In practice, though, significant variation occurred in the actual mass of the projectile for a given nominal shot weight. The country of manufacture is a significant consideration when determining bore diameters. For example, the French livre, until 1812, had a mass of , whilst the contemporary English (avoirdupois) pound massed of approximately . Thus, a French 32-pounder at the Battle of Trafalgar threw a shot with more mass than an English 32-pounder.
in practice though significant variation occurred in the actual mass of the projectile for a given nominal shot weight the country of manufacture is a significant consideration when determining bore diameters for example the french livre until 1812 had a mass of  whilst the contemporary english (avoirdupois) pound massed of approximately  thus a french 32-pounder at the battle of trafalgar threw a shot with more mass than an english 32-pounder