Slims

If you haven't actually done it before be careful. I have seen plenty of 'good' shooters screwing around with breeching shotguns (10 inch barrels) unable to hit a man sized target reliably at about 21 ft. from the hip. Add to that the excitement, adrenaline, fear and urgency of a life or death encounter, darkness, inexperience (how many hundreds of practice rounds shooting from the hip do you really plan on shooting?) and confusion...you will miss more often than you think, even with a shotgun. Having a stock on a weapon greatly reduces this as it provides a stable platform and a natural gun-target alignment. Likewise with a pistol when you push that gun out in front of you you immediately have more directional control and a better alignment with the target than you will ever get shooting any weapon from the hip.

Here's what I meant by creating space: you are walking through your house when you get hit sideways by your attacker. Having both hands down at your waist and your shotgun pointed away from the intruder does not make a very good starting position for that type of encounter. At that moment you are unable to bring your weapon to bear against your attacker until you create enough distance between you and him to bring the shotgun around. And if it discharges during the struggle/or you miss you will likely be unable to chamber another round as you have to have both hands free.

__________________
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." - Winston Churchill

"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act out their dream with open eyes, to make it possible." Seven Pillars of Wisdom, T.E. Lawrence