What You Need to Know about Home Defense Ballistics

[opsspec1991]

What You Need to Know about Home Defense Ballistics

By Mike Martel

Home defense ballistics always come up when you talk about shooting in a building. Is a pistol better than a rifle? Is birdshot better than buckshot? The questions (and arguments) go on and on.

We found a great video that shows you what exactly happens when you shoot. It isn’t going to end the arguments, but it will give you a good basis to talk from.

Take a look at the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAxkVMQHGpE

 

[bofh]

You forgot to mention that this was produced by Outdoor Channel in 2012 and features Rob Pincus.

Anyway, the birdshot test in this video fails to mention that the terminal ballistics of birdshot are weak, even though it produces a tight pattern. Birdshot has about 5-6 inches of penetration according to Brass Fetcher Ballistic Testing. It produces a wound that may convince an attacker to run away, but it may not necessarily stop a determined attacker.

Bare gel tests without denim show slightly deeper penetration and can be found here: Shotgun Penetration With Various Rounds | The Truth About Guns.

The Box O' Truth - The Box O' Truth is a good resource for penetration tests.

It boils down to this: Every round that has a good-to-excellent potential to disable an attacker will go through at least one wall (2 sheets of drywall) and typically through 2-4 walls (4-8 sheets of drywall). Home defense is also about knowing safe shooting vectors in your house, where the it is clear who is in the line of fire and where the backstop is a brick wall or the ground. In any case, hitting the attacker would be the first priority.

 

[Tea Man]

Even though the birdshot are rather weak in HD I think it'd be a good psychological stopper and I don't think the perp will want you to shoot again. In the case of drug crazed perp at least two shots will convey the message.

 

[bofh]

Even though the birdshot are rather weak in HD I think it'd be a good psychological stopper and I don't think the perp will want you to shoot again. In the case of drug crazed perp at least two shots will convey the message.

Actually, I disagree. Although all of this is hypothetical, the attacker may not even notice that he has been hit, he just knows that he has been shot at and, if he is armed with a gun, will shoot at you. Don't underestimate adrenalin. It is a powerful drug.

Note that you may actually want to have rounds in your shotgun that have some penetration capability. Think about an attacker taking cover behind a door frame and shooting at you. In any case, everyone needs to decide by themselves which risks to take.

 

[farsidefan1]

Excellent thread and followups, I''ll be interested to follow other posts on the topic.

 

[NavyLCDR]

There is a reason it is called birdshot.

 

[Tea Man]

Yeah, got a point there.

 

[Rhino]

I load #1 buckshot. It's hard to find though.

 

[Eric Pederson]

Every round that has a good-to-excellent potential to disable an attacker will go through at least one wall (2 sheets of drywall) and typically through 2-4 walls (4-8 sheets of drywall).

This. Your life is at stake. Don't take half-measures to protect it. Know the safest angles (considering that misses will likely exit your home) for shooting and plan your defense accordingly. Ideally, you'll be able to gather everyone in a protected space and the sirens of approaching police cars will chase the intruders out. But it doesn't always work that way.

 

[Bikenut]

This. Your life is at stake. Don't take half-measures to protect it. Know the safest angles (considering that misses will likely exit your home) for shooting and plan your defense accordingly. Ideally, you'll be able to gather everyone in a protected space and the sirens of approaching police cars will chase the intruders out. But it doesn't always work that way.

Agreed... don't take half measures...

Ideally folks will spend enough time and effort practicing shooting on the move in the dark using a flashlight/ambient light from multiple night lights in every room so they can actually hit what they shoot at. Unfortunately doing that kind of practice at a range is almost impossible unless a person has access to a shoot house. But air soft guns are a great tool for turning your own home into a "shoot house" for in the home practice by having someone place cardboard silhouettes in places you don't know where.... just be careful of denting drywall.

And holing up in a safe room sounds like a great idea but (as you so wisely said) that doesn't always work out either. Those of us with families should realize it may be necessary to go to where a child/family member is, perhaps where that family member is being attacked while an accomplice lurks along the way, so it would be wise to practice for that eventuality also.