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TxGun · January 25, 2010, 06:52 PM

What exactly is "Dram" I see it on most of the boxes of ammo, but I don't really have much of a clue about what it means.

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According to SAAMI:

DRAM EQUIVALENT
The accepted method of correlating relative velocities of shotshells loaded with smokeless propellant to shotshells loaded with black powder. The reference black powder load chosen was a 3 dram charge of black powder, with 1 1/8 oz. of shot and a velocity of 1200 fps. Therefore, a 3 dram equivalent load using smokeless powder would be with 1 1/8 oz. of shot having a velocity of 1200 fps. or 1 1/4 oz. of shot and a velocity of 1165 fps. A 3 1/4 dram equivalent load might have 1 1/8 oz. of shot and a velocity of 1255 fps. Abbreviated Dram Equiv.

http://www.saami.org/Glossary/display.cfm?letter=D

In case you don't know what SAAMI is:

http://www.saami.org/

January 25, 2010, 06:52 PM	#12
TxGun Senior Member Join Date: April 14, 2008 Location: Family ranch - Central TX. Posts: 467	What exactly is "Dram" I see it on most of the boxes of ammo, but I don't really have much of a clue about what it means. ----------------------- According to SAAMI: DRAM EQUIVALENT The accepted method of correlating relative velocities of shotshells loaded with smokeless propellant to shotshells loaded with black powder. The reference black powder load chosen was a 3 dram charge of black powder, with 1 1/8 oz. of shot and a velocity of 1200 fps. Therefore, a 3 dram equivalent load using smokeless powder would be with 1 1/8 oz. of shot having a velocity of 1200 fps. or 1 1/4 oz. of shot and a velocity of 1165 fps. A 3 1/4 dram equivalent load might have 1 1/8 oz. of shot and a velocity of 1255 fps. Abbreviated Dram Equiv. http://www.saami.org/Glossary/display.cfm?letter=D In case you don't know what SAAMI is: http://www.saami.org/ Last edited by TxGun; January 25, 2010 at 07:00 PM.