What shot size for home defense?

[Timothy]

Some how I doubt the BG is going to let me put the muzzle in his mouth.
FQ13

Take your new Maverick to the range, set up a milk carton full of water and shoot it from ten or fifteen feet with #6 shot.  It's quite a show!  I don't have one room in my home more than 16 feet square.  It would be a non issue, the BG is gonna lose!

[fightingquaker13]

FBI standard is 12 inches of penetration. 2" of water equals 1" of ballistic gellatin. That means 4 milk jugs worth of penetration. I think the Feebs are a bit paranoid after the Miami shootings and I'll setlle for six, but that still means blowing up the third jug, even if the shot doesn't exit. I'm not confident birdshot will do it, though in an apartment situation I'd settle for that because the only thing worse than getting killed is killing an innocent by mistake.
FQ13

[1Buckshot]

About ten years ago hear in Western Montana, About ten miles from my place. A bird hunter was charged by a Grizzly Bear. He pulled up and shot him at 30 feet. Hit him in the neck with # 6 steel shot. The bear ran over him , but was dead on its feet at the time. It bent the barrel of his shotgun as he went over. He couldn't keep the hide, But he said "at least he still had a trophy to hang an the wall".

[Timothy]

About ten years ago hear in Western Montana, About ten miles from my place. A bird hunter was charged by a Grizzly Bear. He pulled up and shot him at 30 feet. Hit him in the neck with # 6 steel shot. The bear ran over him , but was dead on its feet at the time. It bent the barrel of his shotgun as he went over. He couldn't keep the hide, But he said "at least he still had a trophy to hang an the wall".

Works for me....thanks Buckshot! 

[1911 Junkie]

I think we just scored our first human subject on whether birdshot is fatal.
And the winner is........................FQ13..........YEAH!!!!!!!!

Now go stand against the wall and you tell us if it kills you when we shoot you with birdshot.  O.K.?

After all, It's not going to penetrate but an inch. 

[Sponsor]

[fightingquaker13]

I think we just scored our first human subject on whether birdshot is fatal.
And the winner is........................FQ13..........YEAH!!!!!!!!

Now go stand against the wall and you tell us if it kills you when we shoot you with birdshot.  O.K.?

After all, It's not going to penetrate but an inch. 

Hey! And again HEY! I maybe a little left (in a world comosed purely of those who lurk on gun boards, because I'm Attila the Hun to most of my collegues for having associated myself with the military and being part of the evil NRA), but I am no ones crash test dummy for birdshot. However, I will make you a deal. You shoot at me at 12 feet with #6 and I shoot at you with #4 buck, AND you get to hide behind one sheet of drywall. We flip a coin to see who goes first. Bottom line, load with what you feel comfortable with, and I will do the same.
FQ13

[1911 Junkie]

I have 00 buck loaded with slugs in reserve.
But I live in the country and if I accidentally miss (highly unlikely) and shoot one of my neighbors, then the nosey B*&%$$tch shouldn't have been snooping around outside my house. 

[TAB]

I don't want to be hit by any of it...

[tombogan03884]

 FQ Posted "the only thing worse than getting killed is killing an innocent by mistake."

You have that backwards.
It's stupid to still be debating this, Texas Bryan posted the obvious answer on the first page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ievbU3xIYGQ
Block walls like what FQ is talking about should stop most shot, but in the section of this video about exotic ammo it shows a slug of compressed lead powder taking a hinge off a door, in soft tissue it will perform as a slug, but when it hits the block wall it turns to dust.

[blackwolfe]

Not a lot of experience with this, but I have been hit by a shotgun pellet.  I think it was No. 6.  It was a straight back ricochet and total distance was about 50 feet.  Not sure what caused it to come back at me as the hardest item downrange was the 2X shelf about 18 inches high we were setting soft targets on.  The pellet went through my overhanging shirt and struck my heavy leather belt. It left a dimple in the belt and raised a pretty good welt on my hide.  It stung like a SOB and for a moment I was afraid to look.  This was one pellet that had to have lost a tremedous amout of energy before it stung me.  I'm sure that if it hadn't hit my belt it would have penetrated flesh.  I certainly wouldn't want to have been hit with a load of No. 6 with out the energy dump.