12-gauge Mossberg 500 20-inch barrel, 7-round magazine plus 1-round in the chamber

Before you get into this post, please CLICK HERE to read Wild Ed's take on how it was the short shotgun that won the West.  Wild Ed is one of the real-deal outdoorsmen / shooter / hunters; I'm just a hobbyist / enthusiast.

In the photo above, that neat-o-baby bad-ass ammo-sling holds 15-rounds; 1-round more than enough to charge the shotgun's magazine twice.  I bought this shotgun brand new a number of years ago for $200.   It has since been a low tier part of my home defense (EDIT:  FOR ME, a shotgun is not MY choice as a primary home defense weapon.  I am speaking only for me; I am not making a recommendation one way or the other for anyone else.  You are free to choose to use whatever keeps you from singing the blues).    Since I could not remember if I had ever fired this shotgun, I figured it would give me a quick half-hour of pleasure to check it out, and to also see if I could shake the ElZetta flashlight and mount loose (NOTE: the ElZetta held up to the recoil just fine).  The ammo used in this shakedown was the same used HERE with another Mossberg 500.   24-rounds were fired during this range session.

Target above:
Distance = 45-feet (15-yards)
Rounds fired = 7
Summary = all 00-buckshot hit inside scoring rings

Target above:
Distance = 30-feet (10-yards)
Rounds fired = 7
Summary = all 00-buckshot hit inside scoring rings

Target above:
Distance = 21-feet (7-yards)
Rounds fired = 10
Summary = I was racking the slide pretty fast while point-shooting on this target.    I'm not sure if all of the shot cups were releasing their pellets at this distance; IMHO, some did, but only a little bit.  MOST of the little bit of 00-buckshot that was released did hit inside scoring rings; it looks like a tight sub-group of 2 or 3 pellets hit outside of the scoring zone, up in the lower neck area of the silhouette.  I believe that there would be no shot spread whatsoever at any distance closer than 21-feet, with this gun using this load; it would be akin to shooting shotgun slugs.  I believe the 1-inch holes in this target are (for the most part) plastic shot cups still full of shot.  The 1-inch holes in all of the prior targets are from the empty plastic shot cups (Federal's Flight Control Wad).  The shot cup helps to keep the pellets from spreading too far too soon.  The shot cups often veer off on unpredictable trajectories once they release their load of shot.  

PLEASE NEVER REMOVE THE PELLETS FROM A SHOTGUN SHELL AND THINK THAT YOU HAVE A "BLANK" THAT YOU CAN FIRE AT SOMEONE TO SCARE THEM.  THE SHOT CUP / WAD CAN KILL OR CAUSE INJURY AT CLOSE RANGE.