The 12 gauge shotgun is touted as the ultimate home defender it's far from a one-trick pony and about as general purpose of a firearm as you can buy chances are you've got that one buddy who thinks the ar-15 is the be-all-end-all weapon for everything then there are the handgun gurus who.

Have spent lifetime shooting paper and steel but who tend to forget about a little something called terminal ballistics that has everything to do with how something behaves after it has been hit by a bullet fact is most large living creatures don't dramatically fall over dead after.

They've been hit with a bullet from a nine millimeter handgun as they do in the movies mind you i'm not suggesting shotguns aren't overly dramatized in movies too but there's a reason why shotguns are so feared on the streets in homes and on battlefields all over the world one disclaimer i'd like to make right.

Out of the gate it has been said and often repeated that the simple sound of racking a shell into the chamber of a shotgun is enough to repel the most determined intruders this mindset is incredibly naive when armed and responding to a potential threat your firearm should be loaded with the safety on and positioned at.

Your choice of ready position it's a mistake to think racking a shell into the chamber as an act of intimidation will scare an intruder off like you see in hollywood movies you've actually just lost the tactical advantage and told a potential adversary that you're armed what you're armed with your location your magazine capacity is.

Limited and you're untrained without further ado here are my arguments for why a shotgun is the top gun for home defense shotguns are powerful per trigger pull the shotgun delivers the most terminally devastating payload possible from a controllable shoulder-fired firearm.

The primary advantage of using a shotgun for self-defense is that it fires multiple projectiles every time you pull the trigger that's something no other gun can do at least not effectively the reason that's an advantage is not because the pellets spread out so that you don't have to aim at distances inside a home buckshot is.

Only going to spread a few inches but because that pattern stays tight the cumulative effect that cluster of pellets has on the target is devastating if you take any self-defense training for handguns or carbines almost across the board in every class you will do drills where you practice shooting a target several times in quick secession.

The reason we train this way is because it's not terribly uncommon for a violent attacker to keep doing whatever he wants to do even after he's been shot so we try to prepare for that worst case scenario and assume that he's going to take two or three or even six shots before he goes down with a shotgun we can usually achieve.

The same results with a single shot it's very rare for a violent attacker to continue being violent after being hit in the torso with a load of buckshot at close range so the shotgun gives us the potential to end a fight a lot quicker than if we use a handgun or carbine because the shotgun is so efficient i.

Don't think the low ammo capacity is the disadvantage it's often perceived to be and the heavy recoil is also exaggerated the real disadvantage of the shotgun is the size trying to move around inside a house with a long gun in a way that still allows you to still quickly engage a threat is not easy.

You can get an nfa length short barrel and that might help out a little bit but it's still a challenge compared to using a handgun load versatility home defense can mean a lot of different things depending on your geographic location if you live in a high crime urban area human intruders may be your.

Primary threat whereas in more suburban and rural settings you may find yourself defending pets or livestock from wild predators like coyotes wolves and so on if you only have one gun load variation is an important consideration which makes the shotgun an ideal home defense platform shotguns can fire an array of standard.

And non-standard specialty ammunition ammo manufacturers offer numerous game specific loads for practically every animal that walks the planet birds rodents predators small game medium game large game dangerous game they're all covered certainly shotguns can't hold a candle to a rifle in the long range department.

But they can bridge the gap between the close range effectiveness of a pistol and the long range effectiveness of a rifle with sabot slugs and a scope 150 yard accuracy is possible this type of range lends the shotgun on demand versatility that pistols don't have.

The shotgun is far more versatile for home defense than a handgun or rifle quite simply there are far more options available for the 12 gauge shotgun than for any other firearm steel shot varying sizes of buckshot slugs less lethal rounds and other types of projectiles are available the shotgun can perform the widest.

Variety of tasks one can ask of a firearm by a mile certainly using a shotgun for home defense has its downsides too still if i had to pick one gun for home defense hunting survival and sport i'm going with a 12 gauge shotgun in trained hands you're unlikely to miss close range targets and whatever is hit.

With it is unlikely to hit back smith wesson m p12 designed for home protection the smith and wesson m p 12 shotgun is packed with features in a compact maneuverable package chambered in 12-gauge the m p-12 offers maximum ammo adaptability to suit the needs of the user and accepts a.

Combination of standard two and three quarter inch three inch magnum and mini shell loads the m p 12 also features an ergonomic m p grip ambidextrous controls picatinny style rail and more the gun is fully ambidextrous with the possibility of swapping the sling swivel.

Attachments from one side to the other without any tool the m p12 offers the shooter an assist button that once pressed allows to quickly unload each tube magazine there are in fact two independent tube magazines and you can switch between them for feeding the cartridges into the gun.

On the back of the shotgun a tactile and visual indicator alerts the shooter when a round is chambered as to the tail of the tape the gun has a 19 inch barrel and weighs in at a tick over eight pounds whether you're a fan of bullpup shotguns or not the configuration has an indisputable virtue in its compactness.

And the m p12 adds to that its eye-opening firepower kaleshnikov mp155 ultima the mp155 is one of the most popular semi-auto hunting shotguns in russia thanks to its robust construction and affordable price the mp155 altima is still based on the.

Barrel magazine bolt and trigger from the well-known mp-155 shotgun it is a self-loading 12-gauge gas-operated system using a tubular magazine under the barrel what makes the mp155 ultima smart is the on-board computer with a display located on the top rear portion of the receiver cover.

The computer can be synchronized with various external gadgets via wireless and with a rail mounted camera that is plugged into the usb port built right into the chassis the camera can record and stream full hd videos the screen displays data from the onboard shock counter the information.

About the remaining count of ammunition and also has a compass stopwatch and a timer boss tech origin 12. fostech has taken the semi-automatic 12-gauge shotgun to another level with the introduction of the origin 12. with 30 round drum magazines and stick magazines available this may be one of.

The most revolutionary shotgun designs in some time coupled with a number of upgrades designed around years of requests from users the origin 12 is a refreshing change shooters can also quickly change the barrel to accommodate a variety of sizes you can go from a standard 18-inch.

Fighting shotgun to a short cqb or breaching gun in no time at all the origin 12 sports a huge gas tube that allows an infinite set of adjustments to control the functioning of the shotgun with a variety of ammunition types the long stroke gas piston system has long proven itself robust and reliable it's very simple and works well with.

Shotguns due to its ability to be easily adjusted to compensate for lower powered shotgun ammunition the origin 12 has a patented gas system that allows it to function with the widest variety of ammunition magazine capacities vary widely and box magazines are available in 5 8 and 10 round capacities.

This allows for a rapid reload when the gun runs empty and helps partially solve the capacity problem on top of the box magazines drum magazines also exist these contain 20 to 30 rounds of 12 gauge the origin 12 is complete with plenty of rails for lights lasers and optics it's.

A very modern shotgun   you