Lessons learned:
1. As we have shown time and time again, birdshot is for little birds, not for bad guys. It makes a nasty, shallow wound, but is not a good "Stopper".
2. I was surprised by the penetration of the #3 Buckshot in the 20 gauge. It performed much better than I would have expected. I would not be too quick to discount Buckshot in a 20 Gauge for home defense.
3. 00 Buck in the 12 Gauge was excellent.
4. The Slug in the 20 did not perform very well. For some reason, it broke up into small pieces.
5. Once again, the 12 Gauge Slug amazes us. It was devastating! Penetration was 5 jugs or almost 30 inches. That is equivalent to almost 15 inches of penetration of flesh.
Lots of dead water jugs left. A fine day of shooting.
And, shooting stuff is fun!
(Thanks to Tman for the photo help)
Update:
I received a note from a police officer that asked me not to mention names or locations about this true event.
A police officer was involved in some shotgun training, where they used #6 birdshot in the training due to lower cost. After the training session, he forgot to remove the birdshot and replace it with 00 Buckshot, the normal carry load.
That night, while on patrol, he confronted a couple of burglars and was in a shootout with them. He shot both of them with his shotgun, but forgot that he had it loaded with birdshot.
They killed the officer and escaped.
Never use birdshot against goblins. Use plated 00 Buckshot.
