Smyth Busters: Is Birdshot Ammo Good for Home Defense?

If somebody breaks into your house and attacks you, should you flip 'em the bird? Birdshot, that is. A 12 gauge shotgun is an excellent firearm for home defense, of course. And some folks say shotshells loaded with birdshot is the best home-defense ammo. What do our Smyth Busters Steve and Caleb have to say about that? Myth or solid advice?

Birdshot pellets are very small. You get a lot of them in a shell, but each pellet doesn't have much mass and therefore not much penetrative force. The good news is birdshot won't over-penetrate through a wall. But you also won't get good penetration to a vital organ of an attacker that will cause them stop their attack. Worse, birdshot pellets lose energy FAST, so the greater the distance between you and an attacker, the less effective they are. Anything coming out the business end of a 12 gauge shotgun can be lethal, so birdshot is not totally ineffective. It's just not your best shotgun ammunition for self-defense.

So what is? The guys recommend #1, #0, or #00 BUCKSHOT. If you're worried about overpenetration, shotgun slugs are actually far more likely to over-penetrate that than buckshot. So the myth is BUSTED: Don't use birdshot for home defense. Stick with buckshot!