20 ga defence shot gun round for a motor home

bruceter

What is recommend (type of rounds in a 20 ga) to use for self defense (1) in your house (2) in your motor home or camper. I am looking for a round that will not go through a wall and harm some one unintentionally & will have the stopping power needed.
My second question is what is the legal way in all lower 48 to store a long gun/shot gun & pistol in your motor home while traveling.

Thanks you

ruger41

Motorhome walls aren't all that thick so either buck or birdshot would possibly go through in one hole as their isn't much space for the shot to spread out--more likely they will stay in the bad guy if you hit him. I use a 20 gauge Stevens pump loaded with #3 Federal Buckshot with 20 pellets. As far as travelling with your gun in most states while you are stopped camping your RV is your home-you can have the gun loaded and stored anywhere you like--National Parks and travelling through Canada are a different matter. While driving through you might have to keep it just unloaded and cased. Same rule applies for handguns although while driving in some states the handgun has to be stored in a locked container--obviously I wouldn't take a handgun into a city that has odd rules like NYC, Chicago, Washington DC. If driving through various states with a handgun I also would not store the gun near the drivers area--put it in the "bedroom" area. If you have a carry permit you can carry in states that have reciprocity with yours.

here is a website with more info including RV's http://handgunlaw.us/

beantownshootah

quote:Originally posted by bruceter
What is recommend (type of rounds in a 20 ga) to use for self defense (1) in your house (2) in your motor home or camper. I am looking for a round that will not go through a wall and harm some one unintentionally & will have the stopping power needed.
My second question is what is the legal way in all lower 48 to store a long gun/shot gun & pistol in your motor home while traveling.

Thanks you


The problem is that if your projectiles won't go through a thin aluminum wall, they probably won't do much if they hit an assailant, either.

I think what you want to do is try to *minimize* the risk of overpenetration.

As mentioned, the best way to do that is with buckshot. Smaller pellets aren't quite as good as large ones in terms of stopping power, but at the 15 foot distance of inside a trailer, they should be quite effective. If you shoot anyone with *ANY* 20 gauge shotgun load at 15 feet, they're not going to like it.

While many individual states are pretty permissive about what you can do with long-guns in vehicles, the rules do vary from place to place, and your best bet is to check them prior to entering any given state.

In general, its legal to travel through any of the contiguous states with a long gun, so long as it is UNLOADED and in the TRUNK of your vehicle. A few states (eg NJ) have specific rules about the gun also being carried within a sealed package when its in the trunk.

If you don't have a trunk, but keep the gun unloaded inside some other locked container where it is not accessible to passengers (that's key) you're probably OK.

Note that you have to be legitimately travelling through the state for this to apply. In some states with prohibitive gun laws (again, see NJ, also MA, etc) mere possession of long guns by non-licensed adults is prohibited.

So in one of those States, you could theoretically get in trouble just for possessing a long gun, if it can be shown that you weren't just passing through, but instead sticking around for a while.

In practice, this is pretty unlikely so long as you are legitimately from out of state, and keep the gun unloaded and locked away, but don't do anything foolish, like show the gun in public, or have it in a place where someone can look inside your trailer and see it.

With handguns, the same general principles apply BUT they are considerably more restricted in some jurisdictions (eg Wash DC, Chicago, etc). In places like that ANY possession of ANY handgun might be illegal. Again. .be careful.

MrGunz22

You dont even need something as heavy as buckshot. Hi brass #4 will knock the snot out of anyone I know at 10 ft. It would still probably go through the camper wall but wont do much damage to whatever it hits on the outside. I know in my state (NY) you cant possess a handgun at all, any where in the state, unless you have a permit from NY. Mandatory 2yr jail term, no exceptions. Just ask Plaxico Burress.

Keep a couple boxes of slugs around just in case.

tocamoha

Blanks.

babun

Test fire some different loads at about 20 feet. You want the pattern
to be no bigger than about 12 inches round. I would think you might
go with 7 1/2 shot. At short range it will stop the bad guy, and if some pellets go thru the wall, they will have a lot less energy and
less range than any larger size. And as to having a loaded shot gun in your camper in those Anti-gun cities and states, remember WHY you have it. To protect you and your family.....aren't THOSE places where you may need it the most??????? bob