In shotgun pellet sizing, which statement is true?

• A. Size 000 Buck Shot is among the largest pellet sizes.
• B. Size 000 Buck Shot is the smallest.
• C. Size 12 is the largest.
• D. Size 4 is not used.

Answer: (A)

In shotgun pellet sizing, the size system works so that larger pellets have smaller numbers, and smaller pellets have larger numbers or more zeros. For buckshot, the biggest widely used size is 4 buck, and the sizes get progressively smaller as you move to 3, 2, 1, 0, 00, 000, and finally 0000 buck, which is the smallest.

So, a statement claiming that 000 Buck Shot is among the largest isn’t correct, because 000 Buck is actually one of the smaller buckshot sizes. It’s also not true that 000 Buck is the smallest—0000 Buck is smaller still. A claim that size 12 is the largest isn’t a standard buckshot size at all. And saying that size 4 is not used is false, since 4 buck is a common choice in many loadings.

The key idea to remember is this order: 4 buck is among the largest, followed by 3, 2, 1, 0, 00, 000, with 0000 being the smallest.