[https://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/comments/12ws5be/cmv\_shotguns\_suck\_for\_home\_defense/](https://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/comments/12ws5be/cmv_shotguns_suck_for_home_defense/)
**1. Low reliability**
This is the biggest reason I wanted to bring up. James Reeves has done shotgun burndown videos on several shotguns across a variety of price points. The only shotgun that James Reeves has tested that has passed his burndown test with flying colors that can actually be called a budget gun is the Maverick 88 coming it at about $250 depending on where you look. However, regardless of how mechanically reliable a pump action shotgun may be, operator error can and will cause the gun to malfunction due to short stroking the pump. Any semi auto defense oriented shotgun that’s worth it’s salt is usually worth at least around $1,000 if not more depending on if there’s a sale.
By comparison, there are a handful of semi auto rifles around or under $500 on the market and plenty of handguns at similar price points that are as if not more reliable than a Maverick 88 pump action shotgun.
**2. Low ammo capacity**
While most self defense incidents may be over in just a handful of rounds, why limit yourself ammo capacity wise if you live in a place where an AR-15 with 30 round magazines are legal to possess and use?
**3. Slow and awkward reloads**
A vast majority of shooters can reload a magazine fed pistol or rifle faster and easier than any shotgun, tube fed or box mag fed. Sure, you could quad load shells like Lena Miculek, but only after hours and hours of training on reloads alone, time with which you can work on your shooting, not your reloads.
**4. Limited effective range**
What’s great about an AR-15 chambered in a rifle caliber like 5.56×45 NATO is that it can be an effective self defense tool at both home defense distances and at engagement distances of much longer ranges. A smoothbore shotgun quickly loses accuracy and power as engagement distances increase, not so much so with semi auto rifles in rifle calibers.
**5. Expensive, bulky and heavy ammo**
The shotgun ammo that you should be using for anti-human defense can get pretty pricey. Pistol hollow point ammo is around $0.50 a round to start with, rifle hollow point ammo is a bit under $1 a round while premium buckshot is just as much as rifle hollow points on the low end and a lot more on the high end.
Shotgun ammo can also be very bulky and heavy in comparison to rifle and pistol rounds. Here’s a post someone made comparing the weight per round of different calibers and shotguns gauges.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/preppers/comments/9q8u1p/ammunition\_weights/](https://www.reddit.com/r/preppers/comments/9q8u1p/ammunition_weights/)
**6. High recoil**
In a life or death situation where quick follow up shots are important, shotguns are lacking in this category. A typical 12 gauge buckshot shell has over 5 times the recoil energy as a .223 round or 9mm round. Even a .410 buckshot shell usually has more recoil than .223.
Leave a Reply