

So to answer your question, not really. The spread of shotguns is greatly exaggerated in media and in a close quarters situation will probably be not existent unless you are using really specific shit. The real threat especially with 12 gauge is that it is more than powerful enough to take limbs off, turn organs into soup, and if you get hit in the head ya ain’t living.
This is actually why sawed offs are so dangerous they do infact increase the spread and when used in close quarters yeah… ya have a good chance of survival but I hope ya like hospital food.
Also yes I know shotguns are rarely that devastating but I ain’t over exaggerating by much either, if it’s good for home defense, Iwo Jimma, and the trenches of Verdun I suspect it’s a rather effective weapon to say the least.
Also there’s an amusing hypothesis that the reason why Spain even sponsored Columbus was because European ships had been brushing up against the new world at an increasing rate since Leif Erikson and Thorfinn Karlsefni did their expeditions. Now if those brushs with the new world were intentional or not is up for debate but there is evidence that Irish sailors may have been poaching walruses around Greenland after the Greenland ivory trade started to collapse.