It has been a long, long time since I used buckshot on a regular basis when hunting deer. I saw a bunch killed with the stuff back the - mid to late 1960's. I was with my brother when he shot at and hit a superb buck that was standing dead still, fully broadside at about 70 yards with a 12 ga., 3" shell load of 00. He knocked this buck down 3 times with hair flying off it's chest and neck each time from the hits. That buck cleared a fence flying low and as as far as we know today, kept right on going. Despite 6 of us looking for the rest of that day - some 7 hours, and 3-4 hours the next morning, we never found it. Blood trail was all but non-existant for the first 200 yards or so then totally petered out. I have used a center fire 25 to 44 cal. almost exclusively since about 1970. I doubt I'll ever use buckshot again.