I lost that much beer?

Well I bottled my first batch of home brew last night and I was extremely excited. I had my 53 bottles cleaned and sanitized and was prepared to fill them all. Once we got out routine down my SWMBO and I finished in about an hour, including clean up. The down side, I only produced 47 - 12oz bottles. I know I lost some when racking wort into primary and when racking into secondary. We also lost some to spillage when filling bottless, but is it normal to lose that much? I'm thinking my primary may not have been filled to exactly five gallons, but my gravity readings checked out, so I guess me technique needs some work.

I I brew 5.5 gallon batches to make sure I get 5 into keg after fermentation. 53 bottles would have been every last drop of your 5 oz. You hae to figure your hops will absorb some, grain if you're steeping will absorb some, then you'll have some loss to yeast and trub. you lost 0.6 gallons assuming you had exactly 5G. not out of the ordinary.

I didn't even take into consoderation that the trub and yeast and hops would absorb liquid. Now it makes perfect sense. Combine that with my loses, I know where my beer went. Thanks IrregularPulse.

Search for "dip tube" and you might lose a bit less from your bottling bucket (if you use one).

Also, the markings on the sides of brew pails can be shockingly incorrect at times, so if you used those markings then it might be worth a double-check to see if they are correct.