I had some questions regarding patterning a home defense shotgun.
I’ve read the articles and watched the videos on how a shotgun is not a magic wand, and I understand that, but how tight of a pattern do you want? I see a lot of posters here recommending loads such as Federal Buckshot with the “Flitecontrol” wad, but I’ve seen pictures of the pattern at 7 yards and it didn’t appear to be over 3 inches or so. If the purpose of a shotgun is to increase the odds of hitting vitals don’t you want a pattern slightly larger than that at ranges you’d expect to engage an intruder (I understand the importance of not having excessive spread to reduce the chance of collateral damage)? What size of pattern is ideal for an HD gun and why?
Thats just the way it is. You not going to get loads to spread much faster than that from a cylinder bore barrel. The pupose of the shotgun is not so much spread but rather improved terminal performance .
Pat
The purpose of a shotgun is not to have a huge spread, it is to create a massive wound. Sure the spread adds to the wound, but only to a point. A tighter spread will not subtract from the wound.
A shotgun kills by making a 9-12 wound channels in a body instead of 1. 9-12 wound channels within a 3-5 diameter is going to cause an absolutely grotesque amount of tissue damage to that area resulting in a increased likelihood of something vital being destroyed. Plus if the spread is tighter, it will have a further effective range which is generally a good thing.
What is ideal? It depends on a whole lot of variables such as size of the house, risk of over-penetration, how far you expect to shoot…ect.
FWIW, I prefer an open choke on anything under 15 yards. This would be out of a typical 18.5 12 gauge. When I am busting clays I use 26-28" barrels in 12 or 20 gauge with a full choke.
If I recall correctly, I believe the choking of a barrel is moot under 25 feet or so and the pattern is basically the same as open. Please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. I’ll try to find the research and post it here.
As far as choking a shotgun, in my experience, there are a number of variables involved in the kind of pattern you get. These factors include everything from forcing cone length, barrel length, porting, choke that is used, and the shell. My experience is that two shells that are the same shot weight but one is faster the faster loading will open up more quickly and generally pattern larger at the same distance everything else held constant. Also choking a shotgun down with a tighter choke only works to a point, I have seen on several occasions instances where the after a certain point the more you constrict it the pattern will then begin to open back up with numerous flyers as the pellets are crushed from the excessive constriction as the shot string goes through the choke.