americanrifleman.org offers some useful if basic advice on getting to grips with your home defense shotgun. Dave Campbell recommends hanging some cardboard and shooting it with your home defense load at 3, 5, 7, 10, 15, 20 and 25 yards. Fair enough. And then . . .”Now you can start training for that encounter with a bad guy holding a loved one as a human shield. Set up the targets at various ranges and learn how much to hold off the shoot target in order to secure a hit without harming the no-shoot target. Typically, at most home-defense ranges, the point of hold is on the outboard side . . .
There will be a range at which it is imprudent to attempt this shot, and the only way to determine that for you and your shotgun is to shoot it enough at various distances.
I’m thinking that a hostage rescue shot is “imprudent” at anything other than point blank range. Your best bet: run up to the bad guy, put the muzzle on him and pull the trigger. Now there’s something to practice.
Anyway, would you take the shot? Under what circumstances at what distance? Do you practice “solving this problem” at the range with, say, TTAG Target Supplier Birchwood Casey’s Dirty Bird® Silhouette III Target 12″ x 18″ Splattering Targets?