Someone asked a question about 3" 00 for home defense in the maintenance section. I thought this would be an appropriate place for the answer I gave:
3" 00 while having more pellets than a round of 2-3/4" 00 usually won't pattern as well and recoils a lot more. What that recoil does is slows down your follow-up shots. I generally don't worry about what round has a higher percentage of "one shot stops". I find the idea of focusing on a one shot stop to be dangerous due to the fact that if you believe all it will take is one shot to stop the bad guy you may not be ready with a follow up shot when that first one doesn't stop him. Federal 00 buckshot with a flitecontrol wad or Hornady TAP are what I recommend for a defensive load. The low recoil versions of both are very effective rounds that have a soft enough recoil to allow you to put multiple rounds on target very quickly.
Bird shot is for birds. Even turkey loads. Birdshot may kill someone but it won't reliably instantly stop them which is what the goal of a defensive shooting should be. It doesn't do you any good to kill someone if they have time to kill you back before they die. That is why the idea is to stop the offender rather than kill them. Buckshot will much more reliably stop them RIGHT NOW.
The FBI has established a testing protocol for ammunition intended to be used against people. Through their testing and research they have determined that in order for a round to be a reliably effective fight stopper it needs to penetrate at least 12" in ballistic gelatin. Buckshot is the only shot that reliably makes it to at least 12". #4 Buckshot only barely makes it and not all the time. 00 Buckshot does it reliably and with a flitecontrol wad as loaded by Federal or Hornady (Hornady calls it something else) all the pellets will be close together when they hit. #1 Buckshot appears to be ideal for defensive use but is not as readily available as 00 and isn't available in a tight patterning load.
3" 00 while having more pellets than a round of 2-3/4" 00 usually won't pattern as well and recoils a lot more. What that recoil does is slows down your follow-up shots. I generally don't worry about what round has a higher percentage of "one shot stops". I find the idea of focusing on a one shot stop to be dangerous due to the fact that if you believe all it will take is one shot to stop the bad guy you may not be ready with a follow up shot when that first one doesn't stop him. Federal 00 buckshot with a flitecontrol wad or Hornady TAP are what I recommend for a defensive load. The low recoil versions of both are very effective rounds that have a soft enough recoil to allow you to put multiple rounds on target very quickly.
Bird shot is for birds. Even turkey loads. Birdshot may kill someone but it won't reliably instantly stop them which is what the goal of a defensive shooting should be. It doesn't do you any good to kill someone if they have time to kill you back before they die. That is why the idea is to stop the offender rather than kill them. Buckshot will much more reliably stop them RIGHT NOW.
The FBI has established a testing protocol for ammunition intended to be used against people. Through their testing and research they have determined that in order for a round to be a reliably effective fight stopper it needs to penetrate at least 12" in ballistic gelatin. Buckshot is the only shot that reliably makes it to at least 12". #4 Buckshot only barely makes it and not all the time. 00 Buckshot does it reliably and with a flitecontrol wad as loaded by Federal or Hornady (Hornady calls it something else) all the pellets will be close together when they hit. #1 Buckshot appears to be ideal for defensive use but is not as readily available as 00 and isn't available in a tight patterning load.