Shotgun

What does the "8 shot" written on the side of my shotgun shells mean?
"It means the diameter of the pellets is approx. .090" It's used for skeet shooting, and other small birds. It's one of the smallest sized of shot you can get. It will have a wide pattern, but will not travel very far."

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"It indicates the size of the hundreds of individual pellets contained in your shell. For example, if you are shooting 8 shot from a 12 gauge that has one ounce of shot, there will be about 410 pellets in the shell. If you move to 4 shot, the number of pellets moves down to 135."

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It means that the shell is loaded up with #8 shot pellets. This is a size that measures about 0.09" each in diameter, with 400 pellets per ounce.

Shotgun shells are measured in:


 * 1) "Gauge" - the equivalent of caliber in rifles and pistols (eg. 12 GA)
 * 2) Case Length - generally 2.75", 3", or 3.5" (eg. 2 3/4")
 * 3) Shot Size (eg. 8 shot)
 * 4) Shot Weight (in ounces) (eg. ?)
 * 5) Dram Equivalent - each DE is roughly equal to 1 dram of black powder. The higher this number, the more powerful the shell. (eg. ?)

So, it's common to see 12 gauge, 2-3/4", 1-1/8 oz #6 3 Dram Equivalent on a box. Generally, target rounds will have a lower shot weight and DE rating than hunting or magnum rounds will.

Source:
 * What does the "8 shot" written on the side of my shotgun shells mean? - Yahoo! Answers - http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081111181507AAKoFwq

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"A shotgun shell or shotshell is a self-contained cartridge loaded with lead shot or a shotgun slug which is designed to be fired from a shotgun. Most shotgun shells are designed to be fired from a smoothbore barrel, but dedicated shotguns with rifled barrels may take a number of different rounds. A rifled barrel will increase the accuracy of slugs, but makes it unsuitable for firing shot, as the shot wears down the rifling and the rifling causes the shot to form a hollow "O" shape in flight.[1] Non-lethal shotgun ammunition is available in the form of slugs made of low-density material, such as rubber. See shotgun specialty ammunition for more information."

Shotgun shell - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shotgun_shell

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Shot sizes - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shotgun_shell#Shot_sizes

"For skeet shooting, a small shot such as a # 8 or #9 would be used, because range is short and a high density pattern is desirable."

"Small shot, like that used for skeet and trap, will have lost all appreciable energy by 100 yards or meters, which is why trap and skeet ranges can be located in relatively close proximity to inhabited areas with negligible risk of injury to those outside the range."

Size 	Nominal diameter 	Pellets per oz (28 g) 	Quantity per lb.[4] Lead 	Steel 8 	.090" (2.29 mm) 	410 	686 		5150