by Greg Hickok – Hickok45 on YouTube – decided to test out Vice-President Joe Biden’s advice that a double barrel shotgun is the best thing for home defense. He compared its ease of use and effectiveness to the AR-15 with a standard capacity magazine. Greg didn’t fire through a door or shoot into the air as Mr. Biden famously suggested.
Greg decided, unsurprisingly, that the AR-15 would be his choice for home defense. It has less recoil, it is easier to reload in a stressful situation, it provides more rounds of ammunition, and it would be more effective against multiple attackers as in many home invasions. The double barrel shotgun, by contrast, would have significantly more recoil, requires aiming – not mere pointing – to be accurate, has limited capacity, and would be prone to difficult reloads in stressful situations like when facing home invaders or other intruders.
One of the objections that some might raise to the AR-15 as compared to the double barrel shotgun is the issue of over-penetration. Olympic Arms conducted tests on this and also examined other studies comparing penetration of the .223 versus typical handgun and shotgun rounds. They found that the 5.56/.223 55 grain HP tended to break apart in drywall. The results of another test are shown here. This test used five different .223 rounds. Like all things, it comes down to the choice of ammo.