When welding headed studs, AWS allows fillet welds to be used at the contractors option instead of the welding the studs with a stud gun. It requires the welds meet the minimum size given in Table 7.2. Does anyone know if the welds given in this table are supposed to develop the full strength of the stud (as would be the case with a stud gun)? You would think, if the stud gun welds can be replaced with fillet welds "at the contractor's option", the fillet welds given in the table would have a greater than or equal capacity to that of the stud gun. However, I did a calculation and found that these minimum welds do not develop the shear strength of the stud. (They do, however, more or less develop the tension strength of the stud.) Has anyone else run across this conundrum?