Posted on 08/29/2018 5:40:37 AM PDT by w1n1
If you can give up a small perceived ballistic advantage and in exchange, get the ability shoot the gun better, that's a worthwhile trade-off.
But even so, I don’t usually recommend a 20 gauge shotgun over a 12 gauge for home defense. And not because it isn't powerful enough. It has a lot more to do with the lack of industry support for the 20 gauge.
The shotguns you can buy today that are set up for self-defense are almost all based on shotguns used by law enforcement and the military. For the last century or more, almost 100% of their shotguns have been 12 gauge. So all of the firearm industry’s research and new technology for fighting shotguns has been devoted to the 12 gauge, not 20 gauge.
It’s not really all that popular in the general consumer market, either.
The lack of R&D, there's really not much incentive for the gun and ammo companies to support 20 gauge. It’s primarily viewed as something for young hunters who need a shotgun with a little less weight and recoil than their dad's.
As a result, it's kind of an uphill struggle to put together a 20 gauge shotgun that’s optimized for home defense. Read and see the video of 20 gauge shotgun here.
The 11 gauge with rock salt is useful for illiterate spammers.
http://media.midwayusa.com/cms/larrys-stories/2013_11/36_the-parker-11-gauge-shotgun.pdf
Larry Potterfield stumbled across a gem.
As a shotgun aficionado, as you can see by my screen name, I would tend to agree. I purchased it for my wife after I took a job that required I be out of town 4 days each week. She can easily handle it and bring it up quick, as opposed to my Berretta or Binelli 12 gauges.
*aren’t...kind of ruins any initial authority the article may have had.
I agree.
I had to present a weapon 2 times in my 70 year life.
First one was with a bunch of drunk cowboy friends of a college roommate. I was home studying, they came in an mocked and threatened me. Poured beer on me. I stepped into the closet and put a round in my 20 gauge single barrel shotgun, when the breach closed it was like a covey of quail flushing.
The other time, I had a couple of drunk miners try to run me off the road when I tried to pass them (they were slowing down too). First time I thought it was an accident, 2nd time I retrieved a 9mm pistol and put it on the dash, 3rd time I rolled down the passenger’s window and aimed it at the driver. It was like he put on a drag chute.
I had tried to dial into the local autopatch, it was down. It was 4:30 AM and I was leaving town for a 3 day business trip. There were no cell phones then. If I had not had a weapon either of those times, it might not have ended well.
I’ve never had to fire a weapon at anyone. But I will keep mine.
Because the mostes of them caint reed anywaz ?
Why not a Judge that takes .410 shotgun rounds?
I keep a pistol handy for home defense, but I also have my .12 gauge as a backup. I figure bird shot is good enough for home defense. If an intruder gets up close & personal, it will do grievous damage, but the shot isn't heavy enough to penetrate walls or travel distances.
I guess they isn’t because they aren’t ...geez.
This is at one end of the house. A Mossberg 930 in 12g will meet an uninvited intruder at the other end of the house.
Grammer? You leave my family out of this! Grammar took great care of grannies after that single wide assident!
CC
Why change between the the two?
(First shot to discourage him, make a lot of noise and pain?
Second shot (with buckshot) to put him down if nbr one doesn't work?)
Huked own fonixs werks fer mee!
CC
Clearly, the author of the article don’t think good writing
be important; but it do.
Am noticing a significant increase of poor English; grammar, sentence structure, and spelling, in newspapers.
Young folks never learned the rules and there are few editors to catch
the problems before they are published.
16 gauge is the sweet spot. Harder to find, though.
If the SHTF, the 20-guage nut jobs will be sitting around with empty guns, thinking, “I should got a 12 gauge!” Burp!
A little less knockdown power, a shortcoming which can be overcome. Inject a fast-acting poison into each shot shell so any hit is a kill.
I have the Turkish-made Mossberg SA-20 which is fun to shoot. I don’t enjoy shooting 18” barrel 12 ga.
Massad Ayoob recommends 20 ga. for home defense, which is good enough for me.
“Over about 10 feet, the pistol works best;”
Silliness. The more distance you have, the better that shotgun becomes. It’s power including a 20 gauge utterly eclipses any handgun you can think of, and it’s easier to hit with.
And in WWI, the shotgun was the king of the trenches.
Getting through a door is a little harder, but not much more so with a short barrel shotgun. But in almost every case, electing for a pistol over a shotgun is a pretty poor decision.
So why isn’t there more people using the 20 gauge for home defense?
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