There’s 9 bullets in a round of Buckshot. So he’s close.
Pellets
“There’s 9 bullets in a round of Buckshot...” [ModelBreaker, post 6]
In the 1950s and 1960s, US Army Ordnance experimented with various multi-bullet concepts.
One design stacked three 30 cal projectiles, nose to tail, into a 7.62mm NATO case. About 90 gr each.
Special-purpose shotshells were developed, that held small steel darts called flechettes. Dozens upon dozens in each hull.
The goal was to increase probability of hit by boosting the number of projectiles in the air at any given moment. It had already been concluded that most rounds fired from rifles missed, therefore a hit was not the result of aimed fire, but was essentially a random event.