Your Easy Button Guide to Shotguns for Home and Personal Defense

I’m not an expert in anything in particular outside of being oddly skilled at opening beer bottles without a bottle opener. However, I’m a subject matter enthusiast when it comes to shotguns. Shotguns might not be the en vogue option for home defense, but a healthy minority of us still turn to smoothbores for defensive purposes.

With that in mind, I wanted to put together a very simple article for potential shotgunners looking to defend their home. Think of it as an easy button. It’s a quick, less nonsense than most (I can’t promise no nonsense) guide to defensive shotguns.

Gauge

The first decision you’ll have to make is gauge. There are three major options in the United States: 12 gauge, 20 gauge, and .410 bore, which is actually not a gauge measurement. Each of these three will get the job done to varying degrees and are capable options.

Twelve gauge, being the biggest, is the best option for defensive purposes. It’s a solid balance of man-stopping potential, manageable recoil, weight, and size and it’s become the standard for tactical use. That being the case, it’s very easy to find tactical 12 gauge shotguns, some at very reasonable prices, along with purpose-built defensive ammo like the Federal Flitecontrol loads I prefer for defensive use.

The 20-gauge shotgun caliber offers a lower recoil and a lower weight alternative to the 12-gauge. However, it’s still very powerful. The downside is a lack of dedicated 20-gauge tactical shotguns and good tactical ammo. Federal has promised a Flitecontrol option, but it’s yet to hit store shelves. If you can’t handle a 12 gauge, then 20 gauge is a good option, but you’ll have to shop around a little more to get a working setup.

The shotguns chambered in .410 bore are very light with very little recoil. While they can stop a threat, they don’t offer the same man-stopping potential as a 12 gauge or 20 gauge. In fact we hit a certain point of diminishing returns with the .410. If you really need your recoil to be that light, I’d actually advise looking at an AR-type rifle in 5.56 or even a pistol caliber carbine.

Actions

For defensive shotguns, there are only two actions matter: pump and semi-auto. Pump actions require you to work the pump mechanism forward of the weapon’s receiver to cycle the shotgun. Pumps also require two hands to operate. Mechanically, they’re extremely reliable and most problems people encounter come from the user short-stroking the action.

Like all manually operated firearms, pump action shotguns require training and practice. High-quality tactical pump guns are available for well under $500. My suggestions would be a Remington 870, Mossberg 500/590, or a Benelli SuperNova.

Semi-automatic shotguns– guns that automatically eject the empty and load the next round — are either inertia or gas-operated. Semi-auto shotguns are easier to use, but you typically need a higher-quality option for total reliability in a personal defense situation.

Semi-auto shotguns also tend to have less felt recoil as some of the energy produced when a round fires is used to cycle the gun. Overall, most shotgunners would be better served with a high-quality semi-auto shotgun. My suggestion would be a Mossberg 940 Tactical, a Beretta A300, or a Beretta 1301.

Projectile Types

Shotguns fire three main types of ammunition. We have birdshot, slugs, and buckshot. Of those three, the home defense shotgun is best served with buckshot.

Birdshot is for, well, birds. There’s a lot of disinformation about birdshot being a great round choice for indoor use because it won’t penetrate walls. The problem is, it also doesn’t reliably stop threats. Dick “Friend of Kamala” Cheney shot a hunting partner in the face with birdshot. He survived and apologized to Cheney. While anything fired from a gun is deadly, it’s not a reliable man-stopper.

Stopping power isn’t a problem at all when shooting slugs. A one-ounce slug moving at 1,200 feet per second tends to make quite an impression on an attacker. However, slugs are notorious for their tendency to over-penetrate. Also, if you’re going to be shooting one solid projectile at a time, there are lots of rifles that can do it better, especially in terms of capacity.

Buckshot offers you multiple large projectiles per trigger pull. My preferred load is a Federal Flitecontrol option with a eight 00 pellets in a reduced recoil load. The load patterns very tightly and removes the risk of stray pellets.

The smallest pellet I’d use for personal defense purposes would be No. 1. No. 1 tends to be the smallest pellet that reaches adequate penetration standards. Low recoil, 2.75-inch rounds are the best go-to for defensive applications. Ignore 3-inch magnums and mini shells.

Capacity

A standard pump action shotgun holds anywhere from four to eight rounds. I tend to say four is fine and mostly likely enough for any home defense encounter, but more is always better. I wouldn’t get too wrapped around the hinges here.

If you’ve gone through four rounds of buckshot and missed one attacker four times, I doubt four more rounds are going to help a whole lot. If you have multiple attackers, you shoot four rounds into the horde of thuggery, and your attackers are so determined to kill you they still climb over the bodies of their friends, then you’re likely in a no-win situation.

If you choose to add a magazine tube extension, for the love of all that is holy, go out and shoot your gun. Tube extensions are great, but they can be wonky and cause springs and followers to hang up, rendering your gun useless. Make sure it works and works well. If you want a higher capacity design, I tend to suggest buying a gun that comes stock with a larger higher capacity single-piece magazine tube or a factory-installed extension.

Length of Pull

“Length of pull” is the distance from the back of the stock to the trigger face. Most modern shotguns have finally either reduced this length of pull or allow for adapters to change it so it fits the user correctly. Most shotgun stocks feature a sporting length, which ranges usually from 14 to 14.5 inches.

For most people, however, that’s too long and makes the gun feel unwieldy. A big reason why I suggest brand-name shotguns is the availability of aftermarket parts that allow you to attach a shorter stock. Most people are pretty comfortable with something in the 12.5 to 13.5-inch range.

Magpul makes the adjustable SGA stock that works with Mossberg and Remington pump guns, and, with an adapter, will work with the 1301. Guns like the A300 Ultima Aptrol and Mossberg 940 come with adjustable stocks as well.

Sights

Most shotguns will come with a bead front sight, which typically works just fine. But be aware that’s the least acceptable option. I’m all-in on red dots sights on shotguns. They give you the speed of a bead with the precision of ghost rings. A lot of modern shotguns are red dot ready these days, except for Remington for reasons I can’t really determine.

If you can attach a red dot, get a Holosun with a low mount or a Holsoun pistol optic and mount it up. It’s cheap and simple enough to work well while being reliable and shotgun-tough.

Accessories

You only really need one accessory and that’s a white light. Other accessories like side saddles and slings are nice, but aren’t must-haves. A white light allows you to tell friends from foes in your home when the lights are out. Shotguns and white lights can be tricky. Unlike other platforms, they rarely come ready to mount lights.

For a Mossberg or Remington pump action gun, the best option is to get a pump that has a light. The Surefire DSF is the best option, followed by the more affordable Streamlight TL Racker and the Nightstick SFL.

For semi-autos, you’ll need a mounting system. Many come with M-LOK slots on various handguards. I use the Mesa Tactical Truckee on my Mossberg 940 Tactical and Benelli M4. It’s a solid option. You’ll need to look for a dedicated shotgun mount. When you find it, grab a long gun light from Streamlight or Surefire, and you’ll be ready to go. I like the Surefire Scout lights and the Streamlight ProTac options.

Anything Else?

Yes. Go shoot and shoot a lot. Shoot often and learn your shotgun inside and out. This is, after all, a personal defense gun. Buy dummy shells for practice and dry fire at home with the gun. Take a shotgun class. Having all the fun and shiny stuff means nothing if you can’t use the gun effectively. Shotguns aren’t egalitarian weapons. They require training to operate efficiently.