I think many shotgunners and handgunners live in different worlds.
Many handgun shooters by now have gone round and round on the debates about bullet effectiveness. The debate about "one-shot-stops", "knock-down-power", and things like the "Relative Incapacitation Index" etc etc...
I don't think a lot of shotgun shooters are familiar with those things, and that's why you hear things like advising birdshot for HD.
Yes - birdshot is going to make a gruesome wound. But a gruesome wound isn't somethin gthat in and of itself is going to necesarily stop an attack.
There are criminals who will break off an attack at the sight of home owner with a shotgun. I wouldn't recomend that homeowners get a plastic replica in the hopes that the sight of a shotgun will stop a home invasion.
There are criminals who will break off an attack upon hearing a home owner cycle a pump shotgun. I wouldn't recomend that homeowners play a recording of one or cycle dud shells in a pump in the hopes that the sound of a shotgun will stop a home invasion.
There are criminals who will break off an attack when they are fired upon. There are criminals who will break off an attack if they are wounded - even when sustaining a minor wound.
But the only proven way to stop an attack by criminal is damage vital tissue.
The attack will stop when vital tissue is damaged.
I constantly refer people to the Tactical Firearms Institute on the subject.
Tactical Brief number 10:
http://www.firearmstactical.com/briefs10.htm
I'll post the following exerpts for those people who are not going to go out and read the breif:
Quote:
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Birdshot, because of its small size, does not have the mass and sectional density to penetrate deeply enough to reliably reach and damage critical blood distribution organs. Although birdshot can destroy a great volume of tissue at close range, the permanent crush cavity is usually less than 6 inches deep, and this is not deep enough to reliably include the heart or great blood vessels of the abdomen. A gruesome, shallow wound in the torso does not guarantee a quick stop, especially if the bad guy is chemically intoxicated or psychotic. If the tissue crushed by the pellets does not include a vital cardiovascular structure there's no reason for it to be an effective wound.
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Quote:
Number 1 buck is the smallest diameter shot that reliably and consistently penetrates more than 12 inches of standard ordnance gelatin when fired at typical shotgun engagement distances. A standard 2 ¾-inch 12 gauge shotshell contains 16 pellets of #1 buck. The total combined cross sectional area of the 16 pellets is 1.13 square inches. Compared to the total combined cross sectional area of the nine pellets in a standard #00 (double-aught) buck shotshell (0.77 square inches), the # 1 buck shotshell has the capacity to produce over 30 percent more potentially effective wound trauma.
In all shotshell loads, number 1 buckshot produces more potentially effective wound trauma than either #00 or #000 buck. In addition, number 1 buck is less likely to over-penetrate and exit an attacker's body.
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