Shotgun Ammunition Question: Different load sizes, load types etc? please explain to a beginner?

Headhunt... is right on. In simple terms 00 buckshot is what you need for home defense. It comes in different pellet numbers. 00 buck is basically just round bb's stuffed in a shotgun load and it will tell you how many pellets (bb's) are in that load. The higher the br on a shell, the more powder it has, thusfore having more umph and it's measured in "Dram" I think. 8 shot is a light load (quail, dove etc..), 6 shot with high br (more power and bigger pellet size, but fewer pellets in the load) is a good pheasant load. 4 shot for maybe ducks or close in geese. Then they make BB, TT and all kinds of different stuff that are mainly used for geese or turkey. Usually the only time guys use steel shot is when they are shooting over water. Lead shot in water= not so good for the fish. Slugs are used for deer. They are not like all the other loads described above. A slug is a single "bullet" that is stuffed in the same size shotgun shell. They make copper, lead, etc... It really just depends on personal preference as to what to use. Deer slugs usually have FPS listed on the box. FPS= feet per second. 3 inch slugh generally flies faster than a 2 3/4 (more powder in a 3). Hopefully that helps a little. I didn't list every load that they make, I was just trying to give you the general idea. Hope that helps a little.