I don't have very many lead canister balls in my 'coffee can' collection, but have hundreds of iron shot .. categoried by size, so I will go to my can of .90-.95" shot, and pick up one of my 3.5" bases, and see how those shot lay out on the base ... my opinion is they will be sloppy-loose on the base, and the normal layout puts the shot shoulder to shoulder, snug in the can ... it's certainly possible to dump the shot in loose in the can, make up the waste space with packed sawdust, put a lid on it, and make it go bang ... it was a 'no deposit-no return' kind of thing, so nobody was going to complain if it wasn't packed perfectly. The only field caliber that my mind fixates on that could/would/should use that dia of ball is the 3" rifle. If you take 7 pennies and lay them out 6 around 1, you will have an idea how the shot was arranged in a 'tin can'. If you look at that layout, it will be 3 in a row, 3 different directions. Take any 3, divide the diameter of the can ( 2.9" for a 3" bore ) and you come up with .96, now you have to subtract 'something' for the thickness of the metal of the can to give you a true inside diameter of the can, so, .93 - .95" is a pretty good compromise. But is anyone coming up with 3" rifle sabot frags? If not, pretty good clue it isn't 3" canister. But you and acwbullets both are coming up with almost identical lead shot, in locations where 3" frags are not providing the hoped for hints. Must be why nobody yet has written the definitive 'know it all, answer it all' book. DG