Occasionally I’ll have someone boldly tell me that they’ve found the perfect solution to all their home-defense shotgun needs.
“Oh yeah?” I say. “And what’s that? A complete and total reform of the criminal justice system?”
“Just No. 4 Buck,” they’ll respond.
“I’m listening,” I say, mainly because I love this stuff.
I’ve had more than one person go on to explain that they are concerned about over-penetration through walls—collateral damage—in their house if they ever have to use their shotgun, and so they settle with using birdshot. But, on top of birdshot not functioning well in some semi-autos, they were afraid birdshot may under-penetrate and fail to incapacitate threats if that threat is more than just a few yards away. So, they strike a balance between potentially over-penetrating 00 buck and under-performing No. 8 birdshot. Enter No. 4 buckshot.
I must admit, I can be swayed by such theoretical logic. But, before you or I switch from our tried-and-true 00 buckshot, let’s examine, academically, exactly what No. 4 buckshot is and then discuss some opinions, theories and limitations.
As you can see, a single pellet of birdshot has just 3.1 ft.-lbs. of muzzle energy. (For reference here and going forward, a common 9 mm handgun bullet generates 330 ft.-lbs.) On a single-pellet level, this is barely enough to penetrate thick clothing such as a leather coat. But at ultra-close range—say, inside 5 yards—the majority of the birdshot shell’s 409 pellets work in unison to behave like one solid mass to inflict damage.
Both the problem and the benefit of birdshot is, depending on your perspective, this: Once those pellets enter something, they begin creating their own wound channels, none of which can penetrate more than a couple inches due to their individual lack of mass/energy and sectional density, which is a dismal .0171. This is also why a load of birdshot will often not penetrate two or more boards of sheetrock, especially if the boards have space between them.
If I lived in a very small apartment where the farthest conceivable shot was 10 yards and the apartment shared multiple sheetrock walls, ceilings and floors with neighbors, I might consider birdshot as my shotgun ammo of choice—but I’d still have concerns with it.
What if I had to shoot through a couch or the corner of a wall, for example—scenarios that I imagine could be fairly common? In such a situation, birdshot’s inability to traverse barriers could be a liability. Or at least that’s one of the many reasons I eschew birdshot.
Double-aught buck was contrived for killing deer. Its .33-caliber pellets, fired at 1,200 fps, retain enough energy at 50 yards (some 65 ft.-lbs. per pellet) to down big game. In home-defense scenarios, a single pellet can go through multiple walls—as well as couches, cabinets, etc., and often still be lethal on the other side. Its nine- or 12-pellet pattern may not be overly dense or wider than a few inches at 7 yards, but there have been very few complaints with 00 buck over the years. In sum, it’s proven quite effective.
However, one argument against 00 buck is that home defenders don’t need all that downrange energy, because most defensive shots take place inside of 15 yards—not 50. Some people think the extra, non-necessary energy of 00 buck could be a huge liability in terms of collateral damage—and that the home defender would be better served with denser patterns consisting of more pellets, even if those pellets are less energetic. Some believe No. 4 Buck is a compromise; a balance between over-penetration mitigation and lethality.
Or at least that is one theory. But, let’s drill down deeper.
A No. 4 buck shell contains twice to nearly four times the number of pellets in the load. However, each individual 00 buckshot pellet has 192-percent more muzzle energy than each No. 4 pellet. In terms of penetration and energy—which can be conflated with lethality due to its penchant for smashing bone and wrecking tissue—00 is, of course, vastly superior to No. 4. While a 00 buckshot pellet delivers 65-ft.-lbs of energy at 50 yards, a nominal No. 4 buck pellet (fired between 1,200 and 1,350 fps) delivers 50 to 60 ft.-lbs. of energy at 10 yards, or 1,785 ft.-lbs. when calculated to reflect the entire payload. Is this enough? There’s no doubt about it.
Some people worry about a No. 4’s outlier pellets (the more pellets, the higher the odds for a flier) that they say could get away from the shooter and cause collateral damage. In my view, this is the whole point of using smaller pellets. I believe that if you desire ultra-tight patterns, you might be better suited with a carbine that is superior to a shotgun in most aspects. The shotgun’s main advantage is that its projectiles do spread out, making it more likely to hit a larger area of a target, especially a moving one. If a No. 4 pellet does become a flyer, misses its target and goes through a wall, it has less energy than a 00 buck pellet. (Of course, we are responsible for every pellet we fire, so practice accordingly and pattern any type of buckshot you might consider.)
Does this mean I’m switching from 00 buck to No. 4? Not so fast.
While, in theory, No. 4 buck sounds enticing, I remain a firm believer in massive, energetic, bone-crushing pellets that can be fired through an overturned desk if needed. In more realistic terms, No. 4 buck is hard to find, it’s relatively expensive and it’s generally unproven. Furthermore, I live in the country, where longer shots are possible and the possibility of collateral damage is minimal. So, I’m sticking to 00 buck—or at least until someone argues for No. 1 buck (See its numbers in the table.) On paper, and for all the points I listed above, it may be the best pure home-defense shotgun load ever contrived.
But, that’s another argument for another column.
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