At close range #4 birdshot would work, buck shot will penetrate too many walls.I recently bought an 870 with 18.5" barrel for HD. I live in an apartment so wall-thickness should be taken into consideration, but I want to make sure it still does the job. What do you guys recommend?
At close range #4 birdshot would work, buck shot will penetrate too many walls.
I recently bought an 870 with 18.5" barrel for HD. I live in an apartment so wall-thickness should be taken into consideration, but I want to make sure it still does the job. What do you guys recommend?
I think that Fox Labs makes one of the best products available to civilians. Get the fire-extinguisher sized canister, and you can send forth a cone or fog of pepper spray with a larger target area than buckshot will give you. It will shoot as far as you need in an apartment. And the stuff works. It's not as "cool" as a tactical shotgun, but odds are you won't kill anyone with it and it will likely stop the bad guys.
Firemaster (Fog) Top
Another alternative, as I mentioned earlier, is less lethal shotgun rounds. I do think they'd do the job, eliminate the risk of hurting someone in another apartment, and they are more survivable should you accidentally hit your own family member with one.
Finally, if you have your weapon out and accessible for ready use in a home invasion situation and it's loaded with bean bags, it's less likely to kill someone should a child play with the weapon.
If I were in a free-standing home with no children or worried about some trouble outside, I would certainly load with #4 or 00 buckshot. But for many, the situation is much more complicated.
For your consideration-----
Note that the goal here is NOT to kill the bad guy. The goal is to STOP the bad guy from hurting others.
II still submit that one could make a good argument for a less lethal option- ...
Here's my question: does anyone here really believe that it is important to kill the intruder, or is it also acceptable to simply stop the intruder by rendering him unable to act?