Watch: Double Barreled Shotguns for Home Defense

Here’s a Paul Harrell video that goes back a few years, as will be obvious once you start watching. The video quality is rough, but the content is worth it. Paul talks about using side-by-side (SXS) double-barrel shotguns for home defense.

Reasons you might choose a double-barrel for home defense:

You already own one.
You can get one cheap.
It’s all you can afford.
Gun laws restrict your options.
They’re easy to learn and easy to fire.
They’re about as reliable as you can get.
You can load two different types of ammo and decide which kind to fire first.
For any given barrel length, overall length of a SXS will be shorter than a pump or auto shotgun.

Can a double-barrel scattergun be effective? He answers that by savagely assaulting a couple of bottles of soda.

Comparing rapidity of firing six rounds as quickly as possible, we see him first use a pump gun followed by a side-by. This is where automatic ejectors would be nice, but they’re not truly necessary in order to rapidly reload the SXS. Heck, just look at the old video game DOOM if you want to see a fast reload on a side by side…

Then he examines the tendency of a double gun to shoot slugs in two different places relative to the bead, and kinda takes a side road by showing viewers a little something about “cut shells.”

What can you use that would hit like a slug, be a single projectile like a slug, and not overpenetrate so much? Lemme show ya something.

Using cut shells is no doubt considered questionable by many folks, but if you like them you’re better off using them in a break-action shotgun rather than a magazine-fed repeater.

His results in an accuracy test of cut shells? “Frankly, not worth a damn.”

And to sum it up:

Bottom line to the whole thing is, if your situation is dictated that a double-barrel is what you have, don’t despair — it’s probably gonna be plenty. And there can be no debate on the statement that ‘It sure beats the hell out of nothing.’

Enjoy the video.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.