September/October 2008

The Gun Room
Shotshells: How Much Speed Do You Need?
by Larry Brown

here are some changes you may or may not have noticed on the last box of shotshells you purchased. The higher price almost certainly caught your attention, but something you may have missed is that muzzle velocity is now included along with gauge, length of shell, ounces of shot, and shot size. This is a relatively recent change, and it is in addition to the old “dram equivalent” marking – which ceased to have any real meaning shortly after we switched from black to smokeless powder.

Because the velocity marking is quite recent, you may have been unaware of the speed of your old load. The dram equivalent number might have told you, had you known how to interpret it, but only fairly serious students of ballistics possessed the secret decoder ring for converting it to velocity. If you were shooting the 2¾-inch 12-gauge load of 3¾ drams equivalent and 1¼ ounces of lead shot – long the pheasant load of choice – it had a velocity of 1330 feet per second (fps).

(You’ll see “muzzle velocity” on some boxes. In fact, at least on American shells, it’s not a true muzzle velocity, rather a reading taken three feet in front of the muzzle. But the velocity of all American shells is measured the same way, so you can simply disregard the muzzle part when comparing shells.)

On many of the current premium, high-brass loads – the kind you might select for hunting this season – you’ll see higher velocities than that. Up to 1500 fps, in fact, on shells loaded with lead shot. Some steel shot loads are even hotter.

Let’s take a look at both the older, slower loads and the newer, faster ones. What advantages and disadvantages do they have? Does it make a difference if you’re shooting steel rather than lead?

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