find some solid cover, have a buddy stick out an 8" cardboard circle on a long stick, for 1-1.5 seconds, and then pull it back to cover, while you try to hit it, at a mere 35 yds, with slugs. you wont be hitting it with buckshot and a riot barrel, other than a 1 in 5 fluke. Try it for 5 shots. Most people are smarter than you. They'll be using cover, or be head on prone towards you, while wearing soft armor and a Kevlar helmet, neither of which your shotgun can pierce.
Put up 5 silohuettes, abreast in a line, 2m between each of the targets, at 25m, fire one rd of standard 9 pellet 00 buck at each, with a riot barrel. Do this REALLY fast, say in 2 seconds, from low ready to the 5th shot, as you'd need to do if you were to have a CHANCE of stopping 1 or more of them from firing back at you. Then go count the pellet- hits in the 10" chest circle. You'll be VERY underwhelmed. At that range, each pellet hits no harder than .38 lrn out of a snubby does( at 10 ft) So the 1-2 pellets that hit the vitals will absolutely NOT be likely to result in the "hittee" not being able to shoot back at you, maybe quite a large number of rds, actually. Your patterns wont be centered on the "man", just like they wont in combat. If you were the type to have that sort of skill, you'd be practicing with 30c each 223's, not $1 per rd buckshot and slugs Your inability/unwillingness to practice that much is why you rely on the buckshot pattern.
Sure, you can invest in a special tight choke, have all the pellets on the chest at 25m, but then they'll only be 3" wide at 10m, which is no real help at hitting. you'll not hit anything like that more than you'd hit with the rifle, and the rifle can be silenced and reach 3x as far as you can hope to do with 12 ga slugs. The 223 auto can have a .22lr conversion unit, for quiet foraging, indoor range use, 6c per shot practice, handling most shtf challenges (ie, head shots in the dark) using 60 gr subsonic Aquila .22 subsonic ammo. The parts swap between calibers takes just 10 seconds. The unit weighs just 3/4 lb, costs $300, fits in the thigh pocket of cammies. and it will group 2" at 50 yds or better and impact within 2" of the 223's POI at that distance, too. That's plenty good enough. for snapshooting training and slowfire hunting/sentry removal. . You can just "hold off" the amount needed to get the hit for a precision sort of shot. there's also a way to have both the 223 and the .22lr ammo zeroed to the sights, since you've got 2 wings on the rear sight.
So you can hit a dove on the wing with the 12 ga, so what? you get 2 ozs of meat, while calling in your killers and then you can't even handle them if all they's got is .22 rifles and know to use cover from 100 yds. I've taken literally thousands of birds with .22lr rifles and pistols. They all land and you'd need a scores of tjhem per day in order for them to feed you adequately, or you'd need several each ducks/pheasants, or an entire goose. The ducks and geese have some fat, so you MIGHT get 1000 calories per lb, but the amount of meat needed just doesn't justify the bulk, weight, expense, and noise, flash at night, lack of takedown concealment, lack of a chromed bore and chamber, lack of luminous sights, lack of ability to be used worth a hoot with just one hand. The pump gun is a real pita to use from the prone firing position, and is very prone to being short-stroked when the user is under lethal stress.
Put up 5 silohuettes, abreast in a line, 2m between each of the targets, at 25m, fire one rd of standard 9 pellet 00 buck at each, with a riot barrel. Do this REALLY fast, say in 2 seconds, from low ready to the 5th shot, as you'd need to do if you were to have a CHANCE of stopping 1 or more of them from firing back at you. Then go count the pellet- hits in the 10" chest circle. You'll be VERY underwhelmed. At that range, each pellet hits no harder than .38 lrn out of a snubby does( at 10 ft) So the 1-2 pellets that hit the vitals will absolutely NOT be likely to result in the "hittee" not being able to shoot back at you, maybe quite a large number of rds, actually. Your patterns wont be centered on the "man", just like they wont in combat. If you were the type to have that sort of skill, you'd be practicing with 30c each 223's, not $1 per rd buckshot and slugs Your inability/unwillingness to practice that much is why you rely on the buckshot pattern.
Sure, you can invest in a special tight choke, have all the pellets on the chest at 25m, but then they'll only be 3" wide at 10m, which is no real help at hitting. you'll not hit anything like that more than you'd hit with the rifle, and the rifle can be silenced and reach 3x as far as you can hope to do with 12 ga slugs. The 223 auto can have a .22lr conversion unit, for quiet foraging, indoor range use, 6c per shot practice, handling most shtf challenges (ie, head shots in the dark) using 60 gr subsonic Aquila .22 subsonic ammo. The parts swap between calibers takes just 10 seconds. The unit weighs just 3/4 lb, costs $300, fits in the thigh pocket of cammies. and it will group 2" at 50 yds or better and impact within 2" of the 223's POI at that distance, too. That's plenty good enough. for snapshooting training and slowfire hunting/sentry removal. . You can just "hold off" the amount needed to get the hit for a precision sort of shot. there's also a way to have both the 223 and the .22lr ammo zeroed to the sights, since you've got 2 wings on the rear sight.
So you can hit a dove on the wing with the 12 ga, so what? you get 2 ozs of meat, while calling in your killers and then you can't even handle them if all they's got is .22 rifles and know to use cover from 100 yds. I've taken literally thousands of birds with .22lr rifles and pistols. They all land and you'd need a scores of tjhem per day in order for them to feed you adequately, or you'd need several each ducks/pheasants, or an entire goose. The ducks and geese have some fat, so you MIGHT get 1000 calories per lb, but the amount of meat needed just doesn't justify the bulk, weight, expense, and noise, flash at night, lack of takedown concealment, lack of a chromed bore and chamber, lack of luminous sights, lack of ability to be used worth a hoot with just one hand. The pump gun is a real pita to use from the prone firing position, and is very prone to being short-stroked when the user is under lethal stress.