So I shot that deer at a pretty close distance. It was about maximum distance, from me, as it is possible to be in a house.
I hit it on the kinda high and forward part of the flank, pretty much on the upper part of the shoulder blade.
When we got the skin off of the deer we found 8 holes in the meat on the deer's left side, and two hole in the meet on the right side that went through.
We didn't find any pellets.
There were 9 pellets in the 2.75" Remington shot shell. 00 Buckshot is .33 inches in diameter. And it leaves the barrel going more than 1200 feet per second.
I don't know where the ninth pellet went, or if I just missed the ninth hole.
I could cover the pattern on the deer's shoulder with my hand. Range, less than 25 yards, remember. The tube of my shotgun has no choke, and it's 22" or 24" long.
Upon butchering, we found the ball joint of the deer's left shoulder to be cracked in half.
It was a pretty devastating hit, obviously. Note: It did NOT blow a fist sized hole in said critter like you see in some movies.
Now expand that for self defense. It's NOT bird shot. I am shooting the same model shotgun but with a 16.25" barrel [correction in comments: 18.25"]. The pattern will widen, but the range will lessen, in my house. There is no front sight, so I should point at the belly button since it will naturally guide a bit high. It's NOT BIRD SHOT. If I have the works properly lubed, I have 5 shells ready to go. No need for long or magnum loads. I might go as low as number 4 buckshot, which is .24 inches in diameter, but there are 27 pellets. If you want the effect of buckshot with a bajillion pellets, go with that. Number 4.
[I was thinking on this subject because to the deer I successfully shot with buckshot 2 weekends ago.]
I hit it on the kinda high and forward part of the flank, pretty much on the upper part of the shoulder blade.
When we got the skin off of the deer we found 8 holes in the meat on the deer's left side, and two hole in the meet on the right side that went through.
We didn't find any pellets.
There were 9 pellets in the 2.75" Remington shot shell. 00 Buckshot is .33 inches in diameter. And it leaves the barrel going more than 1200 feet per second.
I don't know where the ninth pellet went, or if I just missed the ninth hole.
I could cover the pattern on the deer's shoulder with my hand. Range, less than 25 yards, remember. The tube of my shotgun has no choke, and it's 22" or 24" long.
Upon butchering, we found the ball joint of the deer's left shoulder to be cracked in half.
It was a pretty devastating hit, obviously. Note: It did NOT blow a fist sized hole in said critter like you see in some movies.
Now expand that for self defense. It's NOT bird shot. I am shooting the same model shotgun but with a 16.25" barrel [correction in comments: 18.25"]. The pattern will widen, but the range will lessen, in my house. There is no front sight, so I should point at the belly button since it will naturally guide a bit high. It's NOT BIRD SHOT. If I have the works properly lubed, I have 5 shells ready to go. No need for long or magnum loads. I might go as low as number 4 buckshot, which is .24 inches in diameter, but there are 27 pellets. If you want the effect of buckshot with a bajillion pellets, go with that. Number 4.
[I was thinking on this subject because to the deer I successfully shot with buckshot 2 weekends ago.]
"I am shooting the same model shotgun but with a 16.25" barrel."
ReplyDeleteI am going to assume that either the above is a typo and you meant 18.25" which would be a LEGAL shotgun, or you have the appropriate NFA tax stamp and permit for a short barreled shotgun. Other than that i agree with your thoughts on shottie loadings.
Yup, typo. 18.25. Good catch. I always confuse the 16 something this vs. the 18 something that. But the gunstore got it right.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post.
ReplyDeleteIt's good for folks to bear in mind that buckshot is not the super hammer of Thor depicted in popular entertainment. As you noted, the deer did not go flying through the nearest plate glass window as though pulled on a string by some guy off camera.
(I know people who've actually had very disappointing results with the stuff on hogs, too, FWIW...)
I forgot to add, "Would you rather shoot a bad guy with one .45 caliber projectile, or 7 8 or 9 .32 caliber projectiles."
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'd carry a .32 pistol if bad guys would let me shoot it 9 times for every one they shot.