Ted, there is a slight difference between the Cape Buff and a Water Buff.
I suspect some if not most of the reputation of the Cape Buff, for asorbing bullets like flies is an myth, but I also doubt that they are easy to stop at close range, in a charge. They do take a lot of bullet to put them down and 12 bore slugs are not my idea of a good choice, just the only one at hand.
In a charge situation, if you get a shot, it must be an near instantious killing shot. Not much good to have the Buff expire 30 seconds after he gets to you. So you need a central nervous system direct hit, brain or spinal cord. Heart or lung shot might just take longer to kill him than you have before you are in a real fix. Fractured leg might not be enough and a raking shot from mouth to anus will take too long to kill him.
I do not like the odds of getting a slug to reach the brain from the frontal area. Not that big of a target and if you hit high you do not stand any chance of penetration. Might stand a better chance of a shot at the base of the neck to try to reach the spinal cord. Low hit would take out major blood vessels, left or right might break the sholder if the slug holds togeather long enough. It would be worth shooting two into a dead Buff to check for penetration. Nice to see if the slug can reach where you want it to go.
When you get right down to it this is just a situation where you throw out the book. Shoot 3" shells in a 2 3/4" gun because that is your only real choice. If it works, most likely your Briely thin walls will blow out the end of the gun. I doubt the gun will blow up on the first two shots. About like a proof load for your gun and it should stand up to that load one or two times in each barrel. I pray that you never get to test what happens but if you do what happens to your gun becomes unimportant.
