Selecting Shotgun Ammunition
Before you go further, I must open with the disclaimer that I am not a shotgun expert. Due to a variety of reasons, my unit does not use shotguns for lethal purposes, having relegated it to less lethal and ballistic breaching. That said, I still consider the shotgun a valuable tool with which any serious student of the gun should familiarize themselves. Despite its prolific nature, the shotgun is one of the most misunderstood defensive firearms. On no subject is this truer than when it comes to ammunition selection. Choosing the correct ammunition for a defensive shotgun is much the same as for handguns and rifles, but with a few criteria unique to the shotgun. For this article I will limit the ammunition selection to shotshells – loads which contain multiple projectiles.
First, as always, is reliability. The load you choose must run in your gun. Of course, we all instinctively understand this applies to semi-auto shotguns. But it can apply to any repeating shotgun – I have seen pump actions choke on the mini shells, as the shorter overall length caused feeding issues. Make sure you get to the range and test function your load in your gun.
Accuracy is next on the list of importance, although with shotguns firing multiple projectiles with each press of the trigger, this presents some unique challenges. If you are serious about using a shotgun for self defense, you must go to the range and pattern your gun with your load. You need to know how much the pattern opens at what distances. There are old rules of thumb like “1 inch of spread per yard” but this could be wider or tighter depending on your choke, barrel, and load. You cannot rely on regurgitated internet posts or gun counter wisdom; you must go to the range and get the data for yourself firsthand.
With a shotgun, one should also consider the recoil of the round. This may affect not only your follow up shots, but also your willingness to practice with the weapon. Higher velocity seems like a good idea, but the faster you drive unplated lead pellets, the more they will be deformed en route to the target. The more they deform, the less they penetrate. There is a sweet spot between mini shells and 3 ½ “ magnum loads. I find that LE reduced recoil loads do a good job of balancing recoil and ballistic performance.
Which brings us to terminal ballistics. There is a lot of bad advice out there, specifically about shotgun ammo. I have seen people shot with birdshot. Birdshot can be fatal at contact distance, birdshot can produce nasty wounds at close range, but birdshot is not a reliable fight stopper during a deadly force encounter. It simply lacks the mass to provide the necessary penetration to ensure a reliable physiological stop. Based on my experience and training, I would not go smaller than #1 buckshot for a defensive shotgun. Another factor in terminal ballistics is projectile construction – a bare lead pellet is more likely to become deformed and not achieve proper penetration as opposed to a copper plated pellet.
With the articles on handgun and rifle ammunition selection, you will notice that I did not recommend a specific product. This is because if you stick to good quality ammunition, there really is not one product that stands head and shoulders above the rest. With shotguns, I cannot say the same. While there are plenty of acceptable options, there is one load that really checks every box – Federal Flite Control. There are many shotgun loads which deliver terminal performance, reduced recoil, and reliability, but none do it with the accuracy of Federal Flite Control. Due to the unique wad, you can push the acceptable engagement distance of the shotgun significantly. In multiple guns, in multiple training environments I have never seen it not deliver tight patterns. I load my home defense shotgun with Federal Flite Control reduced recoil 2 ¾” 9 pellet 00 buckshot. Does this mean you should do the same? No, but you owe it to yourself to try this load through your home defense shotgun.
The shotgun is a versatile and prolific weapon that will be around for years to come. But to get the most out of it, you must understand its limitations and its strengths and cast aside the decades of myths surrounding it. The only way to do that, is to get off the internet and go train. Hope to see you on the range.
—Flynn