Maybe you should go back and re-read my last paragraph again.
I'd sure like to see you step up and disprove my statements. Get your best buddy to shoot you with some #8 birdshot at about twenty feet.
I'd also advise making out your last will and testament before attempting.
Please try and prove me wrong. I have done my own informal testing of birdshot, at close ranges, on various materials, some years ago. Simply because I too thought only buckshot or slugs were appropriate ammo for self defense usage. Changed my mind.
And if your shotgun happened to be loaded with birdshot shells, in the rare event you needed it to defend yourself, do think Mr. Bad guy is going to allow you time to change to buckshot?
I have heard probably most every reason against using birdshot over the last decade or more. If you still think I'm wrong, then by all means, prove me wrong.
Im not arguing that birdshot isn't lethal, if you had actually read what i posted you'd know that. However it is not consistent enough to bother counting on it outside of an absolute emergency
"I wouldn't step in front of it" is not an argument. You are smarter than that.