I can assure you, there's not many more than that in a shell. I've got to admit, 223 seems awfully high. According to him, his lowest count is higher than my highest. I got 123 in a 10 inch circle and that is plenty enough to kill a turkey. I'm not saying he is exaggerating, but I believe a few posters on this forum do a little. As long as I keep getting over 100 hits in a 10 inch circle at 40 yards, there will be no problem in busting that longbeard at 10, 20, 30,40 or 50 yards. If he is getting 223 hits at 40, he had better be right on at 15. With that tight a pattern he has very little margin of error at really close distances.A realtight pattern that far out, 40 yds.,is not always a good thing.If he likes it that tight, more power to him.