There were once many shot towers in the Us & sizes were not the same from any of them. What won out & became standard was the Tatham Bros of New York tower. The sizes are based on the number 17. Subtract the shot size from 17 & you get the diameter. Thus #4 = 0.13 (3.30mm); #5 = 0.12 (3.05mm); #6 = 0.11 (2.79mm); #7 = 0.10 (2.54mm). For "Chilled" shot these run approximately per ounce respectfully, #4 = 135, #5 = 173, #6 = 225 & #7 = 299.
England's standard was The Abbey Improved Chilled Shot Co, Newcastle-on-Tyne. their #7 listed at 270 per ounce. They also had Walker, Parker, Limited, London & Gateshead which listed #7 @ 278-290 per ounce. Abbey Co also listed a 6* @ 300 per ounce, with a note this size was Much Used by London Loaders & for export.
There is little doubt there is much confusion over shot sizes. However, any way you slice it British #6 is closer to US #7 than any other size, & if you go back & read my post right here in this thread I did say "APPROXIMATELY". I did not Say Nor Imply, they were One & The Same. I stand by that.
I have serious doubts that the end results of a shot would be affected in 1 of 1,000 shots whether the shot was 270 or 300 per ounce, To quote Nash Buckingham, You First have to hit it. There is more to be gained by learning to shoot than by Nitpicking over a bit of difference in pellet counts.
Miller, I don't know where you got the numbers in your 2nd paragraph above, but something is screwed up. The smaller the #, the larger the shot. Whatever it has been in the past, Eley currently lists 6's at 270/oz; 7's (which are a closer equivalent of our 7 1/2's than their 6's are to our 7's) at 340/oz. You wouldn't have 300 6's when you also have 270-290 7's. To go by your "approximately" standards, that would make Brit 6's and Brit 7's "approximately" the same size. Which makes no sense. Especially with the 6's being the smaller of the two.
One reason the differences are important when you're looking at what's on the box and we're talking foreign shells: Sometimes, when they make them for sale in the US, they use our shot sizes; sometimes they use theirs. If a box of 1 oz 7's is British, it's going to contain 340 pellets (or fairly close to it). US, it's going to contain something close to 299. However important that much difference may or may not be, if I'm buying 7's to get 7's, I'd rather have them be 7's rather than 7 1/2's. Otherwise, I'd just buy 7 1/2's to start with.
Last edited by L. Brown; 11/25/18 06:13 PM.
