One of the more common self-defense myths is that once you buy a firearm, just about any ammunition in a chosen caliber will do.

A Marine veteran named Dan Reynolds—I’m guessing not an infantryman—was armed with a 12-gauge shotgun when a home invader tried to come through his window.

He stopped the home invasion, but not the home invader.

He grabbed his 12-gauge shotgun, went to investigate and says he did not hesitate to pull the trigger when he saw a man in a hoodie climbing in through the shattered window.

“He’s not robbing me. He didn’t say anything. I didn’t say anything. I shot him and he fell back out the window and ran away,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds says the blast hit the intruder square in the chest.

I simply don’t see how Reynolds could have missed a shot at room’s length (or less) against a target that was more or less a fixed target coming through the window, and it is likely that he hit the home invader exactly as he stated.

But the home invader not only survived the blast, he got up and ran away. Either this criminal was one of an incredibly small number of criminals that is using body armor, or Reynolds had his shotgun loaded with low-recoiling and common birdshot or game loads in the #7 1/2 #8 range, which can create a very nasty but typically very shallow and survivable wound.

I suspect that the criminal will be showing up in a hospital relatively soon, but Reynolds is fortunate that his under-powered loading was enough to send the criminal fleeing.