I' ve noticed that there are several different kinds of buckshot. I' ve always used the 9 pellet buckshot (I think that' s what they were). But I found a shell in the woods today that says its 15 pellet 00 buckshot. so what is the difference in the larger and smaller pellet count other than one has more pellets? Is there more powder in the 9 pellet buckshot? If there are no major differences I would think that the shells with the higher pellet cound would be more effective?

i use the win supreme buckshot. 15 pellets 00 buckshot. the pellets are smaller.

Quilly, I thought 00 buckshot was 00 buckshot no mater the number of pellets. most of the time when the pellet count goes up so does the powder or the dram equivalent.
9 00 pellets normal
12 00 magnum
15 00 3 inch magnum and now with the 3.5 inch shells I don' t know( I don' t have a gun that shoots 3.5 inch ....yet)

I use #4 buckshot for deer and hogs.I have taken hogs in excess of 300 lbs and many many deer with them.
some say they are to small,but I have never found that to be true.I have use them for probablly 30 years now with no problems.

#4 buckshot! well, they say those florida deer are smaller than average deer.

I' ve always heard that bigger was better. Like 000 when you could find it.

If you are talking about 00 buck shot then a 2 3/4" shell holds 9 pellets, a 3" shell holds 15 pellets and a 3 1/2" shell holds, I think, 21 pellets.
Here is a link that shows the diameter of all of the buck shot pellet sizes.

http://www.griffinhowe.com/shot_size_chart.cfm

i used the 2.75 shells and cut one up to take a look myself. then cut up one form a remington. the pellets seem to be smaller and are copper plated.i was curious myself. on how you get a magnum out of a 2.75 shells. you can feel the differance when shooting regular buckshot compared to the 00 win supreme " magnum " buckshot.
i also tthe 9 shot pellet count is from a 000 buckshot which i beleive is 33. cal or 32. caliber

I always thought that shot sizes were universal between brands too. For buckshot, I believe #3 is .25, #2 .27, #1 .30, 00 .33, and 000 is .36. Not sure what 0000 is. I could be wrong but those are the sizes according to Federal. Maybe other brands are different.

I also thought that the size is universal.

The more pellets a load has, the more effective it should be, since there is very little differrnce in muzzle velocities of any shotshell (from 1100 to around 1350 MAX). BUT THERE IS A REASON FOR BUCKSHOT BEING PROHIBITED FOR HUNTING DEER OR LARGER GAME IN MOST JURISDICTIONS!! It has a very limited effective range, no matter how many pellets a load contains!!

Pellet SIZES are uniform between brands of U. S. made ammo!! Some European shot having the same number as a U.S. made pellet may not be exactly the same diameter, however!!

Quilly, if you found shot of two different sizes in shells both marked " 00" , well one of them was NOT " 00" .