Wednesday, January 25, 2012

What do all the numbers mean on a box of shotgun shells?

I already got the obvious, like 12 gauge, and 2-3/4 in



I don't get what Dr. Eq. (Dram Equivalence)

1-1/8 Oz (Of what? Lead, powder, whole shell?)

8 Shot (yeah, shot size. but could someone translate that for me?)

What do all the numbers mean on a box of shotgun shells?
Dram Equivalent came about when companies switched from black powder to smokeless propellants. It was a way of saying the powder charge/payload/velocity generated in this shell with smokeless is equivalent to x-number of black powder drams. (Black powder was measured out in drams, rather than grains). When referring to 12ga loads, dram is not obsolete, it still has meaning. With 1 1/8 payload, 2 3/4 dram will be 1145fps ("light"), 3 dram is 1200fps ("heavy"), and so on.



The 1 1/8oz is only the amount of the payload of shot. Inside, contained in the shot cup of the wad, there is 1 1/8 ounces of lead.



Size 8 shot is around .09in in diameter. There are many shot sizes from a very small 12-shot to 000 buckshot. Different sizes have difference uses.

http://www.gun-shots.net/shot-sizes.shtm...



Sizes 71/2, 8, 8 1/2, and 9 are primarily used for clay shooting - anything larger is impractical (and illegal in competition) and anything smaller loses effectiveness before it reaches the target.
Reply:Dram equivalence is kinda a useless measurement. It was a way to relate a smokeless powder charge to a blackpowder charge during the switch of the two powders. 1 dram was a 1/16 of an ounce. So if a box of shells says it is 3 dram eq. it is like a loading with 3/16 of an ounce of black powder. Allegedly the velocity of the shot should be equal if propelled with the given smokeless charge or the dram equivalent black powder charge. One of the links below describes it more in depth.



The oz rating is the weight of just the shot. I do a fair amount of handloading and I prefer 1 and 1/8 ounce loads as that I can use them in 2 and 3/4 shells (common range pickable stuff) and there are a lot of wads and data available for this weight.



Shot size. I have never understood it much myself, but the various numbers and letters designate the diameter of the pellets making up a loading of shot. The other link below is a basic chart relating the letter/nubmer designation to teh diameter.
Reply:1 1/8 the amount of shot in weight



Ignore dram equivalence. It's the ratio of smokeless powder to black powder in terms of power (like a version of horse power). It has more value in reloading books where you can see the speed of the shot based on the size of the shot and the amount of powder. If you have similar loads, but different dram equivalence, the higher the number means that more power that will be generated and therefore the faster the shot will go.



Subtract the number from 17 to get diameter size in hundredths of an inches. 17- 8=9 so number 8 shot's diameter is .09 of an inch.



Here is some more info on shot sizes and their uses.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shotgun_she...
Reply:8 shot is 0.09" in diameter. The shell contains 1-1/8 oz. of the shot. Dram equivalent is an obsolete and indirect measure of the powder charge: when manufacturers switched from black powder to smokeless propellants, they gave the charge of the new powder in terms of its equivalent in black powder. A dram is a little less than a teaspoon, so dram equivalents of smokeless propellant tells you the power of the load if you know how many teaspoons of black powder will do what. Otherwise, it doesn't mean much!


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