28-32 Inch

A shotgun is a firearm typically used to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot. The shot is usually fired from a smoothbore barrel; another configuration being the rifled "slug" barrel, which is used to fire a single projectile. more...

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Since the power of the burning charge is divided among the pellets, the energy of any one ball of shot is fairly low, making shotguns useful primarily for hunting birds and other small game. However, the large number of projectiles makes the shotgun useful as a close-combat weapon or defensive weapon, where the short range ensures that many of the projectiles of shot will hit the target (see riot shotgun and combat shotgun). Ammunition for shotguns is referred to as shotgun shells, shotshells, or just shells (when it is not likely to be confused with artillery shells). Single projectile loads are generally called shotgun slugs or just slugs.

Aside from the most common use against small, fast moving targets, the shotgun has several advantages when used against still targets. First, it has enormous stopping power at short range, more than nearly all handguns and comparable to most rifle cartridges. The wide spread of shot produced by the gun makes it easier to aim and to be used by inexperienced marksmen. A typical self-defense load of buckshot contains 8-12 large lead pellets, resulting in many wound tracks in the target. Also, unlike a rifle bullet, each pellet of shot is less likely to penetrate walls and hit bystanders. It is favored by law enforcement for its low penetration and high stopping power, while many American households use it as a home defense weapon for the same reasons.

The typical home defense shot is seldom over ten or fifteen feet. At these relatively short ranges, the shot charge never expands to more than a few inches.

Definition

The United States legal code (18 USC 921) defines the shotgun as "a weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder, and designed or redesigned and made or remade to use the energy of the explosive in a fixed shotgun shell to fire through a smooth bore either a number of ball shot or a single projectile for each single pull of the trigger."

A rifled slug, with finned rifling designed to spin the bullet and stabilize it in order to improve its accuracy, is an example of a single projectile. Some shotguns have rifled barrels and are designed to be used with a "saboted" bullet. A saboted bullet is one which is typically encased in a two-piece plastic ring (sabot) which is designed to fall away after it passes the end of the barrel, leaving the bullet, now spinning after passing through the rifled barrel, to continue toward the target. These shotguns, although they have rifled barrels, still use a shotgun-style shell instead of a rifle cartridge and may in fact still fire regular multipellet shotgun shells, but the rifling in the barrel will affect the shot pattern. Hunting laws may differentiate between smooth barrelled and rifled barrelled guns.

Read more at Wikipedia.org