Tom Givens is coming back to KR Training in May 2011 to run a one-day shotgun course. I’ll be there.

I’m still a proponent of a rifle for home defense (e.g. AR-15/M4-gery in .223/5.56), but I’ve warmed up a bit to exploring shotguns in this context. Certainly it’s better than nothing and for some it’s the best or only choice. So it shotgun works best for your situation, fine. But what hurts me to hear is a lot of misinformation that continues to be preached as gospel about how to use a shotgun for home defense.

For instance, ammo selection. That birdshot is good. That you want a big spread of pellets. No and no.

Here’s a simple scenario. Someone breaks into your home and takes a hostage (your spouse, your child, etc.). The bad guy 15 yards away holding your loved one close and in front of them, such that you really only see the bad guy’s head over your loved one’s shoulder. You followed conventional wisdom and have birdshot and an open choke. Are you going to take that shot to save your loved one’s life? I wouldn’t.

Now change the scenario slightly. Instead of a shotgun you have an AR-15 with good ammo (e.g. Hornady TAP .223 Rem or 5.56x45mm NATO 75 grain) and a red dot scope. Now are you going to take that shot? I would.

Birdshot is for birds. It’s made to be enough to hit a small flying object, but not blow that little dove to smithereens. So if it’s that “gentle” on a dove, how tough do you think it’s going to be on some bad guy? Buckshot is… for bucks, deer. They’re roughly man-sized and man-tough. Buckshot works better for this context.

Open chokes also good for birds… at least, low flying ones. You want just the right amount of pattern spread so the “pellet cloud” is wide enough to cover the area where the bird is, but still dense enough to have enough patterns in that area where the bird is. If the birds are going to be further away, you need tighter chokes so the pattern doesn’t spread too much before it gets to where the birds are. Same holds in home defense: you need to control where all those pellets go. If they spread too much before they reach their target, first that means less pellets on target, but it also means where are those other pellets going? they are most likely going to become unacceptable hits.

Furthermore, shotguns by nature cause pellets to spread no matter what ammo you choose or choke you select. Will you be able to properly gauge the spread and distance to take the shot you need to when you need to? Will the pattern be tight enough at 15 yards that you could take that shot? And the further the distance, the more the spread, the less chance you can take the shot. Yes home defense isn’t some 200 yard engagement (typically… those of you in rural areas, maybe), but you may have longer distances to account for than you think.

But let us consider… I’m talking about some contrived situation. What are the chances someone will break into my house and hold my Wife or Kiddos hostage? I don’t know what the chances are, but they aren’t zero.

You don’t get to choose what your situation will be. Luck favors the prepared, so wouldn’t it serve best to be prepared for as wide an array of scenarios as possible? Shotgun is good, but limited. Rifle gives you more options to address a wider set of possible scenarios. I won’t poo-poo the shotgun because it’s just another tool. With any tool you have to think realistically about the tool, know what it can do and what it cannot do. If that tool doesn’t work for your needs or perhaps if there’s a tool that can suit your needs better, don’t be reluctant to seek out better.