot. It's worth noting that the Hornady load has 8 pellets instead of 9, which is supposed to reduce the recoil. Having been a 30 caliber bolt gun shooter for years, I'm not all that recoil sensitive; but OTH my experience with 12 gauge is mostly with #7 or 8 birdshot "practice" loads, and my buckshot experience is pretty limited so I don't have a lot to compare to.

Pricey but this is where I found mine at the time.http://www.ammunitiondepot.com/Shotgun-Ammo-s/1922.htm Also, the Federal personal defense line seems to have a similar wad control as the LE line if not the same. The wad and plated shot look the same to me. I am sure the federal #4 personal defense would be more then adequate for self defense. Just look at the fps before you buy. All low recoil federal is 1100 or 1145fps regardless of name. They also make full power LE loads and Personal defense loads and of course vital shok loads are all full power loads. They are all copper plated but the LE might be a little tighter then the Personal defense. I could tell little difference at 15 yards between my #4 buck personal defense 20 gauge load and the 12 gauge #1 in LE load when patterned.

I think the reason people make such a big deal about the #1 load is that it can only be had by Federal in the LE load. Here is a link to the LE loads.http://le.atk.com/ammunition/federal/bu ... fault.aspx Tactical is LE loads.

Edit: The 20 gauge patterns tight without a wad but is still one large hole. The Federal 00 personal defense and LE 00 I think are the same load. FPS, wad and copper plated shot look the same to me.