BB: The difference is often the result of using a volume measure vs. an actual scale. However, the poster indicates he " Weighed out " the load, so he should not be that short in his pellet count.
I have actually weighed loads with #7 1/2, #6, and #5 shot. If you crease a piece of paper, ( Or draft the daily newspaper for this duty) you can dribble the shot, one pellet at a time, into a bowl, to help in the counting process. I have never reloaded #4 shot, so I have had no occasion to count those pellets. However, with the three different size shot I have counted, the pellet counts were as "advertised".
I did this first many years ago to win an Attempted Murder Case. The police "theory" was based on the imagination of the victim, and their personal lack of knowledge of firearm ammo. They believed the victim was shot multiple times, indicating a clear intent to murder. By counting the number of #6 shot pellets that was contained in a W-W .410 2 1/2 inch shotgun shell( 163-164), I was able to show that he fired only ONE shot, and that was confirmed by the physical evidence, and witness testimony.
The Detectives had tried to count pellets from the X-ray taken of the victim, and found a cluster of between 20-30 pellets in the man's right shoulder, and, by their count, approx."180" pellets in the body. They didn't know how that cluster of pellets in the right shoulder got there, unless there were two shots fired.
The testimony of witnesses, and the physical evidence indicated that the shooting occurred in a very small house, in the middle of the night, with the victim waking from his drunken stupor, without a shirt on, to continue threatening the accused.
The Accused, fresh out of prison, had "borrowed" a single barrel shotgun and ONE shell, from a local, unlicensed "pawn broker", and gone back to settle their dispute when he could protect himself from the victim.
The victim was a known violent man, who had a pending criminal charge of Agg. Battery against 5 police officers called to his mother's house to remove him, who he attacked with a pair of Scissors. It took 5 officers to secure him to make the arrest. Nice guy. I was his court appointed attorney.
" The Street" had warned the accused not to dismiss any threat this " victim" made to him, as he was considered to be both dangerous and nuts! Hhe didn't want the man picking the time and place to attack him- prison survival instincts.
If the cluster of pellets had been fired from a separate shot at that close range( muzzle less than 3 feet from the man) it would have blown the socket into bits, and probably caused the amputation of the man's right arm.
Instead, what actually happened was the "victim" saw the accused coming towards him through the door, and was reaching down to the floor to pick up a "cane"- the kind of carnival cane you get as a prize-- to hit the accused with. The accused could not see, in the darkened house, what the man was reaching down for, so he shot the man. Part of the shot hit the shoulder socket, and left that cluster of pellets in his shoulder. The rest raked the abdomen, spreading out, so that the "Pattern", on the X-ray, actually looked like the man was shot from about 25 feet away. That was physically impossible considering the layout of the house, etc. If the 'victim" had been wearing even a T-shirt when he was shot, the police would not have made these mistakes.
As the result of my Counting Pellets, the Att. Murder charge was dropped, and the Defendant was convicted instead of possessing a firearm as a felon, and sentenced to 3-9 years in prison. His parole on his earlier Armed Robbery conviction would be done by the time he became eligible for parole on this gun charge conviction, so he took the plea offer, and thanked me for helping him.
He served his time, came out, and served his parole without incident He got a good job, married, and helped raise a step daughter. I met him years later when he was a witness in another case.
Oh, The victim was given Probation on his own Agg. Battery Charges, and remained in the community, a drunk, who was often arrested on other misdemeanor charges. I told officers if he threatened them, or tried to fight them to just tap him in the stomach to gain control over the idiot. I didn't want him hurt, if possible, but I knew how stupid he was when he was drunk, and how violent he could be. I didn't want him hurting any police officers. He lost about 10 feet of his small intestines from that shooting, but otherwise was fine. A Tap on the gut, and later, even a move to do so was all the officers needed to get him to comply to being arrested.
Sorry about the length of this comment. I thought the story was interesting enough to help answer the question, " Why would anyone count Shot pellets?" :rotf:
