Editing Shotgun (section)

===Shot===
[[File:USMC-05459.jpg|thumb|U.S. Marines fire their shotguns]]
Most shotguns are used to fire "a number of ball shot", in addition to slugs and sabots. The ball shot or pellets is for the most part made of lead but this has been partially replaced by bismuth, steel, tungsten-iron, tungsten-nickel-iron and even tungsten polymer loads. Non-toxic loads are required by Federal law for [[waterfowl hunting]] in the US, as the shot may be ingested by the waterfowl, which some authorities believe can lead to health problems due to the lead exposure. Shot is termed either [[birdshot]] or [[buckshot]] depending on the shot size. Informally, birdshot pellets have a diameter smaller than {{convert|5|mm|in|abbr=on}} and buckshot are larger than that. Pellet size is indicated by a number; for bird shot this ranges from the smallest 12 (1.2&nbsp;mm, 0.05 in) to 2 (3.8&nbsp;mm, 0.15 in) and then BB (4.6&nbsp;mm, 0.18 in).<ref>{{cite book|author=Hearst Magazines|title=Popular Mechanics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0N4DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA196|date=October 1947|publisher=Hearst Magazines|page=196}}</ref>

For buckshot, the numbers start and end with 4, 3, 2, 1, 0 ("single-aught"), 00 ("double-aught"), 000 ("triple-aught"), and 0000 ("quadruple-aught"). A different informal distinction is that "bird shot" pellets are small enough that they can be measured into the cartridge by weight, and simply poured in, whereas "buckshot" pellets are so large they must be stacked inside the cartridge in a fixed geometric arrangement to fit. The diameter in hundredths of an inch of bird shot sizes from No. 9 to No. 1 can be obtained by subtracting the shot size from 17. Thus, No. 4 bird shot is 17 – 4 = 13 = {{convert|0.13|in|mm}} in diameter. Different terminology is used outside the United States. In England and Australia, for example, 00 buckshot cartridges are commonly referred to as "[[Buckshot|S.G.]]" (Swanshot gauge) cartridges.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ Table of American standard birdshot size
|-
!Size
![[Caliber]]
!Pellets/10 g lead
!Pellets/10 g steel
|-
| FF|| 5.84&nbsp;mm (.230")|| 8 || 12
|-
| F|| 5.59&nbsp;mm (.220")|| 10 || 14
|-
| TT|| 5.33&nbsp;mm (.210")|| 11 || 16
|-
| T|| 5.08&nbsp;mm (.200")|| 13 || 19
|-
| BBB|| 4.83&nbsp;mm (.190")|| 15 || 22
|-
| BB|| 4.57&nbsp;mm (.180")|| 18 || 25
|-
| B|| 4.32&nbsp;mm (.170")|| 21 || 30
|-
| 1|| 4.06&nbsp;mm (.160")|| 25  || 36
|-
| 2|| 3.81&nbsp;mm (.150")|| 30 || 44
|-
| 3|| 3.56&nbsp;mm (.140")|| 37  || 54
|-
| 4|| 3.30&nbsp;mm (.130")|| 47 || 68
|-
| 5|| 3.05&nbsp;mm (.120")|| 59 || 86
|-
| 6|| 2.79&nbsp;mm (.110")|| 78 || 112
|-
| 7|| 2.41&nbsp;mm (.100")|| 120 || 174
|-
| 8|| 2.29&nbsp;mm (.090")|| 140 || 202
|-
| 9|| 2.03&nbsp;mm (.080")|| 201 || 290
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ Table of buckshot size
|-
!Size
![[Caliber]]
!Pellets/10 g lead
|-
| 000 or LG ("triple-aught")|| 9.1&nbsp;mm (.36")|| 2.2
|-
| 00 or SG ("double-aught")|| 8.4&nbsp;mm (.33")|| 2.9
|-
| 0 ("one-aught")|| 8.1&nbsp;mm (.32")|| 3.1
|-
| 1|| 7.6&nbsp;mm (.30")|| 3.8
|-
| 2 or SSG|| 6.9&nbsp;mm (.27")|| 5.2
|-
| 3|| 6.4&nbsp;mm (.25")|| 6.6
|-
| 4|| 6.1&nbsp;mm (.24")|| 7.4
|}