Bismuth Shot
Agescan International provides gunners and hunters a series of premium, high purity and uniform bismuth shots, which are tin-alloyed to produce a perfectly spherical and smooth body. Bismuth alloy is one of the softest metals, and it is around 25% denser than steel and similar density with lead. It means our bismuth shots ensure ideal ballistic performance and penetration to targets while minimizing wear on your shotguns and prolonging their lifetime.
Being a strategic supplier for several major ammunition brands, all of Agescan’s bismuth shot products were proudly manufactured under ASTM B774-00 and ISO9001 standards. With a compound of 94% bismuth and 6% tin, we achieve a density range of 9.58-9.67 g/cm3, ultra-high purity, small grain size and outstanding pellet integrity.
Shotgun shells and shot sizes
A shot refers to the pellets, and projectiles, inside a shotgun shell. The shot is categorized with an inverse naming system, in which a smaller-sized shot carries a larger number. Though there are smaller shot sizes on the market, #8 is the smallest shot commonly used by hunters. It has a diameter of just .080” and is used with great effect by a dove and quail hunters.
- #8, #7 ½: Doves, quail, pigeons, woodcock, small shoreline birds such as rail and snipe:
- #7 ½: Hungarian partridge, spruce grouse, blue grouse, and short-range upland birds, such as ruffed grouse and woodcock.
- #6: Squirrel, rabbit, hare, short-range pheasant, long-range grouse, chukar.
- #6, #4: Long-range pheasant, long-range chukar.
- #4, #5, #6: Turkey.
- #4, #3, #2: Short-range ducks.
- #2, #1, BB: Long-range ducks.
- BB, BBB: Short-range geese.
- BBB, T: Long-range geese.
- #4 Buck – .24”
- #3 Buck – .25”
- #2 Buck – .27”
- #1 Buck – .30”
- #0 (single-ought) Buck – .32”
- #00 (double-ought) Buck – .33”
- #000 (triple-ought) Buck – .36”

What is Bismuth?
Bismuth is a chemical element with the symbol Bi and atomic number 83. It is a post-transition metal and one of the pnictogens with chemical properties resembling its lighter group 15 siblings’ arsenic and antimony. Elemental bismuth may occur naturally, and its sulfide and oxide forms are important commercial ores.
The free element is 86% as dense as lead. It is a brittle metal with a silvery-white color when freshly produced, but surface oxidation can give it an iridescent tinge in numerous colors. Bismuth is the most naturally diamagnetic element and has one of the lowest values of thermal conductivity among metals.