Shipmaster Sane
You have been weighed
1. Pure supposition based on feelings. If large numbers of people use no.8 for self defense and we don't see any statistical basis for this being insufficient, we don't just "assume" it's useless because "something something my buddy got shot with birdshot from across a field I don't know what # I don't know what powder load I don't know if the shooter's aim was center but therefore number eight is useless"Point 1 - Perhaps, but there is no statistical data to support you either. It is highly dependent on the situation, the home, and the nature of the intrusion. Bird shot is effective if you are not facing a determined opponent, but quite bluntly double-ought buck is the 'ideal' shotgun load for home defense in the vast majority of situations.
Point 2 - I worship at the Church of the Holy 1911... if your caliber isn't .45 ACP then your argument is invalid. GOOD DAY SIR
No statistics I've seen on defensive use of shotguns have revealed anything particularly damming about No.8, which has only ever been tarnished by annecdotes and supposition, never by actual data.
As for buckshot, wildly inappropriate in a building where there are other people in. No.8 will take a fist sized chunk out of someone at 15 feet, and No.4 will punch a fist sized hole right through them. It isnt about willpower or pain.
2. Liking the 1911 Is perfectly fine, as long as you don't think it's better because .45acp is bigger than 9mm