I'm not going to argue on buckshot size choices with you, but I can tell you that Capstick is not a good source for reliable information.
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<br>The "shock" value of multiple hits with smaller pellets for birds has been debated on and off for years. Frankly I think it is BS and the only reason it has any proponents is that sometimes smaller pellets manage to hit the head, neck area and kill the bird in pretty convincing fashion. As far as birds go, give me the largest size of shot that is reasonable for the conditions and the size of the bird and I'll like my chances better than those of someone with smaller shot unless they have a really good dog to help find their cripples. I can assure you from thousands of birds killed and watching others kill a few thousand more that any shot size will work when they are close, but on the margins, small shot means many more lost birds. And, your effective killing ranges are much shorter for this reason. JMHO.
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<br>Whether this carries over to humans or not, I'm not qualified to answer, but the army used 00 and knowing the army, I suspect they didn't just pick that out without some testing. Until someone comes up with some convincing contrary evidence I'll choose 00 if I thought it was going to be used for self defense. Guess it is sort of the idea of whether you would rather hit a bad guy with one .45 or 2 .32s, I'll take the .45.
