When it comes to home defense weaponry, I started thinking outside the box recently and have added a new addition to our “if you break in, you are going to really, really regret it” preps… a .410 pump shotgun.
Wait, what? Shotguns are fantastic home defense options, but a .410? Why not a 12-gauge?
Good question. The answer? Spice is a 50-something 5’4 and 115 pound woman, which make it a high probability that our 12-gauge pump riot gun would be a one-shot weapon for her.
NOTE: ours has a standard fore grip, not the grip as shown…
Our previous home defense shotgun (the one that I still use) is a Maverick 88 security 20″ model with a collapsible after-market stock. I put the after market stock on so that both she (5’4″) and I (6’3″) could use the gun, but it makes the recoil brutal and I don’t like the handling as well as I do with the standard stock. I plan (when I get around to it) to put the original stock back on the 88.
Shotguns are a devastating option to protect yourself against home invasion, as they can deliver a huge amount of hurt on the bad guys while not risking killing the 6-year-old asleep in bed in the house next door due to over penetration of walls by high-velocity rounds.
Obviously, a .410 doesn’t deliver the same amount of damage that the larger, more powerful 12-gauge will, but the smaller amount of damage it does is really negligible at 30 feet or less.
It’s more than made up for by the fact that the much smaller gun can be more accurately wielded, aimed and fired by small framed people with small hands.
I can assure you from personal experience (as a journalist) seeing the results of what a .410 shotgun does to a human body that it is MORE than powerful enough.
I once covered a case where a woman shot a man inside a house at close range with a .410 loaded with #6 shot (typical load for rabbit, squirrel, rodents, other small game and pest animals). She shot the man in the groin area from about 10 feet away. Let me tell you, good people, you do NOT want to be shot in the groin with a .410, you REALLY don’t.
There are also now a large number of .410 self defense rounds, but I have to throw out a word of caution on some of them. Due to the popularity (somewhat fading now, but still around) of the Taurus Judge (and other brands) of .410 handguns, there are a lot of “handgun specific” .410 rounds. You don’t want to shoot one of those in a long gun. Instead, choose a round designed for a full-length barrel.
I’ve got several types to try in the spring, and I will report what I find out. I’ve got some OO buckshot and various different standard loads.
One of the reasons that some people will turn up their nose at the idea of using a .410 for home defense is their experiences with .410 handguns… and that’s a shame, because a long gun is a whole different animal. For example, even though the Judge is designed to shoot .410 rounds, the law requires that it be rifled… for the .45 Long Colt rounds it also shoots, that’s fine, but that rifling is not prime for shotgun ammunition.
Additionally, the short barrels of the handguns lead to a much wider disbursement and much less impact than a long gun does… the scatter pattern of a .410 long gun within 20 feet is very small (less than 6 inches) and at closer distances, the wad may penetrate the wound as well causing further trauma.
With a handgun, the scatter pattern at 20 feet is larger than a human being. I shot a 3″ barrel judge at a human size target at 7 yards a couple of years ago and found the scatter pattern to be more than 70 percent of the shot off the human-sized target. NOTE: I do not recommend .410 handguns for personal defense.
I haven’t fired this particular .410 so I can’t begin to give any kind of thoughts on it, but I have extensive experience hunting with my Savage .410/.22 over/under (amazing survival gun, by the way) and have also covered multiple cases were the murder/homicide/suicide weapon was a .410 long gun, they pack plenty of punch to get the job done.
For me? I’m sticking with a 12-gauge, but I’m totally comfortable with Spice using the .410 which fits her hands better, weighs a lot less, is a lot shorter overall so it fits her reach better, and it has much more manageable recoil.
