Shot, Hunting

small metal pellets (sometimes cubes); a component part of a cartridge (shell) designed for firing from smoothbore hunting weapons. Shot is made from lead, with the addition of a small amount of antimony and arsenic. The pellets are sometimes coated with copper, chromium, or nickel. The dimensions of hunting shot are identical in most countries, but they have different designations.

In the USSR, hunting shot is designated by numbers from 12 (small shot with a diameter of 1.25 mm) to 0000 (5 mm). The difference in diameter between shot of two consecutive size numbers is 0.25 mm. Shot nos. 12, 11, and 10 are called small shot; shot with a diameter exceeding 5 mm is called buckshot. In the majority of foreign states the size of shot is expressed in millimeters; less frequently, by a letter designation. Hunting shot is manufactured in shot-casting plants and by stamping.