dram eq. what is it?

[gwall]

all these years and i have never asked exactly what this is - could someone please spell it out in simple english - i assuming its related to the powder content. what does say 3 1/4 dram eq equate to?

[gwall]

the higher the # the more powder?

[MSDuckmen]

Dram equivalent is a term that dates back to the Black Powder days. When smokeless powder was introduced people didn’t know how to know what power shells they were buying, So Drams EQ was the way to tell. Drams are a black powder measurement.

Does not help the modern day hunter much, We still know the higher the number the more power it has but many can’t tell you what the muzzle velocity, or chamber pressure created by such a load.

[GulfCoast]

It is pretty confusing and outdated, and the manufacturers are not consistent with how they use the term. It is SUPPOSED to mean that for whatever guage and weight of shot you are buying, you would have needed "X" drams of black powder back in the day to achieve the same velocity as the shells in the box you are buying. 3 3/4 dram and "MAG" are pretty much the same. Winchester uses "handicap" as the listed DE for hot 3 1/4 loads. You will also see a "Max" dram equiv. listed on Federal loads. Who the heck knows what that means. There is a move now to do away with dram equiv. on the box, and just put the FPS, which is much more usefull. Most of the european companies are listing the fps now, so hopefully the "Big 3" will follow suit.