"bird shot is better than buck" -- at home defense ranges, what comes out of the barrel of a shotgun is basically equivalent to a solid slug of lead, regardless of the load in the shell.

It is only after it has flown some distance (5-10 yards or meters) that it begins to break into a pattern. Home defense encounters (inside) rarely get to that range.

And he's right, nothing sounds quite like racking a round into the chamber of a pump shotgun. A sound known round the world. And you'll be WAY ahead, if you don't actually have to shoot the perp. If you do, your world will change in ways you never expected, none of them positive.