It all depends on the type of dwelling you live in and who is there with you. If you live in a modern thin walled apartment complex with neighbors right on the other side of the wall or in a house with kids in their bedrooms or other rooms within the house you sure don't want to be loaded up with 00 buck or slugs. Both will blast right on through those walls and can and have killed innocents by accident. I have a 12 Ga Remington 870 loaded with #6 high brass. The rooms in my house average 12-18 feet and at that range if I pop a cap in your A#$ you will drop like a sack of potatoes. At 15' that 1oz load is a solid mass still encased within the wad cup. While very lethal at across the room range, if I should miss and it hits the wall it will penetrate, but quickly disperse and lose energy reducing the risk of killing someone in the next room. Not so with the heavier shot like buck or a slug. A shotgun slug at close range will penetrate the bad guy AND every room in a house and still kill. Buckshot and slugs are fantastic if you live alone and out in the country with no close neighbors. In town or in an apartment I say a stout load of #6 is best. Even at a longer less lethal range, after eating 2-3 rounds of #6 the perp will have changed his mind about what he came for and be looking to get away.