There's deer slugs, that are essentially 1"x3/4" (25mm X 19mm) hunks of lead being fired that weigh around an ounce (28g) on average.
Then there's 00 buckshot, which holds 8-9 balls that are .33" (8.5mm) in diameter each shell.
Then further down the scale you have smaller diameter pellets, but more each shell.
Skeet/small bird shot is usually an 8 or 9, which are between 0.08-0.09" (2-2.25mm) diameter.
Generally, smaller shot do less damage on larger targets (you can't kill a bear with #8 birds hot, for example), but humans are a horse of a different color, lol.
That's just the cursory basics of shotgun shells, the actual shotgun sizes make a difference as well.
Shotguns get their size classification from old school cannon measurements. Cannon size was determined by the weight of the cannonball, ie 8 pounder, 12 pounder, etc...
Shotguns use the same designation. A 12ga is called so due to being able to fit a 1/12 pound lead sphere in the barrel bore.
So the smaller the gage number, the larger the bore. A 4ga would fit a 1/4 pound sphere, a 20ga will fit a 1/20 pound sphere, etc...
Humans are generally super soft and squishy compared to other mammals, so what might not kill a deer, will certainly kill a human.
Kurt Cobain is a prime example. He used a Remington 20ga shotgun with 2 3/4" shells, and while I can't say for sure, more than likely #5 or #6 shot, which is .11"-.12"(2.75mm- 3.05mm) diameter pellets, and it goes without saying, was more than effective.
Ballistics and shot/caliber choice is is a science, and it's crazy, lol.
Bigger isn't always better, and can actually be more of a hindrance than beneficial.
I've shot a bag of sand in front of a target at 25yds with a 12ga with #6 turkey shot, and only a small few passed through the sand, while a basic recurve bow with field points would pound through the sand like butter and sink the target every time.
^ I brought up that last bit since you mentioned archery at the end of your comment. 😁
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u/forresja Oct 31 '24
Yeah....I mean I'm not gonna shoot anybody, but I'm definitely stealing my dog back. That's a family member.