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A couple things.....
Greater spread means a greater chance of SOME shot missing the target. This not only can endanger innocents, but reduces the energy transferred to the target. While close range buck loads have energy to spare, it makes sense to get the max amount of energy where it counts.
R/R loads trade a slight loss of energy for generally tighter patterns and faster subsequent shots.An acceptable trade off, IMO.
1 buck may be where the lines for pellet count and size cross on the graph. However, so far in my limited tests I've not found a load that patterns as well as several loads here of 00.
One shotgun here is stoked with 4 buck. The rest kept loaded have a proven load of R/R 00. The exception is at ground level and the use environment has a max distance of 30 feet. Had I not been given a mess of it that shotgun would be full of 00 also. If things go south generally and I may need to militia up and help protect the 'hood, it'll get swapped to 00 PDQ.
And that last is definitely a factor, or should be. We cannot predict the time, place or distance of our next firefight. So, we should prepare for the worst case.
Every Home Defense shotgun is also a Community Defense shotgun.
Finally, measure the width of your torso where it is broadest. Chance are, it will be somewhere around 15". Don't you think that whatever gun, choke and load you use, it should pattern within that width at least inside your house?
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