“That said, if possible you might want to pick up a Remington 870 or Mossberg 500 pump shotgun in 12 gauge for home defense. Walmart still has plenty of 2 3/4” 12 gauge in #7 1/2 shot (birdshot). If you can find #6, #4 or even buckshot get some. Any of the above will ruin someone’s day.”
Better yet, take those birdshot loads dump the shot out and melt it into a ball the .690 ball fits exactly into the shot cup the birdshot was in and weights 1oz which is at or less that what the shot weight was. This is vitally important that the weight does not go up for the shell as pressure follows weight. These balls are absolutely deadly out to 75 yards. I use them to blast feral hogs on WMA land where it’s shotgun only rifles are banned. Slugs are well over a buck a shot for cheap fosters and $5 for debit, using Wal-Mart bulk bird shot they are 25 cents each plus sweat equity.
My mossy 500 will put 5/5 of these redneck slugs into a paper plate at 50M and all 5 into a man sized silhouette at 75 with a modified choke. I use my Coleman stove and a cast iron 6” minipot to meltem. Star crimps you can redo by hand ,roll crimps need another tool.
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1010214924
https://www.amazon.com/Shotshell-Reloading-Crimp-12-gauge/dp/B01HL8NHU8
Cheers
Sorry debit= sabot dang auto.
Oh and here is to tool needed for star crimp shells this one also does the primers so it’s a complete reload tool.
https://www.amazon.com/Voenohot-Star-Shape-Shotshell-Reloading-Gauage/dp/B07GZTXQMK
I just open my Star crimps dump the shot out melt and put the ball back in then crimp tha star closed I don’t mess with the primers or powder it’s not worth it when you can get cheap pallets of bird shot from wally world at 20 cents a round