So here’s the deal. One of the questions we ponder here at TTAG is stopping power. How to takedown a bad guy with one shot. You know – like the Marines. One bullet, one kill. I mean, there’s not much point in having a gun for self-defense if you have to keep pulling the trigger to stop your assailant. The question is, what kind of projectile is gonna work best, and in what weapon? Conventional wisdom holds that the weapon of choice is a shotgun. The reason? Most people believe you don’t have to aim precisely; it’s the original “point and shoot” concept writ large. Right weapon. Wrong logic. You see, there’s a huge difference – a life and death difference, as it turns out – between a 12 gauge loaded with birdshot, one loaded with double-ought buckshot, and one with a slug. You might, as your mom used to tell you “put someone’s eye out with that thing” if you load your shotgun with birdshot, but the likelihood of stopping them are alternately “slim” and “none.’ And as they say, “Slim left town”.
