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Suggestions for 20 Ga. Self Defense Shells

4K views 18 replies 7 participants last post by  twocan 
#1 ·
After debating lots of options, we went to Bass Pro Shops in Orlando today and walked out with a Mossberg 500 "youth model" 20 ga. gun. For you Mossberg experts it's a Bantam 500, with fiber optic sights. My wife handles it easily, it's light and maneuverable. I may be naive, but I really think getting hit by a 20 ga. shotgun load will a pretty bad day for any BG. I think she could have managed a 12 ga with an adjustable or shorter stock, but those are pretty much on backorder everywhere.

We bought a hundred birdshot shells to take down to the range next weekend, but I'm looking to find some better SD shells. The one disadvantage of 20 over 12 ga is that 12 has many more choices, since it has been adopted for tactical use by so many agencies.

Any recommendations?

(and slightly more off-topic - it never ceases to amaze me that I need to put up with a 3 day waiting period for a 22 cal pistol - until I get my permit, but I can go buy and walk out with a short barrel 12 ga shotgun with no wait. Plus, there doesn't seem to be any ammo shortage in the shotgun world. )



Thanks,
BobL
 
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#2 ·
I think #2 buck is the largest shot size commercially available in 20-gauge, so either 18-pellet #2 buck or 20-pellet #3 buck is what I'd look for. Both are available from Federal, Remington and Winchester. The 3" Federal Classic #2 buck is recommended frequently.
 
#4 ·
#3 ·
If not buckshot, get some Remington rifled Slugs. You may be able to even find some in reduced recoil.
 
#6 ·
Keep us posted on what you find out regarding this. I'm curious myself. I keep a 12ga around the house and I've always thought that the lighter rounds are supposed to have more "knockdown" power in close quarters since they actually scatter less over a short distance than heavy buck shot.

I have no idea if that is correct or not and I don't remember where I've seen or heard it or even how long ago, but, it's stuck with me over the years and I've never taken the time to research it's correctness. Now that you bring it up, I'd like to know as well.

Like you, I've just kind of always figured that getting plowed by a 12 ga, or even a 20 would make to a pretty bad day for the BG regardless of shot size.

Now that I'm taking the thought of protecting my family far more serious than in the past, I'm very intrested in this kind of thing.
 
#9 ·
Thanks for all the info.

I found the Remington Express 20 Ga buckshot at Bass Pro Shops Online. I didn't see it last night, but I may have been only looking at a sales flyer.

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10151&catalogId=10001&partNumber=28629 for the interested.

Ordered enough to defend against a small zombie hoard... :laughing

I need to find a "Shotguns for Dummies" site to read up on things like that difference in shot sizes. I was wondering why #2 wasn't #2.



BobL
 
#11 ·
Thanks, JT,


About an hour after I placed the order with Bass Pro, I got an email saying (you guessed it) out of stock. Did some searching while at work today, thought I found it at Sportsman's Guide, but they say out of stock if you call. Oh, well. I guess I'm in line for my order from Bass Pro.

Meanwhile, I'll see if any really bad birdshot load might be available. I saw a Coyote load from HeviShot somewhere. There's quite a gap in shot sizes according to that Wiki page, but I don't know all of what's really out there in the stores.



BobL
 
#12 ·
Someone may still be watching this topic - or find it interesting. I was wondering why we're all automatically going for buckshot and why not slugs. I found a cool little application to play with and answer some of these. Go to Federal Premium's website. http://www.federalpremium.com/resources/ballistics_application.aspx and you'll find a downloadable Windows-based ballistics application.

This thing is cool if you're the technical-type (I'm an engineer).

What it seems to show is that #3 buckshot actually has a slightly higher impact energy than #2, but a 20 ga. slug has about 25% more than that. The spread of a shotgun pattern over self defense distances is not that big and you have to aim, so it's not a hardship to use a slug.

Looking further, I see there are bird hunter's rounds that smack more than #3 buckshot as well. Federal's PHD297 or PWB209, both of which are recommended for ducks or geese, smack harder than #3 buckshot at close distances. They use #2 pellets, which are smaller than that #2 or #3 buckshot, but there are more of them in the shell. Bird hunters' ammo is probably going to be easier to find, and slugs might be easier, too.

This is the way I'm reading things. I'm here to learn, so if anyone has better info, I'm all ears.

And by the way, it has all of their pistol ammo and rifle ammo, too. You'll find lots of interesting things in there, too. Like out to 10 yards, the lighter bullets in a caliber hit harder than heavier ones, and smaller calibers might even hit harder than larger ones.



BobL
 
#13 ·
The one thing that ballistics info does not show, however, is penetration.

Probably not an issue with slugs :laughing but the smaller shot sizes will penetrate much less than larger, heavier shot. I have not seen any penetration testing on 20 gauge loads though.
 
#14 ·
Well, I ordered the slugs, but they seem to be in stock everywhere while buckshot isn't. The pellets in that Federal duck hunting load are about half the size of the buck shot. Seems like a slug will put a serious hole in whatever it hits.



BobL
 
#15 ·
Yep. Sabots in 20 gauge are somewhere around the size of a 45 cal "projectile". 12 gauge is supposed to be around 50 cal.
 
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