Author Topic: Do .410 Bore Shotguns Make Sense for Home Defense?  (Read 1435 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Elderberry

  • TBR Contributor
  • *****
  • Posts: 24,274
Do .410 Bore Shotguns Make Sense for Home Defense?
« on: March 09, 2022, 04:25:56 pm »
NRA Women by B. Gil Horman posted on March 1, 2022

Often dismissed as ineffective for personal protection, .410 shotguns can get the job done when loaded properly.

Discussing the use of .410-bore shotguns for home defense often ruffles some feathers. “You should get a 12-gauge shotgun,” they say. “That's the best shotgun for the job!” This sentiment is not untrue, but it's also not complete.

Let me be clear, combat shotguns chambered for 12-gauge shells are, shot-for-shot, among the best close-range fight stoppers yet devised. They throw an impressive amount of lead with nearly irresistible levels of force at across-the-room (3 to 7 yards) and across the house (7 to 15 yard) distances. Lew Gosnell, training director of Gunsite Academy, summed it up quite succinctly during a 12-gauge shotgun demonstration when he said, "Shotgun fights don't last for very long."

But due to Newtonian physics, 12-gauge levels of stopping power come at a price. Full-power shells filled with hard-hitting defensive payloads can generate intense levels of felt recoil. The shotguns themselves can be relatively large, heavy and too long in the stock, making them unwieldy for some folks. For this reason, a more complete statement regarding the defensive 12-gauge would be that it's best option if the home defender can manage it.

For this conversation, let's take a look at the reasons why one might choose to stage a .410-bore shotgun for home defense, some of the suitable .410 shotguns currently available and which types of .410 shells are a good fit for personal protection. Some of the guns and ammunition mentioned here fall under the “whatchagot”category of defensive options.

Why Choose a .410 Bore for Home Defense?
The top reasons for picking a .410 bore for home defense were touched on above, namely, gun size and felt recoil. The shotguns are slim, lightweight and often available in compact configurations with the same shorter 18.5" to 20" barrel lengths commonly used with 12-gauge security shotguns.

A Quick Note on Ammunition Performance
The scientific field of research known as ballistics is dedicated to understanding how firearms and their projectiles perform. What it boils down to for the home defender is this: Projectiles launched by a defensive handgun, rifle or shotgun must penetrate deeply enough that an attacker loses the ability to continue the assault.


.410-bore shells are available with a variety of projectiles.

But how much penetration is enough? Back in the late 1980s, the FBI’s Firearms Training Unit (FTU) established a series of ammunition performance protocols in which handgun rifle and shotgun rounds are fired into 10% ballistic gelatin. As a rule of thumb, they are looking for projectiles that travel through the gel to an optimum depth of 12” to 18”. Projectiles that penetrate less than 12” are not considered a good fit for home defense. This standard is used for the Clear Ballistics synthetic gel test results included below.

----

Which Shells for Home Defense?

Here's what all of this ammunition testing information boils down to: Loading shorter-barrel .410-bore shotguns with buckshot loads, or defense-grade mixed payload shells, turns the gun into a viable low-recoil home defense option. This gun and ammunition combination launches more projectiles per trigger pull than a handgun but does so without the punishing recoil of a 12-gauge shotgun. But remember, birdshot and slugs should be reserved for sporting purposes.

More: https://www.nrawomen.com/content/do-410-bore-shotguns-make-sense-for-home-defense/

Offline EdinVA

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 8,584
  • Gender: Male

Offline rustynail

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5,977
Re: Do .410 Bore Shotguns Make Sense for Home Defense?
« Reply #2 on: March 09, 2022, 05:38:33 pm »
Nice video, liked the meat targets.

Offline Hoodat

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 35,815
Re: Do .410 Bore Shotguns Make Sense for Home Defense?
« Reply #3 on: March 09, 2022, 06:06:35 pm »
Thanks for sharing, @EdinVA
If a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power.

-Dwight Eisenhower-


"The [U.S.] Constitution is a limitation on the government, not on private individuals ... it does not prescribe the conduct of private individuals, only the conduct of the government ... it is not a charter for government power, but a charter of the citizen's protection against the government."

-Ayn Rand-

Offline Hoodat

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 35,815
Re: Do .410 Bore Shotguns Make Sense for Home Defense?
« Reply #4 on: March 09, 2022, 06:08:43 pm »
.20-gauge video


If a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power.

-Dwight Eisenhower-


"The [U.S.] Constitution is a limitation on the government, not on private individuals ... it does not prescribe the conduct of private individuals, only the conduct of the government ... it is not a charter for government power, but a charter of the citizen's protection against the government."

-Ayn Rand-

Online sneakypete

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 52,848
  • Twitter is for Twits
Re: Do .410 Bore Shotguns Make Sense for Home Defense?
« Reply #5 on: July 16, 2022, 05:49:19 pm »
YES!

A 410 may even be the best choice if you live in a townhouse or an apartment.

As for killing power,all you can kill anyone is dead,and a 410 slug will do that as effectively as any other round if you hit center mass or a head shot.
Anyone who isn't paranoid in 2021 just isn't thinking clearly!

Offline Smokin Joe

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 56,397
  • I was a "conspiracy theorist". Now I'm just right.
Re: Do .410 Bore Shotguns Make Sense for Home Defense?
« Reply #6 on: July 17, 2022, 12:36:31 am »
YES!

A 410 may even be the best choice if you live in a townhouse or an apartment.

As for killing power,all you can kill anyone is dead,and a 410 slug will do that as effectively as any other round if you hit center mass or a head shot.
Should be good enough to take a human.
I have harvested whitetail deer with one at up to 75 yards.
How God must weep at humans' folly! Stand fast! God knows what he is doing!
Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

C S Lewis

Offline roamer_1

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 43,289
Re: Do .410 Bore Shotguns Make Sense for Home Defense?
« Reply #7 on: July 17, 2022, 12:43:13 am »
Maybe so... But who the heck is gonna buy that special when everybody already has a 12ga pump? 410 might make do... but that 12ga will do better.

Offline GtHawk

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 18,628
  • Gender: Male
  • I don't believe in Trump anymore, he's an illusion
Re: Do .410 Bore Shotguns Make Sense for Home Defense?
« Reply #8 on: July 17, 2022, 01:32:42 am »
Maybe so... But who the heck is gonna buy that special when everybody already has a 12ga pump? 410 might make do... but that 12ga will do better.
In the past I have read articles that pushed the .410 for women because of it's size, weight and lower recoil.

Offline roamer_1

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 43,289
Re: Do .410 Bore Shotguns Make Sense for Home Defense?
« Reply #9 on: July 17, 2022, 01:51:54 am »
In the past I have read articles that pushed the .410 for women because of it's size, weight and lower recoil.

Well that cha-chink of that 12ga generally is enough. The perpetrator drops his mud at that sound and leaves with all due haste. Especially if that shotgun is in the shaky hands of a nervous woman.  happy77

Offline Elderberry

  • TBR Contributor
  • *****
  • Posts: 24,274
Re: Do .410 Bore Shotguns Make Sense for Home Defense?
« Reply #10 on: July 17, 2022, 02:03:27 am »
Why should a perp ever hear you chamber a weapon, unless you're reloading?

Offline roamer_1

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 43,289
Re: Do .410 Bore Shotguns Make Sense for Home Defense?
« Reply #11 on: July 17, 2022, 02:11:13 am »
Why should a perp ever hear you chamber a weapon, unless you're reloading?

We're not taking about me... Although, I am not in the habit of leaving my guns chambered in storage... The sawed off is up by the back door in the kitchen and may be out of reach, so yeah, maybe I'd have to get the full-size out of storage. It's loaded (they're all loaded), but not chambered. So yeah... Cha-chink. Unless I can quietly sneak one in the chamber... which goes against my nature.  :shrug:

Online sneakypete

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 52,848
  • Twitter is for Twits
Re: Do .410 Bore Shotguns Make Sense for Home Defense?
« Reply #12 on: July 17, 2022, 02:30:21 am »
Why should a perp ever hear you chamber a weapon, unless you're reloading?

@Elderberry

That has always been a mystery to me,too. Yeah,I have weapons laying around the house that don't have  a round in the chamber,but none of them are my self-defense guns.
Anyone who isn't paranoid in 2021 just isn't thinking clearly!