Everyone who has watched action movies or played shooter type video games is familiar with shotguns and the myths surrounding them. For years they have been this boogieman of close quarter’s battle. This idea probably originated from World War One when shotguns first saw combat on the front lines in the trenches and proved devastating in trench warfare. Nowadays though, people have this notion about a shotgun’s spread, range, and accuracy. We hear phrases all the time like:
“Oh you don’t have to aim with a shotgun!”
“Just point and shoot, the spread will cover the whole room!”
“Shotguns aren’t effective outside of 20 yards!”
That last phrase we hear a lot from the younger generation who play too many video games… The truth is, shotguns do require some aiming, and they usually have a pretty tight spread, and can be quite effective out to a decent range!
To help people visualize the difference between pop culture shotguns and actual shotguns, I brought a few of mine out and shot some targets at different ranges. To simulate pop culture shotguns, I used a Taurus Judge. This revolver has the fun feature of being able to use .410 gauge shotgun shells, and has a 3 inch barrel. To show the standard shotgun, I used a Mossberg Maverick 88. This shotgun is a 12 gauge with a 20 inch barrel. I sent targets out to 3 yards, 15 yards, and 30 yards and shot with both guns. The results spoke for themselves…
To be 100% transparent, I wanted the worst outcome for this experiment with the Judge. I used a .410 shotgun shell loaded with #6 birdshot as these small pellets would provide a wide spread even in close quarters. My theory proved to be true, because at just 3 yards, I got a 10 inch spread. I was very impressed with this result as it definitely reflects the Hollywood and video game myth. My results only got better when at 15 yards the spread was well over 40 inches. Once I got out to 30 yards, things got interesting. Out of the approximately 115 pellets in the shot shell, only about 15 actually hit the 22.5” x 34” paper. This is how video games treat shotguns, where outside of 20 yards the guns act as if they’re shooting confetti. But what would happen with a standard shotgun with buckshot?
The shotgun I used for this experiment was actually my personal home defense gun, a Maverick 88, loaded with 00 buckshot. The Maverick proved to be much more accurate right off the bat with a 2 inch spread at 3 yards; a marked improvement from the Judge. Even after going out to 15 yards the Maverick only had a 10 inch spread, the same spread as .410 at 3 yards. When I shot the target at 30 yards, I was surprised to see only 19.5 inches of spread with 11 out of 12 pellets hitting paper, 8 of which were inside the Q target silhouette. This result was very reassuring to me, given that 30 yards was the longest distance I measured in my house.
I hope this helps people with understanding the myths and fallacies of pop culture shotguns. Hopefully we can get more accurate representation of guns in movies, just like in the John Wick series. (John Wick is an excellent example of accurate gun fighting.) Just remember, the best way to understand how shotguns work is to go to a range and shoot some.